Instilling hope in those
who have little to no hope.

A single mother of four worked multiple jobs to keep her family afloat. When we asked her children what they wanted for Christmas, their answer wasn't toys. It was for their mom to stop worrying. We learned her electricity kept getting shut off, so with the help of generous sponsors, we paid her power bill in full. When she opened the letter at our Christmas party, the whole family burst into tears. They never imagined anyone would care that much.

With one parent disabled and unable to work, a 17-year-old took a job to help feed and house his family. Every dollar he earned went to them, leaving nothing for his own cap and gown, grad night, or yearbook. He had worked so hard to graduate, so we called his school and covered all of it. When we told him at our event, he broke down and hugged every one of our volunteers. He had spent so long caring for everyone else that he had forgotten to take care of himself.

We met a family of four living in a partitioned section of a garage, where two young children slept on the bare floor with no beds. We reached out to a local mattress company, Custom Comfort, and they donated mattresses, pillows, and sheets for the kids. For the first time, the children had a real place to sleep, and the family couldn't believe their community would show up for them like that.

One family told us their greatest worry wasn't gifts. It was simply having enough food each week. We shared their story with a local Fullerton restaurant, and for an entire year, they delivered trays of pasta to the family's apartment complex every single week, enough to feed not just this family but their neighbors too. This is what your support makes possible.

One year we set aside our school partnerships to help wounded warriors. We met a veteran carrying severe PTSD from his active-duty service, who told us the only time his mind felt clear was riding a mountain bike, one he could never afford. A local bike shop offered a deep discount, and Cindy Shin of the Shin Imaging Center wrote a check for the rest. Years later he called to say that day changed his life. He found a new job, bought a home, planted a farm, and started an organization that teaches veterans to grow their own food and donates the harvest to shelters. “It was the ripple effect,” he told us. That is what we do.