Hands4Hope outreaches serves hundreds in need during these cold months

Each year, Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference runs a multitude of winter-based activities and outreaches, including a Blanket Making Party, Warm & Fuzzy Drive, and Winter Boutique to support those in need in our community.

In November, Hands4Hope held their Sixth Annual Blanket Making Party, where over 100 youth and adult participants made 90 no-sew fleece blankets. These  will be distributed to the homeless and donated to Hands4Hope partner agencies that serve children, patients, and seniors in need.  JoAnn Fabrics Folsom assisted in the purchase of the large quantity of material needed by providing a variety of discounts and streamlining the purchase process, bringing in additional employees to help.  

“A big thank you to the kids at Hands4Hope for the new supply of blankets for our hospice patients! It was heartwarming to see the nurses talking about what color blankets patients would like. Everyone commented on how warm and cuddly the blankets are and how much the patients will enjoy them,” said Rachele Doty, First Call Hospice in Citrus Heights.

In addition to the blankets, Hands4Hope’s Warm and Fuzzy Drive collected over 5,000 warm necessities — clothing, shoes, socks, pajamas, coats, scarves and hats — and other items. These donations stocked the Sixth Annual Hands4Hope Winter Boutique, held at donated space near the H4H Youth Center in El Dorado Hills. Foster, kinship,  and low-income families were invited to the Boutique to “shop” for warm clothing and accessories.

The Winter Boutique project was led by a youth committee and adult advisors, who together planned, decorated and organized it for a positive and festive shopping experience. They also organized a marketing campaign to get the word out to local schools and agencies.

The boutique was open for two weekends in December. Youth volunteers, ranging from second-graders to high school seniors, were responsible for greeting shoppers as well as helping them find needed items, and “check out.”

This year the Winter Boutique served 79 families, representing 475 individuals, and 2500 items were distributed.  All remaining items will be distributed at Hands4Hope’s homeless outreaches as well as donated to the Twin Lakes Food Bank’s clothing closet, Green Valley Community Church’s clothing closet and other partner agencies who assist individuals and families in need.

Thank you to all who participated in collecting Warm and Fuzzy donations including elementary schools Silva Valley, Oak Meadow, William Brooks and Lakeview, Marina Village Middle School’s Honor Society, National Charity League (NCL), DST, Jordan's Closet in Placerville, and United Methodist Women of the Foothill United Methodist Church in Rescue.

Hands4Hope is a non-profit, youth driven outreach and service learning organization based in El Dorado Hills.  The organization’s mission is to empower youth to make a positive difference in the world around them through Exploration, Action and Leadership.  Hands4Hope is comprised of youth volunteers ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade.  For more information, visit www.hands4hopeyouth.org or call the Hands4Hope Youth Center at 916-294-7426.

Hands4Hope collects over 1800 pounds of food to help those in need

The youth of Hands4Hope coordinated and hosted several food drives from  September through November to provide an opportunity for our community to donate canned food and monetary donations to support the efforts of local food banks and programs supporting the hungry in our community. Beneficiaries included El Dorado County Food Bank,Twin Lakes Food Bank (Folsom) as well as Green Valley Community Church’s food distribution outreach.

The community drives included a one-day Food Blitz at Safeway Folsom, Grocery Outlet Folsom, and Safeway Placerville where Hands4Hope youth and adult participants collected donations from store patrons.  In addition, the Hands4Hope high school clubs at Oak Ridge, Folsom, and Union Mine each hosted a neighborhood Food Blitz in their local neighborhoods.  Combined, Hands4Hope youth collected over 1800 pounds of food and $1300.

Thank you to all who donated and supported these Hands4Hope food drives.  

Hands4Hope Youth assist with PowerHouse

Powerhouse Ministries is a non-profit organization bringing hope and healing to the local community of Folsom, helping over 1,000 people each year.  They offer a place of sanctuary, support and love to those in need and at risk.  

