SF Bay Raffle Achieves $100K Milestone Providing Critically-Needed Funds to Charity Partners:Monies

June 22, 2011 - PRLog -- TIBURON, CA, June 22, 2011 – The San Francisco Greater Bay Area Dream Home Raffle (SF Bay Raffle - www.sfbayraffle.com), a novel collaborative fundraising campaign of the nonprofit Grants For Good Foundation (GFGF), announced having achieved a milestone by granting over  $100,000 to nine greater Bay Area charities serving at-risk youth, children and families.  

Because GFGF’s Community Partner charities receiving funds are being challenged by drastic budget cuts, the SF Bay Raffle helps keep programs alive and enables each agency to focus on continuing the programs that serve individuals and communities.  

Manny Kopstein, GFGF Founder says, “We at the Foundation are proud to have achieved this milestone to aid our Community Partners.  I would like to thank each one of our great contributors for helping us reach this milestone and with this support we intend to continue granting ticket proceeds to our Community Partner agencies.”

One SF Bay Raffle Community Partner putting GFGF grant dollars to work is BOSS in the East Bay.  BOSS was first established in 1971 as a response to the closure of mental health hospitals, which put many mentally ill men and women into the streets.  BOSS, a recent recipient of UC Berkeley School of Public Health’s prestigious Public Health Hero Award, now serves over 1,500 homeless families and individuals with multiple barriers to self-sufficiency. They do their work through a network of housing and service programs in Berkeley, Oakland, and Hayward.  

According to a December 2009 report titled, “Alameda Countywide Homeless Count and Survey” conducted by Speiglman Norris Associates, there has been a dramatic increase in the “invisible homeless” since 2003 by 168%.  The invisible homeless are defined as those “living temporarily with a friend or relative, in a motel, or facing eviction within seven days.”  

BOSS addresses this challenge by providing several different shelter and housing options such as: multi-tiered housing at Ursula Sherman Village, a service-rich residential “campus” for homeless families and individuals, with short-term and transitional housing at Harrison and Sankofa Houses; the South County Homeless Project in Hayward, which helps homeless mentally disabled adults; McKinley Family Transitional House (Berkeley) which serves families; Casa Maria and Rosa Parks House in Oakland, and Pacheco Court in Hayward, which serve people with mental illness and other disabilities; and Peter Babcock and Regent Street House in Berkeley, which serve homeless people with HIV/AIDS.  All of these programs are designed to help homeless people live, work, learn and heal so they can achieve health and self-sufficiency.

Robin who has a seizure disorder was going to school to be a Surgical Tech and had a 4.0 Grade Point Average while going to school.  She is now living at the Harrison House – a place she says “…where people care about me. When you look around you can’t point to the people who live here and say that they’re homeless because no one looks homeless.  There’s lots of support from everyone.”  She continues, “I’ve been at other shelters before and this is nothing like those other shelters because  I can go to sleep here because I know it’s safe.  It’s so hard to find suitable affordable housing because a lot of people need it – this is the real world!”

Carla was hit by a car approximately two years ago. Last October she came to the Harrison House because she was homeless and was using a walker due to an injury caused by the accident.  Carla says, “BOSS’s coordinators and case managers helped me flourish because they gave me such wonderful support. They even helped me get new glasses and this electric wheelchair.”  She continued, “I am now on a list for permanent housing.  I am really grateful to BOSS – I wouldn’t have ever known about housing options with out their help.”

Another beneficiary of the SF Bay Raffle is DrawBridge in Marin.  Even affluent Marin County is experiencing a higher number of homeless, many of whom are children under the age of 18.  A sobering statistic from the homeless count data in Marin County conducted by the County of Marin Health & Human Services and HomeBase indicates a dramatic increase of over 280% from 2007 to 2009 for youth between 15 and 18 years old.  Many of these youths, who are living with their families, are either experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless in Marin County.  

Started in 1989, DrawBridge was originally the brainchild of Gloria Simoneaux, who created the organization from her experience providing art therapy for terminally ill youth.  Simoneaux translated this background into an entirely separate arena of aiding homeless children.  Currently DrawBridge conducts weekly art groups in 25 shelters throughout the seven Bay Area counties, including San Rafael.  Pamela Morton, DrawBridge’s Executive Director says, “Through funding received from Grants For Good Foundation and the SF Bay Raffle, we are able to continue to deliver our programs to the sites in the San Francisco Bay Area.  She continues, “We are grateful to GFGF’s SF Bay Raffle program and to the people who have purchased tickets and for the contributions we have received so far.”

Rose Schweig started as a DrawBridge volunteer in 1997 when she was a teenager.  A year later she became a paid group facilitator and in 2000 she initiated and oversaw the expansion of Drawbridge programs in Santa Cruz.  In early 2005 Rose was named Regional Director in Santa Cruz and started four art programs there.  Rose has witnessed first-hand how Drawbridge benefits youth who are experiencing very “adult” problems of homelessness, substance abuse and divorce in their families.  “This program provides children with a consistent space where they can feel supported and valued in a manner that they may not be experiencing in their lives.  Schweig continues, “I have stayed with DrawBridge for so many years because it offers vulnerable children the freedom to be creative, and I have seen some wonderful results with them. The children really count on us being there, which means so much to them and contributes to their healthy growth and development.”

About the San Francisco Greater Bay Area Dream Home Raffle and Grants For Good Foundation: The 2011 San Francisco Greater Bay Area Dream Home Raffle (SF Bay Raffle) is sponsored by Grants For Good Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization formed in 2009.  The SF Bay Raffle employs a new and unique and up to a $2.5 million total value grand prize package of a luxury home anywhere in the Bay Area, plus up to $1 million in cash – while simultaneously funding nine well-established but smaller charities in the San Francisco Greater Bay Area. www.sfbayraffle.com and www.grantsforgood.org.

About Building Opportunities Through Self-Sufficiency (BOSS): First established in 1971 as a response to the closure of mental health hospitals, which put many mentally ill men and women into the streets, today BOSS serves over 1,500 homeless families and individuals with multiple barriers to self-sufficiency. We do our work through a network of housing and service programs in Berkeley, Oakland, and Hayward. Today BOSS is an award-winning grassroots organization that combines neighborhood-based housing and assistance programs with a strong social justice focus. www.self-sufficiency.org.

About DrawBridge: DrawBridge, a 501c3 non-profit organization, provides expressive arts programs for homeless children and at -risk youth, operating in seven bay area counties in including San Mateo, Alameda, San Francisco, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Marin. www.drawbridge.org.

Press Contact:
Diane Castro, GFGF/SF Bay Raffle Public Relations, Young at Heart Communications, (415) 265-7752 diane@youngatheartcommunications.com , www.youngatheartcommunications.com