Jones Valley Urban Farm
Kate Darden
I’ve been serving on Jones Valley’s board for nearly four years. In that time, I’ve seen the reach and impact of our educational programs grow and, importantly, in ways that we can measure. Partnerships with educators ensure that our hands-on science and nutrition education meets the needs of both learners and teachers.
Many children in our community think food comes from a box, a cellophane wrapper, even the grocery store, or worse, a convenience store. I believe the wide-eyed delight of children, with their hands in the dirt, learning that food grows from seeds, from the ground, with humans tending and harvesting it changes perceptions and behaviors. Kids can make better choices if they have choices. Kids may not try new things for their parents, but on the farm, it’s cool to try spinach that you picked. This fall we launched the second season of Glen Iris’ fifth-grade student-run, biweekly market with the produce they’ve grown. They are learning about financial literacy and being part of a community by doing.
How You Can Give
Jones Valley believes everyone with a dollar can make a difference. We use an individual fundraising platform that people can access from jonesvalleyteachingfarm.org, or they can plug directly into a fundraiser’s page like mine: stayclassy.org/fundraise?fcid=250407. You can watch short videos that explain how the farm impacts children and families.
Pratt Austin-Trucks
American Cancer Society
My mother-in-law and father-in-law both died of cancer. My mother-in-law had esophageal cancer and passed away the day after my daughter’s first Christmas. My father-in-law had colon cancer, so my husband gets tested for it every five years.
It’s important to me personally that we keep funding research because my children are both at risk too since it runs in my family. Hopefully we will have a cure for all kinds of cancer one day.
This year I served as co-chair of the 2013 Hope Gala, the biggest single fundraiser for the Birmingham Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and we chose to specifically support the Joe Lee Griffin Hope Lodge in Southside, a place where kids with cancer and a parent can stay while receiving treatment.
How You Can Give
It’s great to make a memorial gift at Christmas to someone who has lost a family member to cancer or to make an honorary gift to the American Cancer Society.
If you go online to cancer.org, you can choose specific types of cancer you want to fund research for, or you can donate specifically to the Joe Lee Griffin Hope Lodge.
YWCA
Paige Daniel
The YWCA has always been a family involvement. A social worker by trade, Mom was involved and on the board for many years. I started working on the YWCA Junior Board 12 or so years ago. Their whole mission is empowering women, and that’s something that really speaks to me. They have lots of services available for women, a Kids’ Corner day care in Woodlawn, and a place for families to live. It’s important for me to help give women the tools they need to do well and to prosper, to give them the opportunity to make better a difficult situation, whether that’s leaving an abusive situation or getting on track financially.
How You Can Give
On the morning of Dec. 14, we hold a Santa’s Workshop where kids come and make gifts for their moms, and moms are able to shop in a kids room and teen room for their kids. It’s a great way for them to give to each other. Volunteers can buy gifts or come and help set up or be shoppers. We will accept new, unwrapped gifts until Dec. 11 at the front desk of the YWCA, 309 23rd Street. To get involved at the event, contact Mary Jane Gibson at mjgibson@ywcabham.org or 322-9922 ext. 343.
You can give a donation in honor of someone at ywcabham.org/donate.
Family Promise of Birmingham
Kim Kimberlin
As the Family Promise coordinator for St. Luke’s, I coordinate a shelter for homeless families that rotates among 16 churches and synagogues, including St. Peter’s Anglican, St. Stephen’s Episcopal, St. Luke’s, Mountain Brook Baptist and Canterbury United Methodist. Families spend a week at each church and then move to the next one. Each church serves dinner each night and has volunteers stay overnight. During the day the families go to a day center at Southside Baptist or go out to work.
Through this program, we are living out the mandate of a verse in Matthew, and we build relationships with the families as we share our resources.
The shelter provides a respite from paying for meals and other needs that allows them to get back on their feet. The typical stay is about three months, and the success rate is about 90 percent. We are 100 percent supported by community and receive no federal or state money.
How You Can Give
Often these families are starting from nothing with only their clothes on their back. One year I gave my dad a letter saying I bought towels for a family moving into a house, and my dad loved it. You can donate in someone’s honor like I did for my dad.
We try to collect money and gift cards, about $100 per person in the program, to let the parents shop with it a few days before Christmas. Leftover funds go to families who have been in the program in the past. I love letting a mom be in control of what she wants to buy her child. To donate specifically for this program, you put in the memo in your donation that it is for Christmas gifts.
To donate, visit familypromisebham.org or send a check to Family Promise of Birmingham, PO Box 531233, Birmingham, AL 35253.
PreSchool Partners
John Hargrove
A few years ago as I thought about how I spent (wasted) my free time, I wished for an opportunity to become involved in something that impacted both our greater Birmingham community and its future. When I was asked to help with Preschool Partners, it was like a prayer answered. To see these Birmingham children come through our program learning things like the alphabet, colors, shapes and generally getting ready for big school just like a lot of other children do is truly amazing. Gifts to our program can provide something as big as tuition for a child for a year to something as (not so) small as supplies for a child or books for our library. These gifts last a lifetime for our children!
How You Can Give
Preschool Partners loves for people to volunteer as much as their schedule allows. We have celebrity readers who come and read to the children as well as volunteers that help out with seasonal events like “Trunk or Treat.”
It costs $6,500 for a family to participate in PreSchool Partners. A donation of $100 provides supplies for an entire school year, and a donation of $75 provides the families with a children’s story book every week during the school year as part of our “Families Reading Together” program. For more information, visit preschool-partners.org.
The Firehouse Shelter
John Scott
For the last several years, our Bible study group at St. Luke’s and our families have simply brought a nice hot meal to the Firehouse Shelter to feed men staying for the night. We do this one time every other month during the year.
Serving a delicious hot meal to those in need is very rewarding. First, it’s a great activity to participate in with friends, neighbors or church members as we grow together. It’s also a great activity to participate in with your family and teaches your children the importance of giving back to those who are in need. It also reminds us that we all are in need and that we must connect with each other in the community of Christ. When we serve dinner, we always bring a big spread of barbecue from Golden Rule because the men appreciate it and we feel like everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy a big delicious meal like that.
How You Can Give
There are countless ways to get involved with the Firehouse Shelter. If you’re the type who likes to see the fruits of your labor, check out the volunteer opportunities page at firehouseshelter.com to see how you can directly affect those in need.
Current needs going into the holidays include: twin bed mattresses and box springs, linens, pillows, gently used washer and dryers, new socks and underwear for men (all sizes), winter clothing, jackets, coats, long johns, blue jeans, tennis shoes (men’s sizes 9-12, gently used), kitchen cooking utensils, can openers, coffee mugs. Financial donations are great, too.
Service opportunities include cooking and serving meals and cleaning and maintenance of properties. Sign up at firehouseshelter.com.
