Newsletter - Compass Family Services

Newsletter
January 2014
VOLUNTEER
SPOTLIGHT:
From left to right: Ivory Thompson, Supervisor David Chiu, Juan Ochoa, Mayor Ed Lee,
Erica Kisch and Brian King
FAMILY HOLIDAY PARTY TAKES THE
CAKE (AND 100 CANDLES!)
TIFFANY
APCZYNSKI
Compass’s annual holiday party for families was bigger and better than ever
this year, as it provided an opportunity to get together with our client families
and blow out 100 candles in celebration of Compass’ centennial year. We were
thrilled to have SF Director of H.O.P.E. Bevan Dufty emceeing the event with
Executive Director Erica Kisch, and honored to have Mayor Ed Lee in attendance
to say a few words of congratulations to Compass and encouragement to the
attending families, and to proclaim December 12th, 2014 as Compass Family
Services Day in San Francisco! Supervisors David Chiu and David Campos were
also in attendance. Families were treated to a delicious turkey dinner prepared
by our beloved Chef Alex Tamburro of Executive Chef Events, and activities
were hosted by local businesses such as Deutsche Bank, Allied World Assurance
Co., Pottery Barn Kids, Zendesk, Techshop, and Groupware Technology. Children
enjoyed face-painting, magic tricks and a circus performance. Every family got
a photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus (aka Todd Kahl and Cami Weaver), and each
child walked away with a pair of pajamas from Pottery Barn Kids and a brand
new book, thanks to many generous individual donations and a partnership
with Green Apple Books.
Tiffany Apczynski is the Director of
Public Affairs at ZenDesk. She first
heard of Compass through a friend
who was involved in our Adopt-aFamily project. This friend was deeply
moved by the way that Adopt-a-Family gave her a true sense for what the
working poor are struggling against.
Her friend’s reaction was so strong
that Tiffany decided to tour our programs and attend some of our events.
She was immediately impressed by the
sense of community and interconnectedness that our programs fostered.
Tiffany joined our IMPACT Leadership
Council in July, an initiative to expand
our network by engaging young professionals in our mission and work.
Before taking her current position with
ZenDesk, Tiffany worked as a journalist and has always had a fascination
for the history of San Francisco and its
myriad neighborhoods. This fascination, as well as her passion for social
justice, are what drew her to Compass.
Ever since she started working with us,
Tiffany has demonstrated her dedication for community engagement and
Compass clients and their children enjoying the celebration
continued on page 3
SAN QUENTIN PRISONERS PARTNER WITH COMPASS TO
LAUNCH HYGIENE DRIVE
In mid-December, Gail Towle, a Compass donor and supporter,
called Compass to say she and her husband Phil were volunteering
at San Quentin prison with a group of inmates who had initiated
a hygiene kit drive for Bay Area homeless children and youth and
wanted to partner with Compass to distribute the kits. All of the
inmates in the group are “juvenile lifers”; they committed murder
when they were minors and are serving life sentences. Calling itself
Kid C.A.T. -- Kid refers to the time in their lives when they committed their crimes and C.A.T. stands for “Creating Awareness Together”-- the group’s mission is to inspire humanity through education,
mentorship, and restorative practices. Two Compass staffers were
invited to join Gail and Phil at San Quentin to meet the 16 member
group and learn about the project. The inmates had devised a well
San Quentin KID C.A.T. prisoners
thoughtout plan, which involved building awareness, educating their
more than 4,000 fellow inmates about child homelessness and
doing something practical to help.The group’s leader, Michael
Nelson who was 15 when he committed murder, and is now 30,
said, “We have made a commitment to making amends for our
past wrongs, and restoring that which we have harmed.” The
Sunday before Christmas the group met their short-term goal
of assembling one hundred hygiene kits with products ranging
from soap, toothpaste and shampoo to undergarments, towels,
first-aid kits, and nail clippers. Compass was glad to be able to
distribute these useful kits to children and youth in need, and is
appreciative of the opportunity to partner with this remarkable
group at St. Quentin trying to give back to their community.
Volunteers from left to right: Natalie, Phil, Gail, Dolan and
Jane picked up the hygiene kits from San Quentin
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS HOST COMPASS FAMILIES
On December 23rd, nineteen lucky Compass families spent a fun and exciting afternoon at the Oakland Convention Center, courtesy of the Golden
State Warriors. Families were greeted individually, given a tour of the Warriors’ facilities, and then treated to a delicious sit-down turkey dinner and a
tantalizing dessert bar. Each family member had been given an opportunity
to create a holiday wish list in advance of the party, and after lunch, every
attendee, from the youngest baby to the oldest parent, was given a stack
of beautifully wrapped holiday gifts, each one picked out specially for that
individual by the Warriors’ staff. Children and parents alike had a wonderful
time and were talking about the party for days to come.
GO WARRIORS!!!
A Compass Family enjoying a tour of the Warriors’
facilities
2
Volunteer Spotlight, continued from page 1
Clara House teenagers after their shopping spree at Uniqlo
SPECIAL HOLIDAY TLC FOR OUR OLDER
KIDS
Finding that special gift for a teenage girl or boy can be particularly tricky, and
this year two groups helped us to make the holidays particularly bright for the
big kids we serve at Compass. Children of Shelters hosted a shopping spree at
Uniqlo for the older kids at Compass Clara House – each came away thrilled
with their own handpicked bag of trendy clothing. Project Glimmer provided
many of the moms and older girls at Compass Connecting Point with jewelry,
make-up and gift cards. Thanks to these and many other wonderful holiday initiatives, our moms and teens entered the new year in style!