 

Each year Powerhouse offers a Thanksgiving celebration to all of their members and they have asked Hands4Hope to help with their children's program.  The H4H youth assisted with crafts and holiday entertainment, while their parents are participating in the Thanksgiving program.

"Thank you for the awesome team that you sent out to serve at Powerhouse Ministries' Annual Thanksgiving Celebration. Inga, the adult advisor, was an excellent team leader and organizer and each of the students she brought with her did an amazing job of working with our children.   Inga's team actually volunteered to help with the coat drive following directly after the children's activity which was a huge help.  I was extremely impressed by your team and would love to partner Powerhouse's Children's Ministries with Hands4Hope again in the future. Thank you for empowering youth to get involved in the community. Our event would not have been the same without them!" exclaims Lisa Levine, Powerhouse Children's Ministries Director.

Veteran's Day Homeless Outreach

Hands4Hope plans the Sacramento Homeless Outreach every chance youth are not in school, hosting them on Holidays as well as throughout the summer months.  This Veteran's Day, youth and adult participants prepared brown bag lunches, collected toiletries from our outreach closet as well as bag dog food then all caravanned out to the streets of Sacramento to serve the homeless community.

Thank you to all who supported us - 2015 Benefit Dinner and Costume Gala

Our 6th Annual Benefit Dinner and Costume Ball, the “Twisted Carnival”, dedicated to supporting the nonprofit’s youth development program and numerous outreach activities, was a success!  Thank you to the Event Committee:  Cam Francis, Deanna Santana, Jamie McCullough, Jessie Baratta, Julie Busch, Laura Leszinske, along with Eric Zeps and many youth and adult volunteers for working so hard to create an amazing night.

(Photo Credit: Menka Belgal, see all night’s photos here)

Diane Wilkinson Catering provided a stellar dinner and assortment of appetizers.  Youth participants greeted and served the attendees in the most professional manner, gaining real life experience.  The “Rock Monsterz” entertained guests and Southern Wine & Spirits, Wine Warehouse and Madrona Vineyards provided the wine and Placerville Brewing Company provided the beer.  Thank you all!

(Photo Credit: Menka Belgal, see all night’s photos here)

There was a silent and live auction, a dessert auction, dancing, and a fun photo booth provided by Martell O’Neal/KellerWilliams (see photos here). “Good Day Sacramento” television personality Mark S Allen emceed the event in his usual spirited and fun fashion.  Hayley Lehtola, past H4H Youth Board President, told her story of how her involvement with Hands4Hope has impacted her life from the time she joined as a young high school student to how she lives her life now as a college student at UC Berkeley.

Due to the generosity of attendees, the live and silent auctions, in addition to our Fund A Need, Hands4Hope raised just over $30,000!

Thank you to our Platinum and Gold Sponsors - Wells Fargo, US Bank, El Dorado Disposal, Seafloor, Blue Shield of Ca., El Dorado Hills Town Center (A Development by The Mansour/Nagle).  Thank you also to our event Table Sponsors - Fergerson Financial, KMAX-TV/CW31, Romo Incentives Group, Tech Shop, and Western Sign Company for making this event possible.

Thank you to our raffle and auction donors (listed below) for providing amazing items that brought in over $15,000 to support Hands4Hope’s life changing programs:

