We've Got Your Back

Expanding Program to Feed Homeless Children During the Summer

We’ve Got Your Back is preparing to launch its Summer Distribution Program to all homeless children enrolled in the program on June 25, 2010. During the summer these children are not served free meals provided through the Free and Reduced Lunch program by their elementary school. To bridge the gap of services in between school years, Giving Children Hope is expanding its services to these children with the help of our partners: Girls and Boys Club of Buena Park and Stanton, Fit 4 R Kids, and Baden-Powell Elementary School. Our partners are offering their facilities to serve as distribution sites to help us continue to bring food and nutrition education to these children and their families

To make all this happen, we definitely want you to step in and help! Join us for this unique opportunity to interact with the families you have already been serving. Instead of working behind the scenes, you will be at the distribution sites with us, organizing and helping us hand out bags to families.

We are looking for committed volunteers who will be able to work during one of the following shifts every week at these locations:

Boys and Girls Club
7758 Knott Ave, Buena Park, CA 90620
Every FRIDAY from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
June 25-August 20

Lord Baden-Powell Elementary
2911 W. Stonybrook Drive Anaheim, CA 92804
Every THURSDAY from 9-11 a.m.
July 1-August 26

We are looking for volunteers who are responsible, committed, and personable, since you will be interacting with many people during the shifts. You must be at least a senior in high school and able to work as a team.

If you are interested in this volunteer opportunity, please e-mail Ruth Sze. Send a short description about why you are interested and why you would be the ideal volunteer for this position. Please indicate which shift you are interested in working.

1969.12.31 by Harmony Trevino

Children Benefiting from WGYB

Schools have seen its students benefiting from We’ve Got Your Back, which regularly provides each child in the program enough food for the weekend.

Here are two letters from school site liaisons:

“One student in particular who has truly benefited is a third grade boy. His teacher mentioned that ever since he started participating in the program, he has had better focus in class and his homework is turned I regularly. When he received the donated gifts sent to him and his family at Christmas time, he was in complete shock and ran to show the presents to his teacher with tears in his eyes. Like many of our students here at Madison School, the Backpack Program has been a great support to our children and their families. Thank you for all you do!”

Alondra Cortez
K-6 Curriculum Coach, Madison

“Karina is a girl living with her grandparent and brother. Both her parents are deceased. Her grandmother currently rents a room for herself and grandchildren, paying rent off of her social security. Karina reported that her family is having a hard time meeting basic needs including food, clothes and personal hygiene items. A school social worker has been meeting with Karina for approximately six weeks. The social worker brought a food bag from the We Got Your Back program. Karina began to cry and hugged the social worker and reported not having enough resources for food. Thank you again for having this program to help our homeless students. It has made such an impact.”

Take Care,
Lori Glover, MSW
ACCESS Homeless Liaison

Thank you WGYB’s supporters who have been making a difference in the lives of children in Orange County!

2010.04.01 by Harmony Trevino

WGYB Update

We’ve Got Your Back has more than doubled the amount of children fed on the program! Currently we are feeding 710 students and we are planning to add more schools to the program.

In mid-February three schools were added to the program: Rio Vista, Melrose and Maxwell. We are now serving 19 elementary schools in Orange County!

In March, 24 students in Pyles, Centralia and Gilbert were added and are now being fed. We have also increased the maximum amount of students each school is allowed to have in the program. Several schools have not hit the maximum and are in process of adding more students.

Our goal is to help 1,000 students by the end of the year.

This all has been made possible by generous people who have donated their time and money to helping feed homeless children in Orange County! Thank you!

2010.03.31 by Harmony Trevino

Buena Park Downtown Helps WGYB Reach 1,000 Children

Buena Park Downtown (BPD) has been very generous in both donations and in community support to Giving Children Hope and our We’ve Got Your Back program. Their contributions will help us reach our goal of serving 1,000 homeless children by the end of the 2009-2010 school year!

Through BPD’s program, Brain Power Mania, their food drive has not only given us the opportunity to become recipients of donated provisions but has also aided us in bringing awareness to our local community concerning our homeless children. Brain Power Mania has brought together many elementary schools and people for one great cause which is to donate food to children hungry children in Orange County. This great effort brought in last year over eight pallets of donated food to our facility!

Since Brain Power Mania began, Buena Park Downtown has donated $138,250 to local schools. With this year’s contribution, that amount will grow to $152,750! Their monetary contribution of has allowed us to purchase 100 new backpacks! These backpacks are essential to our distribution of food every week.

Their support also allowed us to make new relations with AMP Radio which resulted in us being recipients of donated toys through their free concert. We received over 500 donated items such as toys, board games, DVDs and CDs. There were also 78 gift cards with the value of $798.50. As the We’ve Got Your Back program supports homeless children in our community, these are likely the only gifts that our kids received this past Christmas.

Thank you so much Patricia Neill, Marketing Director of Buena Park Downtown, for continued efforts in helping us bring an end to hunger in OC!

Don’t forget to continue to donate food at the Buena Park Mall at their costumer service center for more info visit here.

Thank you to the elementary schools which have collected food for us through the Buena Park Mall:

Beatty Elementary School
Corey Elementary School
Crescent Avenue Christian School
Danbrook Elementary School
Dysinger Elementary School
Emery Elementary School
Gilbert/Buena Park Elementary School
Hansen School Elementary School
Knott Elementary School
Marshall Elementary School
Maxwell Elementary School
Morris Elementary School
Schweitzer Elementary School
St. Pius V
Temple Elementary School

2010.03.25 by Harmony Trevino

A Teacher Weighs In

“A family of three siblings at our school site, Project Hope, were all given backpacks last week to take home and share with the family. Today, the middle child told me, “Ms Priscila, my mom says Thank You very much for the food!” I thought it was great to hear gratitude.

All four teachers at our school mentioned how great this program is and how excited the students were to be in this Weekend Nutrition Club. I had many children already asking me about their backpacks, I told them they would get to take it home today… they were very excited!”

Contact Elizabeth Saldaña by e-mail or at 714-523-4454 ext 30 to see how you can host a food drive for any of the schools involved in the We’ve Got Your Back program.

2009.02.12 by Harmony Trevino

Stories About Children and Their Families in the We’ve Got Your Back Program

Read the stories of the children and their families who are involved in the program, and see how your contribution has made the difference in people’s lives.

Jason

Erin

Carly

2009.02.12 by Harmony Trevino

How the Program Works

We’ve Got Your Back is a weekend nutrition program created by Giving Children Hope for students in the Orange County Unified School District who have been identified as homeless under the McKinney-Vento act.

These children also take part in the free and reduced lunch program at their schools. For most of these children, the school cafeteria is their primary source of nutrition. Many return home on Friday to a household without food. This is where Giving Children Hope and the Orange County Unified School District partner together to alleviate hunger among our children in Orange County.

Giving Children Hope distributes backpacks weekly to elementary schools. There, a site coordinator distributes each backpack confidentially to every student in the program. This continues throughout the entire school year. The program is presented to the children as a Weekend Nutrition Club, instead of the “We’ve Got Your Back” program. Our first priority is to maintain and uphold the dignity and self-esteem of the children. Students in the weekend nutrition club will receive a weekly activity sheet that will pertain to nutrition. This activity sheet is returned every week in each backpack and is the students’ responsibility. Children who return their activity sheets will be rewarded. With the assistance of a school site coordinator from your school, the distribution of backpacks and the collection of empty ones can be facilitated in a simple and time efficient manner.

2009.02.12 by Harmony Trevino