Holiday Community Projects
In its 24th year, more than $8,000 was raised for “Project Joybells” which provided approximately 500 toys to low-income children living in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. “Dorothy Buckley, our founder and patron saint, would be so pleased,” says Mary Moyce, Volunteer Coordinator of Project Joybells.
Dorothy’s goal in starting Project Joybells in 1987 was to bring a touch of Christmas to children who might otherwise go without, and to provide their parents a dignified way to receive gifts for their families. This is accomplished with the help of the CCEB case managers identifying appropriate families for the program, and with the assistance of the members of the Oakland-Piedmont Chapter of the National Charity League.
National Charity League (NCL) is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to foster the mother-daughter relationship through philanthropic activities. They purchased the Joybells gifts for children 12 and under. NCL also provided volunteer support in packing the gifts for each family. “We are celebrating 25 years in 2012 and looking forward to serving more children than ever,” says Mary.
Read some of the testimonials of those helped by our program.
Fifty-six families were sponsored and received gifts for the holidays through Catholic Charities of the East Bay’s (CCEB) Adopt-a-Family Program. Eligible families are low-income families in crisis who had previously come to CCEB for assistance.
“The support from our sponsors to these families is overwhelming,” says Carol Louisell, CCEB’s Community Engagement Manger. “This program clearly captures the goodness of the holiday spirit. One sponsor adopted a family with 17 members and another adopted 11 families!”(View all of our 2011 Adopt-a-Family Sponsors)
The Holiday Turkey Program - John McMahon, a dedicated volunteer who has been coordinating the Holiday Turkey Program since 1997, Raised $20,160 in 2011 and purchased 1,008 $20 gift cards for turkeys. This is a 17% increase in funding from 2010. 26 parishes, non-profits, and CCEB distributed the gift cards. This is 8% increase in number of organizations participating. CCEB is extremely grateful to John and his efforts!
For more information about Project Joybells and the Adopt-a-Family for the Holidays program, please contact Carol Louisell, Community Engagement Manager, at clouisell@cceb.org or 510.768.3142 and for more information about the Holiday Turkey Program, please contact Joe Vallor, Development Manager, at jvallor@cceb.org or 510.768.3138.
