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| SOME OF OUR GRANTS  JOSIE MONTOYA Jeffery Lynn In 2000, Bread for the Journey of Orange County (then called Irvine Bread for the Journey) met Josie Montoya in a blighted neighborhood behind Disneyland called Jeffery Lynn. She wanted to start a childrens reading program to teach English to preschool Mexican children living in that area. The old slumlord units were being rebuilt by the city of Anaheim into low rent apartments which meant stripping them down to the studs and rebuilding everything to code. The city gave Josie the use of an old unit for several community projects she was running. She had books donated but needed childrens furniture and book cases to be able to start her program. Bread for the Journey gave her a grant of $500 and she opened her school. WHITE BOARDS Matt Martino, 14 years old, was very close to his grandfather who was on a respirator in the hospital. They couldn't communicate while he was using it so Matt brought a "white board" like they used at school. His grandfather eventually asked for more white boards so he could communicate with other patients who were on respirators. After his grandfather passed away, Matt started buying white boards with his grandfather's story on the back and delivering them to various hospitals. They became very popular and Irvine bread for the Journey gave Matt a grant of $400 for more boards. He has delivered hundreds of these boards to the hospitals, but never meets the recipients. MARIACHI SUITS The Ceja family has just started a mariachi music school in San Juan Capistrano, CA. and they already have 90 students. They meet in the evenings twice a week with their students and teach the instruments themselves. Father Alex does all the administrative work, and mother Rosa teaches elementary school during the day and teaches beginning and intermediate guitar to students at night. Son David, the director of the program, teaches advance guitar, guitarron and trumpet and daughter Carmen teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced violin. The Cejas ask for a $35 a month donation per student and $15 a month donation per additional family member. As most of the students are from low-income families, some are unable to donate at times. Some of the students are now ready to play at local events and start raising money for the program. Their next pressing need is for Mariachi suits. Bread for the Journey of Orange County gave the Cejas a grant of $2000 – $1500 for mariachi suits and $500 for the next important thing they need.   THE SENIOR MARIACHI BAND with BFJ member Jack Tatham after their first performance in their new suits at the O.C.Fair BREAD CLUB Rick Mojarro, principal of Kennedy Elementry School in Santa Ana wanted to provide educational packets for students who were having different degrees of difficulty in learning. He wanted them to be able to take the packets back and forth between school and home easily, beginning with simple lessons and advancing to more difficult ones. The school district provided the learning materials but Irvine Bread for the Journey along with Target department store, provided 30 backpacks to contain the lessons. The students were so proud of their packets that when they started bringing them in to change for their next one, the backpacks looked like new. They declared theirselves "The Bread Club," in honor of Bread for the Journey.  ANGELS OF LOVE Rick Cryder of Orange wanted to show the families of victims of the Oklahoma Bombing that there were strangers whose hearts were with them in their time of sorrow. He's retired, so using his occupational skills, he made 7 inch tall, gold plated, leaded glass angels. Soon he was teaching others so they could help him and each family involved in the Oklahoma tragedy received an angel. He then continued making angels for children with serious illnesses and delivering them free of charge to hospitals. Irvine Bread for the Journey paid for the 501c(3) incorporation of his "Angels of Love" project so people can receive tax exemptions for donations,and he can write off supplies. The project kept growing and Rick couldn't keep up with the demand. He started teaching prisoners at Musick honor farm how to make angels and that became such a popular class that he needed more glass cutting equipment that could stay at the honor farm. Irvine Bread for the Journey gave him another grant for his equipment. He was then able to send angels to all the families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 tragedy. Small police badges were on the angels for the families of police victims and firemen badges on the firemen victim angels. Although he has been asked, he has never sold an angel. They are only given away.  SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FIRES OF 2003 Devastating fires burned across southern California taking numerous lives, destroying hundreds of homes and burning thousands of acres of vegetation and trees. One of the hardest hit areas was in the San Bernardino mountains. Within days, FEMA was on the scene rendering aid to those who had lost their homes and property. Knowing that FEMA is on the scene only a short period of time, an organization called Rebuilding Mountain Hearts and Lives was formed to coordinate more extended relief efforts. After receiving a call from Elizabeth Dimond, a resident of Rim of the World, Bread for the Journey of Orange County (BFJ of Irvine, at the time), contributed $1000. to start up the relief office. Elizabeth wrote, "(Bread for the Journey) has blessed us abundantly with your gift of $1000 towards administrative costs to get Rebuilding Mountain Hearts and Lives into an office with a phone and a few pencils! I have always known Bread for the Journey was a wonderful concept. Now I know first-hand how wonderfully it works!" FUTURE CARPENTERS The Watts Labor Community Action Center, run by Mr. Timothy Watkins, provides alternatives to despair and dependency through self-help and mentoring programs. Young men have been learning the carpentry trade while helping Mike Baldwin build a kitchen at the Center. They've used tools borrowed from the workers on the site. With a $700 grant from Bread for the Journey of Orange County, enough tools were purchased for three of these young apprentice carpenters to begin working immediately as independent tradesmen. PADRES PROMOTORES DE LA EDUCACION An exciting, enthusiastic group of mothers in Santa Ana, California have formed a group with the purpose of empowering their primarily Spanish speaking community of parents to become educational advocates for their children. These women are teaching other Hispanic parents the ins and outs of college entrance success for their teenagers. Another problem they face is the inability of some students to pay for their textbooks. Bread for the Journey, along with the women, came up with the idea of a "book fund." An initial