Giving Children Hope wouldn’t be able to serve thousands of children across the street and around the world without the support of deeply committed individuals who sacrifice their time and utilize their networks to bring hope. Among our greatest supporters, the Tender Care Community Outreach Program is a group from the Jain Center of Southern California, located just down the street from Giving Children Hope facility on Commonwealth Avenue. The Jain Center seeks to promote Jainism, a religion based in India whose central tenets include caring for the welfare of others. It is among our greatest blessings to work closely with an organization so willing to share their blessings with families experiencing homelessness, and so committed to the health and wellness of their local community. We are so grateful to TCCOP for partnering with us on many projects throughout the years.
This year the TCCOP has been instrumental in our mission to identify the most vulnerable families enrolled in our We’ve Got Your Back program, and help move them to a stronger and more productive place in their lives by providing backpack and food costs to ensure that each child in the WGYB program would not experience hunger and also have a discreet mechanism in which to transport their food donations to their home. By helping cover these costs, TCCOP has played a critical role in our ability to identify and address the root issues surrounding extreme poverty in our communities. We have been grateful to rely on TCCOP to advance this important cause. In this way, together we are working to end the cycle of poverty in our community through education and a network of support. We are extremely appreciative of TCCOP for helping us significantly advance this goal.
Our friendship with the TCCOP began when Prafulla Shaw, a TCCOP member, set up a meeting with Christine Sanchez, Director of Domestic Programs. During the meeting, they were interrupted by a family who came to Giving Children Hope looking for food and a place to stay for the night. Hearing this family’s story, Prafulla went into action, putting them up in a hotel and buying their dinner for the night. Since then, Prafulla has worked alongside Giving Children Hope countless times, always asking for more ways TCCOP can help and going above and beyond to ensure a vulnerable family gets what they need. These are the kinds of people that comprise TCCOP; when they hear a child has a need, you can count on them to go out of their way to fill it. In the past, the TCCOP has helped on past projects such as when they made dreams come true for Native American Youth in Riverside.
When two groups, each with a desire to provide compassion to the vulnerable, come together, amazing things can happen. This strong impact is greatly made possible by Tender Care Community Outreach Program. TCCOP assisted us in purchasing the 1200 backpacks necessary to execute the WGYB program and thus allowed us to continue to expand our educational classes. Together we are creating a network of support for families who otherwise have none.