Event Coverage

SILVAR Charitable Foundation Presents Checks to Community Services Agency and Help One Child

The Silicon Valley REALTORS® Charitable Foundation presented a check for $3,000 each to Community Services Agency and to Help One Child at last week’s Los Altos/Mountain meeting.

$3,000 to Community Services Agency
Lisa Keith of Red Hawk Real Estate presented a check for $3,000 to Tom Myers, executive director of Community Services Agency (CSA). CSA promotes independence and self-sufficiency through direct service, advocacy and referral to Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View residents with economic, physical, or social needs.

The Charitable Foundation’s grant will be used to fund CSA’s Emergency Assistance program, which helps individuals and families to acquire the skill-sets and information needed to maintain independent living and self-reliance in the face of high housing costs and low incomes, and to raise children with nutritionally balanced diets and school success.

Components of the Emergency Assistance Program include one-time rent and utility financial support, vouchers for clothing, eyeglasses, school supplies, limited medical and dental insurance for the uninsured, bus passes and gas vouchers, food from CSA’s food and nutrition center, health education, and more.

“The Realtors in this area have been incredible supporters of CSA,” said Myers. “The Emergency Assistance Program is one of 14 programs. It puts food on the table for families.”

Myers invited SILVAR members to participate in CSA’s Holiday Sharing Program, which “makes sure no low-income child goes without toys during the holidays.”

He asked SILVAR members to visit the CSA Web site at www.csacares.org , to call (650) 968-0836 for more information about these and other CSA programs, to volunteer or drop off unwrapped new toys to the CSA office at 204 Stierlin Rd. in Mountain View.

$3,000 to Help One Child
Keith then presented a check for $3,000 to Susan Kammerer, executive director of Help One Child, a local outreach which serves foster families in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Help One Child seeks to enhance the quality of foster care and increase the rate of adoption by focusing on the whole family’s needs, including, but not just the child.

The Charitable Foundation’s grant will support the group’s “A Home for Every Child” campaign. In collaboration with Santa Clara County’s Social Service Agency, the goal of the campaign is to find loving homes for 500 children (out of 2,400 who need foster care in the region alone) and volunteers to support them. The campaign consists of community outreach events focused entirely on the recruitment of foster homes and volunteers.

“We are in the same business. We find homes for our clients - only our clients are kids,” Kammerer told SILVAR members.

Upon presenting both checks, Keith and Los Altos/Mountain View District Chair Toby Vanderbeek thanked everyone who generously contributes to the Charitable Foundation.

These donations by the Charitable Foundation Trust have been made possible in part by sponsorship from Red Hawk Real Estate.

The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.

The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.

For further information, please contact Rose Meily at SILVAR Public Affairs, e-mail , or phone (408) 200-0109.

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