Stater Bros. shuts down iconic downtown San Bernardino store

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Inland Empire Community Newspapers • May 9, 2013 • Page A7
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Plea for foster parents gets louder as National Foster Care launches month long campaign
By Harvey M. Kahn
ational Foster Care
Month kicked off on May
1st with a plea from public and private officials for people
to step up and take the challenge of
becoming foster parents. According to its most recent statistics, San
Bernardino County listed 3,867
children living in "Out-Of-Home
Care." In 2009, about 283 of those
foster children were emancipated
or aged out of the foster care system. About 12 were runaways and
55 others went unaccounted.
About 73 percent were either
adopted or reunited with family.
"We are in a real need for foster
parents. There are many foster
children who need a healthy family living situation," said Sherry
Gimple, family recruiter and outreach director of Kinship Care
Center, a statewide adoption
agency with an office in Redlands.
Gimple pointed out that National
Foster Care Month and National
Adoptions Month in November
bring light to those children who
have suffered mental and physical
abuse.
Gimple said that there are numerous considerations when trying to
place children in permanent families. She said that they try to match
siblings into the same setting.
Many come from the court system
after being abused and can no
longer safely stay with their birth
parents. Other children have simply been abandoned and others
voluntarily been given up. Gimple
said that the Kinship Care Center
tries to place children in their own
geographic region, but would
never rule out finding a good home
anywhere.
Currently, Gimple said Kinship
Care has 55 potential families recruited set to receive foster children in San Bernardino County. "If
it means that we find a well suited
family in Northern California that
is ready to make a permanent commitment, that would be perfect.
We're not looking for temporary
solutions," said Gimple. She explained that state licensing regulations must be followed, yet those
guidelines can be interpreted
A
IECN PHOTO COURTESY HSS.SBCOUNTY.GOV
Pictured is happy foster family from San Bernardino County.
Courtesy of foster care advertisement campaign in Danville, Virginia.
slightly different from county to
county.
Child advocates that say that foster children and their guardians
don't know of all the benefits
available, saying that kids don't always have to "age out" at 18, that
under some circumstances they
can receive support until 19 or
even until age-21. "There are college grants available," said Gim-
ple.
The Children Advocacy Institute in San Diego filed a suit on behalf of foster children who they
claim have had their social security
benefits of $623 per month diverted into county general funds.
Representatives
from
San
Bernardino County Children and
Family Services could not comment but did refer to its website. It
states that foster parents can work
full time , but advises that fostering is often a full time job. Unmarried couples and singles who are
stable and financially sound can
qualify. There are meetings and
background checks required to the
foster care licensing process.
Foster parents receive a reimbursement of between $446 to
$667 per month for the child's care
and an additional $84-169 per
month for children with special requirements, determined by a social
worker. State regulations allow a
maximum of six children per foster home, with no more than two
children in a bedroom.
The San Bernardino County
Children and Family Services fact
sheet states that foster children
may have been severely neglected,
suffer from physical and sexual
abuse and may have emotional
problems. "Regardless of the physical and emotional problems with
which these children must deal,
they all need a safe, nurturing
home environment." According to
the Children and Family Services
2008-09 audit report, it has a of
816 employees and a $90 million
budget. Kinship Care Center receives about $10 million annually
from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services and
about $2 million in donations, according to its recent audit.
Stater Bros. shuts down iconic downtown San Bernardino store
By R.A. Contreras
steady stream of people
had shopping in mind but
were caught off guard
when they found out their beloved
store had shut up shop for good.
Many were surprised to learn that
the Stater Brothers supermarket on
Fourth Street in downtown San
Bernardino had been shuttered
after 30 years of service as of 12o’clock on Sunday May 5.
In fact most were shocked, if not
saddened that they would never
again be able to buy food necessities and sundries at the iconic market which had been a fixture in its
location since 1984.
“It is so sad, to tell you the truth,”
lamented Genevive Diaz of San
Bernardino. “I showed up to do
some shopping for dinner, and didn’t even know they were closing.
My family and I have been going
here for years.”
Store officials reported that the
lease would not be renewed and
employees were busily handing
out flyers directing customers to
nearby locations on West Highland
Avenue and East Baseline Street in
San Bernardino.
IECN PHOTO
RICHARD CONTRERAS
Workers prepare to board up the Stater Bros. supermarket location in downtown San Bernardino. The store, which opened in
1984, closed for good on Sunday, May 4.
When asked, many shoppers
choose not to comment or speculate on the reason the store closed,
but the few who did, said the crime
and blight in the area were probably factors that lead to the decision.
“I really like Stater Brothers for
their selection and quality of fresh
meat and vegetables, but this area
is not the best,” said 72-year-old
Rigoberto Preciado of San
Bernardino in Spanish. “It was
convenient to come shop here because I live close by but there are
people doing all kinds of things
like drugs that are not good so I
think that’s why they are closing
it.”
An employee, who declined to be
identified, said that employees
would be transferred to others
stores in the area and recognized
the impact on customers the closing would have.
“We love our customers and look
forward to providing continued
service to them at other stores. We
see a lot of the same customers
every week and they become in a
way like family to us.”
Thank you to
our
CJUSD
educators
Take the time to celebrate your
students’ teacher.
Randall Ceniceros
CJUSD Board of Education
Trustee