Anne Rhea	El Dorado Hills Fire Department	Lava Cap Winery	Sacramento Zoo
Anisha Belgal	El Vaquero	Leszinski Family	San Francisco 49'ers
Art Haus Cinema	Esquire IMAX Theatre	Mama Ann's Deli	Sienna
Asante Spa	Fine Arts Museums of San Francsico	Madrona Vineyards	Sierra Nevada Recreation Corp
Atlantis Casino Resort & Spa	Fit Ride	Mark S Allen	Silva Family
Bassett Family	Funderland	Morris Law Group	Snooks
Bill Wild	Golden Gate Park	Museum of Natural History Los Angeles	Sugar Bowl Corporation
Blue & Gold Fleet	Granite Arch	Outhouse Collection	The Melting Pot
Brice Station	Granite Bay Golf Course	Peterson Family	The Rink
Buckendorf Family	Harvey's Casino & Hotel	Pham Family	Time Out Spa
Cache Creek Casino Resort	ICE by Donna Burke	Pier 39	Timeless Home Gallery
Chantom Vineyards	Ideal Impressions	Placerville Brewing Co	TraVigne, St. Helena
Charles Mitchell Winery	Ironstone Winery	Purple Place	Urban Wax
Crystal Basin Winery	Jessie Baratta	Rainbow Orchards	Weiner Family
David Morris Law	KidzGear	Relish Burger Bar	Wells Fargo
Doug & Julie Busch	Laughs Unlimited	Sacramento Republic FC	Whole Foods

Warm and Fuzzy Drive 2015

Thank you to the four El Dorado Hills elementary schools involved in our school drive, William Brooks, Silva Valley, Lakeview and Oak Meadow.  The school drive ends on October 23rd, however we will take contributions through the month of November at our youth center located at 877 Embarcadero Drive, El Dorado Hills.  Cub Scout pack 465 is also involved, if there are other groups that would like to contribute, we would love their help! Please contact Laura Buehler at laura@hands4hopeyouth.org.

All of the donations will be used in the winter boutique which will be open for families in need in early December.  If H4H participants want to get involved with the planning of the winter boutique, please email laura@hands4hopeyouth.org.

Hands4Hope and Scare Away Hunger Merge for Scariest Haunted House Yet

Big news for Halloween fans--Hands4Hope and Scare Away Hunger have merged their haunted houses! Hands4Hope has scared the living daylights out of you and your friends in El Dorado Hills the past 5 years, and Scare Away Hunger has been frightening Cameron Park for even longer. 

This year the two organizations have teamed up to make Halloween absolutely terrifying. Both groups empower young people and have a long history of community service. The resulting joint organization Scare4Hope will be collecting food for the local food bank, who received a $1,700 check and a coffin full of food from Scare Away Hunger’s brief two-night run last year. Hands4Hope was open for three weekends, collecting over $16,000 to help fund service learning programs that allow young people the opportunity to change lives as active citizens in their community.

To stay true to the mission of both organizations, Scare4Hope is youth led. It is organized in such a fashion as to mimic a functioning production company with the end product being an incredibly scary and entertaining haunted house, the management and staff being youth, and the goals being to raise funds, build life and career skills, and have fun. The youth management of this company will be mentored by adults with current or past career experience in their area of focus.

“Taking power away from the adults is going to be tricky,” jokes Doug Busch, former Intel CIO and long-time Hands4Hope Board member and supporter. “However, both groups have spent years learning what sets people off. I have no doubt this mix of ideas from these independent sources is going to yield something scary, satisfying, and unsurpassed by any haunted house El Dorado Hills or Cameron Park has ever seen.”

Construction on the 2015 Scare4Hope Haunted House has already began in the El Dorado Hills Town Center while much of the prep work has already taken place.

The marketing team is currently seeking sponsors. Sponsorships range from $450 to $1,000, although lower level donations are always appreciated. If you’d like to support the Scare4Hope Haunted House, please contact scare4hope@gmail.com.

Follow progress of the haunted house on Facebook at El Dorado Haunted House and on our website at  www.eldoradohauntedhouse.com. Plan on attending the Scare4Hope haunted house this fall in El Dorado Hills Town Center. You won’t leave disappointed. You may not leave at all.

Hands4Hope is a non-profit youth driven service learning and outreach organization based in El Dorado County whose mission is to empower youth to make a positive difference in the world around them through Exploration, Action, and Leadership. Scare Away Hunger is a youth organization dedicated to collecting food and raising money for local food banks by hosting a haunted house.

For more information about the Scare4Hope Haunted House, visit www.eldoradohaunted.com or call the Hands4Hope Youth Center at 916-294-7426.