The Silicon Valley Realtors® Charitable Foundation presented $9,620 in grants to organizations serving youth and families in communities served by Realtors in Silicon Valley. The Charitable Foundation is the arm of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors® (SILVAR), a trade association representing over 4,000 Realtors and affiliates engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. Districts served by members include Menlo Park/Atherton, Palo Alto, Los Altos/Mountain View, Sunnyvale/Cupertino/Santa Clara and Los Gatos/Saratoga.
The SILVAR Charitable Foundation presented the following grants during the month of May:
* $1,800 to Youth Community Service at the May Palo Alto Tour Meeting: Youth Community Service promotes the ethic of service, fosters youth leadership, builds community and enhances education by providing community service, service learning, and leadership activities to underserved students in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Palo Alto in grades K-12. The Charitable Foundation grant will enable YCS to meet expenses for educational, meeting, and service project supplies to support weekly school-based service and leadership clubs in local schools.
* $1,500 to Peninsula Association of Retarded Children and Adults (PARCA) at the May 7 Menlo Park/Atherton District Tour Meeting: PARCA is a private, nonprofit organization which serves approximately 500 children, teenagers, adults with developmental disabilities, including mental retardation, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, and epilepsy through a broad array of programs. The Charitable Foundation's grant will help assist PARCA in operating Page Mill Court, a 24-unit apartment complex in Palo Alto that provides independent living opportunities for 30 very low-income adults with developmental disabilities.
* $1,000 grant to the Morgan Autism Center at the May 10 Sunnyvale/Cupertino/Santa Clara Tour Meeting: The Center will use its donation to fund its Adult Program, which focuses on helping participants gain vocational and independent living skills. SILVAR's contribution will help the Center keep a ratio of one staff person to every three clients in its Adult Program, enabling the Center to continue its excellent therapeutic and educational programs.
* $2,000 to Child Advocates of Silicon Valley at the May 10 Sunnyvale/Cupertino/Santa Clara Tour Meeting: Child Advocates has provided essential services to abused, neglected or abandoned children in the Santa Clara County foster care system since 1986. The organization trains and supports Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers to work one-on-one with children, helping to ensure that each child will live in a safe and loving environment and has the resources needed to grow up healthy and strong.
* $1,320 grant to the Palo Alto Elks Lodge and its Veterans Services Committee at the May 11 Palo Alto Tour Meeting: The Palo Alto Elks Veterans Service Committee serves the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital. The Committee provides comfort and various activities to those confined in the Veterans Hospital, which houses about 300 men and women. Activities put on by the Elks Veterans Services Committee include bingo games, barbecues, holiday gift giving, and more. The Charitable Foundation grant will allow the Veterans Committee to continue to provide monthly bingo socials in the hospital's spinal cord injury and brain injury wards and Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit.
* $1,000 to the Pacific Autism Center for Education (PACE) at the May Sunnyvale/Cupertino/Santa Clara Tour Meeting: PACE's mission is to provide high quality educational and residential programs for individuals with autism and related disabilities. The grant will help PACE offset the costs of its new after-school program for children and adolescents with autism. The after-school program will help families who are struggling to find after-school care and enable parents to maintain employment, take much-needed respite time, or attend parent education and support services offered by PACE.
* $500 to Mariposa Art at a May Los Gatos/Saratoga Tour Meeting: Mariposa's Art provides after-school art and music programs and community workshops, serving at-risk youth and empowering them with self-confidence, future goals, gang alternatives, and leadership and communication skills. The grant will help fund a year-long art and leadership development program at Blackford Elementary School in the Campbell Union School District. This program will serve 25 at-risk fourth and gift grade girls, ages 9 – 11, in the coming school year.
* $500 to Friends of Deer Hollow Farm at a May Los Altos/Mountain View District Tour Meeting: Deer Hollow Farm is an educational farm located in the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. Rancho San Antonio Preserve is the most visited in the open space district because of the unique setting including the farm and adjacent county park. The program offers school year classes in Farm and Garden, Ohlone Native Americans, Wilderness, and serves as a summer day camp.
All the grants were made possible in part by a sponsorship from 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.
Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
For further information, please email or call the SILVAR office at (408) 200-0100.