I am not blogging as another ego-tripping or for solicitations. I am blogging as a medium of sharing our issues of the facts of life with one another. Because, the burden shared is reduced and the happiness shared is doubled. Kisses & Roses is a charity. As John Legend sang, "We are ordinary people." But, I believe that by the Grace of God, ordinary people can do extra-ordinary things.
Please, let me share the story of the OCHOA WINTER CENTER IN GILROY with you.
Alex Jimenez, 9, places an American flag in the screen door of their temporary home - a converted garage - while brother Antonio, 7, and mother Erika watch from the doorway. The Ochoa Center offers small furnished duplexes to homeless families.By MELINDA SACKS / Special to the Mercury News
Even though she knew supporting the three of them would be tough, she couldn't stand living in fear that her husband would break down the door of the bedroom and beat her or her children as he did numerous times when he lost his temper.
Today, just one year later, Jimenez is a different person from the frightened woman who fled Texas with her kids and what she could cram in their car. Settled in a tiny apartment and finishing up a computer training program that will give her the skills she needs to find a good job, Jimenez is optimistic in a way she hasn't been before. Wish Book readers can help make this family's future even brighter.
"I know I will make it and I am very happy,'' she says through a translator. Jimenez is enrolled in English classes, and hopes to be comfortable conversing in English one day soon, but for now she is more articulate in her native Spanish.
When they arrived in San Jose last year, Jimenez and her boys were homeless and friendless. Thanks to the Ochoa Winter Center in Gilroy, though, they found a safe, warm place to sleep. From that day forward, things began to improve. The children were immediately enrolled in school, Jimenez started ESL classes, and all three received counseling to help them deal with the trauma they left behind.
Each winter, the Ochoa Winter Center offers its services to homeless individuals and families with nowhere else to turn. A case manager assigned to each person oversees a comprehensive plan that includes language courses, vocational training, child care, tutoring, health care and a path to obtaining secure, long-term housing.
Last season, 65 families — including 130 children — found refuge between December and February. In the summer, the Center is home to 100 immigrant farmworker families.
A winter highlight for Ochoa residents is the shopping spree for children, which Wish Book readers' donations have made possible for the past several years. All the youngsters take to the aisles of a large department store to fill baskets with items their families could not otherwise afford — from shoes to jackets to backpacks.
"They loved it because they got to pick out their own things,'' recalls Jimenez of the shopping expedition that included her two boys last year. "Usually I could only buy things at the second-hand store, but this time they got to pick out things new and it made them feel so good. They are still wearing the things they got.''
Staff at the Ochoa Center say that for many children, the humiliation of always wearing hand-me-downs or clothing from donation boxes is so upsetting they don't want to go to school. The shopping spree allows all the children in the center to get school supplies and choose warm coats and clothes that fit them. It is a huge boost to everyone's self-esteem.
St. Joseph's Family Center in Gilroy organizes the shopping outing, recruiting dozens of volunteers to help out. For $125, each child can get a backpack and school supplies, a coat, shoes, pajamas and necessities such as underwear and socks.
For Jimenez, although life is far from easy, there are many reasons to feel good these days. A scholarship has allowed her to enroll in advanced computer courses while holding a part-time job. When she completes her certification in the next month, she plans to work as a bookkeeper.
Her real dream, though, is to have a business of her own. Jimenez already has taken on some small projects combining business organization with promotional services.
A laptop computer, software and printer ($2,985 in a bundled package that includes everything she needs) would make it possible for Jimenez to launch her home-based business. She would like to be there when her children get out of school, so working from home is an ideal way to generate income and avoid expensive child care.
"Thank God I had the help from Ochoa,'' says Jimenez. "I started with nothing and now we have a future.''
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