grant of $750 was given to start the fund and it was decided that the students would return the books after use, as well as reesupply the fund by raising money at a local fair that attracts thousands of people each year. BUENA CLINTON UNITED HELPERS In the city of Garden Grove, California there exists a small neighborhood called Buena Clinton. It is known to very few people. To most, it is considered an area of poverty and crime. In January of 2004, four boys who live there, ages 10 and 11, decided to form a group like the already established teen leadership group at the Family Resource Center. They wanted to serve in a useful capacity and to have ID cards and T-shirts that would identify them as helpers in the community. With the support of Thang Le, the Family Resource Center's recreation director, the boys and girls created BCUH. It had a mission and guidelines, but still needed a way to identify themselves, increasing their cohesion as a team. With encouragement and a $1500 grant from Bread for the Journey of Orange County, the Buena Clinton United Helpers received a shipment of shirts, caps and visors that boosted their pride and brought them closer together. No longer were they just another group of kids, they were now distinctive members of BCUH, all sharing a single vision that is stated on their shirts: "Make Buena Clinton a Better Place."  Petite Violins Ms. Cynthia studied violin with the famed Dr. Suzuki in Japan and after 14 years of successfully teaching the violin here in California, she met Dr. Ana Jiminez at the Orange County Children's Therapeutic Arts Center. Dr. Jiminez had established the ideal environment in her center for Ms. Cynthia to develop an urban violin program which engages young children in significant musical accomplishments before they are old enough to be vulnerable to the negative influences in their community. The program is called the Santa Ana Suzuki Strings of OCCTAC and within two semesters , Ms. Cynthia had prepared 30 children with the skills needed to begin playing the violin; however, not all of the parents could afford the miniature violins they would require. Bread for the Journey of Orange County provided a grant of $2,000 to cover half of the cost of purchasing 10 violins. This provided Santa Ana Suzuki Strings at OCCTA the leverage to purchase 12 violins and to kick-start a matching grant program involving the parents for the remaining cost of the child size violins.  WEBSITES FOR HEROES Terry Gniffke is the founder and CEO of Caliber Media Group, a full service web agency. He's also a Marine veteran from Vietnam, so he knows the importance of keeping families close through the harrowing times of war. Recently the government blocked access for the military to Youtube and Myspace because of public access problems. So Terry and Mike Sawtelle, founder of another local company, figured out how to make that service available. These are password protected sites and for a donation of $99, a website can be made available to a military family for one year. Bread for the Journey of OC gave a grant of $2000, making 20 sites available. To apply for a website or for more information click on. OPERATION BEANIES Mrs. Miki Sessler of Huntington Beach, California started "Operation Beanies in 2004 , with the intent of having friends and neighbors either knit or crochet beanies for Iraq and Afghanistan service personell. The beanies would keep their heads warm ,keep bugs out of their hair and help the cold helmets fit better. Attached to each beanie is the name of the "knitter" The receiver is asked to have a picture taken wearing their beanie and return it to Miki, who then sends it to the beanie maker. Now in 2008, this project has snowballed into a huge undertaking, as women from all over the country are knitting beanies and sending them to Miki to mail to Iraq. She had 17 boxes holding 2150 beanies but couldn't afford to send them to Iraq. Bread for the Journey of Orange County contributed $500 toward the mailing. To date she has shipped over 35,000 beanies made by over 800 knitters. For more information go to AN ANGEL FOR THE HOMELESS In Orange County the homeless population is estimated at 35,000 and growing. These people are often "invisible." Forgotten or considered worthless. But Sue Sonnenberg knows they are all special and have their own unique circumstances that put them on the streets. For 4 years, she and her volunteers have visited parking lots, emergency shelters and mental health facilities in Santa Ana distributing over 1200 pieces of clothing a month. They set up tables with the clothing in order by gender and size, have a numbered waiting system and call most of their recipients by name. She's particularly delighted when she finds someone with an upcoming job interview and can give them an appropriate outfit, plus a 5 piece toiletry pack with a razor. "It's such an esteem builder to feel decent about the way you look," says Sue. Each year thrift stores, clothing stores and and private individuals thousands of clothing items without considering the poor and homeless or even taking the clothes to thrift stores. Sue collects what the thrift stores throw out plus from any other source she can find. Bread for the Journey of Orange County partnered with Sue through a grant of $1500 to help with the storage rental and the purchase of new underwear, which is hard to find in good used condition. Together, we are benefiting the less fortunate in our community. LAS PALMAS PERCUSSION GROUP Two young teachers , Jolene Smith and Laurel Santana of Las Palmas Elementary School in San Clemente Ca. share a passion for music - especially percussion. But 70% of the children in their school are part of the free or reduced lunch program, the majority of them are learning English as a second language , and the school district has had to cut music programs due to lack of funding. Jolene and Laurel wanted to give these children an opportunity for the experience of music, so they provided 3/4 of the percussion instruments with their own money and Bread For the Journey of OC gave a grant of $915 for the purchase of two new xylophones so they could expand their program to more children. Since the students do not own their own instruments , they come to practice before and after school and during recess, so the teachers are also putting in four more hours of their own time for this group of 30 children from kindergarten through fourth grade. The Las Palmas Percussionists play for school activities , parent programs and local events. They are full of fun and commitment to their group. They'er learning the appreciation of music and the discipline of practicing their instruments. There is always a waiting list of students wanting to join the group. OTHER GRANTS WILL SOON BE ADDED Some other grants can be seen at The National Office Web Site look under chapter stories
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