Our facility, located downstairs
at chapter house, continues to serve the families in need in our community.
Flooding occurred this summer and we are in the process of renovating our
store. We have continued to provide clothing to school children through
Family Resources and Tri-City Mental Health Center.
We can hardly wait to re-open our facility. We
have created a shopping experience for the children so they may select 5
t-shirts in bright and exciting colors as well as necessary underclothing
and socks. Depending on the season, jackets or sweatshirts will be available.
We now provide every child with a back pack and pants. As usual, we like
to encourage the people in our community to help us provide shoe cards and
additional items for these families in need. Les Fleurs provide each family
with a bag filled with hygiene care. Our holiday event entitled “Act
of Giving” has been very successful providing clothing and gifts to
over 200 children in 41 families. This year Act of Giving was December 11,
2009. Our families were gracious and thankful for what our volunteers provided.
Your continued support of Assistance League of Pomona Valley enables our
volunteers to provide for those in need. Here are a few stories that represent
our participation. We are always amazed at how these people we help give
us such rewards.
At the beginning of the day a sweet man came in with his son. We provided
for him and he quietly asked about getting something for his daughter. She
was about 4 and was at City of Hope with leukemia. He was out of work but
the pride he had when he showed us her picture brought tears to our eyes.
We gave what we had available and he left thanking us profusely. Kids
came all day and about the time we started to close a very dignified woman
came in the pouring rain with her 2 sons. One of our members helped them
and tried to get one of the boys to put on dry socks. He really did not
want to. He would get them wet from his old shoes which had heavily worn
soles. Luckily we found a pair of new shoes he could wear. They were homeless.
We wondered if they had a place for that evening. The mother told us the
shelter let them stay there on rainy nights. She got them up the stairs
and quietly came back down to thank us. She wants to keep consistency in
their lives. She wondered if we knew where she might find assistance at
Christmas for small gifts for her sons. We told her we would be able to
help. We realized her sweater actually had water dripping from the sleeves.
We found mom a sweatshirt and gave her some socks, too. Her elegant face
had tears streaming down her cheeks. It’s hard to say we felt happy
but we were full of emotion. It was one of those lump in your throat times.
Sometimes it is very hard to help others and see their pain. We found out
in December she had found a job. Thanks to a special member, they had a
great Christmas.
Whether it be a young child seeing a wrapped gift, or a mom or dad realizing
they have something to give their children this year, we can all feel we
gave several families a helping hand. When we gave one little boy his new
clothes he looked up to us with an ear to ear grin. He then put his hand
to his lips and kissed it and threw us the biggest kiss ever. What a feeling!