Assistance League Of San Jose

Readers are leaders (ral) the purpose of this program is to encourage the love of reading in young children at underperforming schools, because reading is the foundation of education. In the 2024-2025 school year this program provided 10,960 student books, over 9,000 student enrichment activities, and 588 classroom books to 49 classrooms in 10 schools. In addition, 15 teachers applied for and received grant money totaling $718 to buy books for their classes. The summer reading project delivered two reading books per student to be given out on the last day of school, so that the students would not lose the progress they had made during the year.

Caring hands this program uses the knitting and crocheting skills of chapter members to create beautiful hand-made items for mothers delivering babies at the county medical center and other hospitals, for the two residential treatment centers that are served by senior bingo, and for parisi house. During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, caring hands donated 2,033 layettes.ows and 67 lap blankets.

Hug-a-bear this program provides cuddly teddy bears to local agencies to distribute to children who are victims of abuse, neglect or trauma. During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, we gave 800 bears to the children's advocacy center, the american red cross, valley medical center pediatrics, family supportive housing and parisi house.

Assist a shelter this program supports three shelters: provided 600 monthly dinners at family supportive housing for families in residence, and 40 dozen cookies for school lunch boxes and after school treats. The chapter brought in an enrichment program which featured an arts and crafts workshop. From january to may, the chapter provided a puppet show, music workshops, and gardening training. In october, chapter volunteers operated a halloween shop for families to select their costumes, and in december chapter volunteers wrapped christmas presents that the children had chosen for their parents. Members volunteering at cityteam spent three 2-hour sessions per month packing 7,910 bags of food for distribution to the underserved families and homeless population that the shelter serves. Chapter members also donated 1,187 toiletry kits for cityteam to distribute. At parisi house on the hill, a facility for young mothers who are addicted to alcohol or drugs, chapter members provided a monthly story hour in both english and spanish for the children along with lessons in baby sign language. The chapter also donated various toiletry items and both women's and children clothing, as well as provided a motivational speaker who made a very positive impression on the young mothers. During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the chapter served 120 women and 130 children.

Bingo program the purpose of this program is to brighten the lives of those living in two residential treatment centers by operating monthly bingo games and providing meaningful prizes for every player. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, gift bags were given out for four holidays and 20 bingo sessions were held with prizes awarded.

Screening eyes early the purpose of this program is to detect vision problems, particularly amblyopia (lazy eye), in preschool children. During 2024-2025 fiscal year, the chapter screened 528 children ages 3-5 at 19 preschools, referring 36 for complete eye exams.