CHECKING IN WITH LATONIA WILLIAMS
Those of you who attended last year’s Spring
Forward event will remember our determined
and fiery client speaker Latonia Williams,
who was recovering from years of homelessness and addiction at Compass Clara House
and studying to become a social worker so
that she could help others and give back.
Latonia and her teenage son, Lawrence, recently graduated from Compass Clara House,
and moved into a brand new apartment at
Bayview Hill Gardens. Latonia is in her final
semester at City College and will graduate
with not one, but TWO, degrees – one in Arts
& Humanities and the other in Behavioral
Sciences. Most recently, Latonia was selected
to be featured in an SF Chronicle piece on
student success -– look for her in the news in the coming weeks! In her spare
time, Latonia counsels struggling students and, of course, spends quality time
with Lawrence, who is now a high school sophomore and making great strides
academically, emotionally and socially. Latonia’s Adopt-a-Family donor, Synergy
Corporate Housing, provided the family with a houseful of furniture for their
new apartment. Said Latonia, “We had a blessed Christmas. To be honest it was
very emotional and a little overwhelming.”
volunteerism. She helped coordinate
ZenDesk volunteers for both our Halloween Party and our Holiday Party
and she has provided ZenDesk employees as a resource for projects at our
various program sites.
Tiffany recalls the unforgettable experience that ZenDesk employees had,
coming to Compass Connecting Point
during drop-in hours and seeing the
long line of homeless families, in crisis, seeking services. This powerful experience brought Zen Desk employees
close to the cause and helped them to
develop a true human connection with
the population that Compass serves.
Tiffany says that she is impressed by
Compass’ ability to put a human face
on family homelessness which is an
issue that many people don’t really
understand or want to really consider.
Says Tiffany:
“Compass is a non-profit that really understands the importance of forming
partnerships and building long-term and
personal relationships with both clients
and supporters.”
Tiffany hopes that her time at Compass and her impact as a volunteer
will demonstrate that members of
the tech community have the same
emotional capacity and vulnerability as anyone else. She believes that
some employees in the tech industry
are working toward the goals of being true neighbours and concerned
citizens. Tiffany has been a wonderful
asset to the Compass community and
we know that she continues to help us
break the cycles of homelessness and
poverty.
3
Compass kids enjoying the Pottery Barn play space at our Holiday Party
PARTNERING WITH POTTERY BARN KIDS
Earlier this year, Compass partnered with the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children and Pottery Barn Kids to refresh
the Helen Hawk Children’s Center, the licensed childcare center at Compass Clara House. The result was a new “Bright
Space”, with the center transformed by the Pottery Barn Kids team into a more comfortable, welcoming place for
children to learn and play, with new furniture, equipment and toys. As if this were not enough, over the holiday season
Pottery Barn Kids partnered with us on a number of fronts to make our Holiday Party for Families a huge success. In
addition to donating boxes of decorations and ornaments, they gave us hundreds of pairs of pajamas, which our Santa
gave out to the children attending the party. They also set up a wonderful play area at the party, complete with a play
kitchen, teepee, chairs, tables and plenty of toys! And when the party was done, all of this wonderful Pottery Barn Kids
stuff was Compass’ to use in our programs and give to our families!
Edelman volunteers (left) and Office volunters (right) finish wrapping their AAF gifts
ADOPT-A-FAMILY: A NEW SMILE FOR THE NEW YEAR
Our Adopt-a-Family project (AAF) has been increasingly successful over the years, and we are proud to announce that,
thanks to our generous community of donors, 350 homeless and at-risk families were “adopted” this holiday season. In
addition to our many AAF donors, Compass relies on a small army of volunteers to receive, organize and then distribute gifts to our eager families. This year, a Salesforce volunteer named Laura Young was particularly moved by her AAF
experience. Laura serendipitously overheard that a donor was not able to follow through for one of the families they
had adopted. Envisioning how disappointed Angelica and her 11-year old daughter Chauri would feel, she stepped up and
purchased gifts for the family. As if that weren’t enough, Laura and her husband made the commitment to cover the
cost of Angelica’s special big wish – replacing her top teeth, the absence of which had caused her years of embarrassment and shame. Thanks to the generosity of Laura and her husband, Angelica is starting off the New Year with a brand
new smile and newfound self-confidence! Adopt-a-Family is a rewarding and heart-warming experience for all involved,
and we hope to continue the tradition of making wishes come true for years to come.
Compass kids enjoying the magic show at the Spooktacular Halloween Party at Runway
KIDS’ SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN PARTY HELD AT TECH
ACCELERATOR, RUNWAY
The spooktacular energy was palpable at Runway, a successful tech accelerator in the mid-Market
area, after it was decorated for Halloween to meet and greet Compass’ kids—and their parents—for
trick-or-treating, a magic show and dinner. To get in the spirit, kids chose their favorite costume
when they arrived—all donated—and got dressed up to take a walk down the long open-plan
runway-like space. They filled up their bags with candy while chatting and taking “selfies” with as
many of the costumed staff from the 75 start-ups as they could. In these heady days of tech startups, tax breaks and the lack of low-income housing, Runway CEO, Allan Young a San Francisco Chinatown native said: “It’s reasonable to call out successful entrepreneurs to be more engaged with
society, with the community. I do think it’s very difficult to measure the indirect, external benefits
that each new technology job creates. But clearly, there is an external benefit…some economic
activity beyond just that tech job itself.” Our kids and families definitely benefited from the experience and Runway’s entrepreneurs got a great opportunity to educate themselves about the issues
of family homelessness and poverty.
Compass kids make their way down the Runway to trick-or treat and receive goodies from Runway employees
A special thanks to these groups and corporations for their many contributions:
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS
Helping fa milies
find their way
49 Powell Street, 3rd floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
p: 415-644-0504
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