Success Stories

We know that safer-at-home orders have a distorted meaning for those whose homes weren’t safe even in pre-pandemic times. Globally, cases of relationship violence have risen. During the first two weeks of shutdowns, Human Options saw a 100% increase in requests for food and other basic needs as well as double the number of requests ...

New Vista Career Academy recently partnered with The Mission Continues, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that empowers veterans to continue their service, and empowers communities with veteran talent, skills and preparedness to generate visible impact. Through a grant from the Tech Sgt. Jack Kushner Ret’d Foundation, Inc., we secured funds to purchase the school’s first flagpole ...

Connie and I were matched together in 2012, just after her 16th birthday. As I remember it, we were both very nervous yet excited to start this new pairing, as neither one of us quite knew what we were getting into. I still remember the first day we met very clearly. We sat across from ...

A now familiar tiled-grid of faces greets parents and students alike, during Gisler Elementary’s zoom End-of- Year Performance. Each child in turn fills the screen and they have our undivided attention. A canned applause lights up their faces as they finish their song. They did it! The beginning of the COVID crisis was a time ...

When Jocelyn started Pacific Chorale Academy as a fourth grader, she was shy, introverted, and could hardly be heard when she spoke. But she loved to sing, and her smile shone through during rehearsals as she became a stronger and braver singer. Two years later, Jocelyn was a leader in her section and was singing ...

The last several months have presented us all with many upheavals and challenges – social, financial, emotional; the physical time away from our Waldorf family. It also has brought some surprising silver linings: an ancestral call to bread baking (store shelves emptied of yeast and flour…who would have guessed?); a new form of Victory Garden ...

Together, Apart: How Waldorf School of Orange County Keeps its Roots Intact During Distance Learning In the last few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has been publicized as a contradiction in terms: it’s a tragedy, it’s an opportunity; it’s a portal to the vision of a new world, it’s a bottomless hole of deep despair. Working ...

Sometimes in this field of work, you fret. After all, these are little people we are dealing with – little people who need love, family and a place to call home. For those working in foster care and adoption, finding a home and family for a child can be a heavy burden to carry. When ...

On Veteran’s Day, a young man handed a piece of paper to Chris Ruble, Executive Director of Childhelp Alice C. Tyler Village.Ruble recalled, “‘It’s for Mr. Jim.’ he said as he handed it to me, a little crumpled at the edge, ‘Can you give it to him?’” After nearly six years with Childhelp and more ...

A unique yet very special year for Project Youth OCBF’s Scholarship Ceremony honoring the 2020 Higher Education Mentoring & Project SELF Students “Physically distant yet together in all ways that matter” On Wednesday, July 29, 2020 Project Youth OCBF hosted their first ZOOM Scholarship Ceremony to present thirty-five (35) students with college scholarships. Twenty-five (25) ...