Press Releases

SILVAR Realtors Present Grants to Assist Local Families

Cupertino, CA - The Silicon Valley Realtors® Charitable Foundation recently presented over $6,000 in grants to local non-profit organizations that assist families in the area. At the Los Gatos/Saratoga District m, District Chair Brian Bernasconi, who is with Alain Pinel Real-tors, presented a check for $3,180 to representatives of Future Families of Santa Clara County, and a check for $3,000 to a representative of Emq Children & Family Services of Los Gatos.

Future Families is a licensed adoption and foster family agency that believes all children deserve a safe, healthy and stable family environment, that all children and families need support to be successful, and that all children can heal from past trauma with loving care and specialized services. The organization works to provide an array of services that em-power troubled children to succeed at home.

Lisa Breen Strickland, director of Community Partnerships & Resources and Carolyn Cristofani, board director and the chair of the Fund Development Committee of Future Families thanked the Realtors and affiliates for the grant. They said the Charitable Foun-dation’s grant will allow Future Families to purchase a cam recording video system for education purposes. The equipment will be used to help foster care youth prepare for job readiness activities and advance their academic and speaking skills, and to help prepare potential adoptive and foster parents during training and orientation sessions.

Jenny Green, development specialist for Emq (Eastfield Ming Quong) Children & Family Services of Los Gatos, accepted the check for the organization. Emq Children & Family Services serves some of the most vulnerable members of the community – children with serious emotional disturbances and their families. The organization provides these chil-dren with such services as residential, outpatient, in-home, day treatment, sexual abuse treatment, chemical dependency programs, foster care and more.

Green said the foundation’s grant will support Emq’s Adopt-a-Cottage program, benefit-ing 40 children who live in four residential cottages in Los Gatos. These children require 24-hours-a-day care and treatment for mental health and emotional problems, which have often been caused by severe abuse or neglect in their former living environment. The program is designed to help children deal with their emotional issues and learn positive patterns of behavior.

Green said, “The money that SILVAR is giving us will serve kids ages 6 to 18 who are living right here in Los Gatos. They have gone through tough times in their lives. The grant will provide fun childhood memories for these children, such as books, toys, tutor-ing supplies, swimming lessons, planting a garden, everything government funding does not cover.”

These grants are made possible in part by a sponsorship from the Heritage Bank of Commerce.

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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