Give to Puente General Fund

Each year, Puente touches over 1,500 people on the South Coast – nearly 1/3 of the residents of our rural and isolated region. And each year we ask you—our donors—to support our programs and services that impact participants’ lives in so many ways. Thank you for contributing to Puente’s General Fund and for ensuring that all people on the South Coast can live healthy, sustainable, and inclusive lives. Visit www.mypuente.org to donate.

Give to Puente with Amazon Smile.

Planning some holiday purchases on Amazon.com? Sign in with Amazon Smile, where you can designate Puente de la Costa Sur as a beneficiary for a percentage of your purchases – for free. Get started here: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/37-1484262

Puente needs a new car!

Puente is seeking a new vehicle – preferably a mid-mileage, well-maintained SUV-type vehicle – for our back roads travel. Have one lying around? Donate it today for major “Carma” (karma) points. For details, contact Kerry Lobel at (650) 879-1691 ext. 144 or email Kerry Lobel.

Seeking donated adult mountain bikes

Here on the South Coast, most farm and nursery workers rely on bicycles to commute to work, run errands, and participate in Puente programs. Puente’s bike program is asking for used mountain bikes to help meet those needs. If you don’t have a bike to donate, consider donating some tires or a bike light. Adult-sized bikes only, please. To donate, contact Community Outreach Coordinator Ben Ranz at (650) 879-1691 x 143 or email Ben Ranz.

Help with La Posada (December 19)

Join us as we create a live Nativity procession (with Mary, Joseph, and a donkey from the Christian tradition leading the way).through Pescadero, recreating the journey of Mary and Joseph. The procession ends with celebration and food. Tasks include setting up, directing traffic, helping with singing, serving food, and cleaning up. Shifts begin at 9:00 a.m. for set up and continue throughout the day and into the evening, ending around 9:30 p.m. Morning volunteers especially needed. Email Abby Mohaupt for details.

Help distribute farmworker essentials at La Sala Posada, December 21

There will be vast helpings of holiday spirit on hand at the annual La Sala Posada, which doubles as a big gift distribution event for farm workers, supplying them with clothing and other essentials. Be a part of it! 2-4 p.m., Multi-Purpose Room of Pescadero Elementary, 620 North Street.  Email Abby Mohaupt for details.

Tax Preparation Assistance for Low Income Families

Puente needs volunteers to become tax preparers for next tax season. Volunteers must complete tax training and pass an IRS Certification Test. Volunteers must be willing to help prepare returns 2-4 hours per week from January 27-April 15, 2015. Email Abby Mohaupt for details.

 Be a Reading friend

Help boost literacy by reading with students from kindergarten to 5^th grade on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. Email Abby Mohaupt for details.

Help new drivers learn the rules of the road

Puente needs several short-term tutors, relatively fluent in Spanish, to mentor adults preparing to take their driver’s license written exam at the DMV. In January, Puente will host evening tutoring sessions and seeks bilingual volunteers to work with different sizes of groups throughout the month. To volunteer, contact Community Outreach Coordinator Ben Ranz at (650) 262-4101 or email Ben Ranz.

Help adults get their GED and become citizens

Every year, Puente helps local adults realize their dream of earning a high school degree; others become American citizens. Be a part of the transformation – sign up to help with tutoring (in Spanish) and citizenship requirements. Email Abby Mohaupt for details.

Seeking mentors to keep high school kids on track

Puente is committed to supporting our local youth all the way through high school and college. Sometimes by the time anyone realizes a student is struggling, it’s too late. Puente sees 12 mentors who can commit to spending time with a student one day each week, preferably on Wednesday afternoon. Mentors will help ensure their mentee is getting good grades, particularly in English and Algebra. College readiness is also a key goal.

For more information on this and ALL volunteer opportunities, call (650) 879-1691 ext. 102, email Abby Mohaupt.

One of my most treasured possessions is a now-faded piece of paper – my Grandmother Eva’s certificate of naturalization issued in 1942, 16 years after her arrival in the United States. A Russian immigrant, my grandmother held two jobs and raised her four daughters alone.  It was only a slip of paper, but for her it carried a profoundly real psychological impact – the feeling of belonging, of legitimacy, of building toward a future of living in the light.

My mother understood, as the first in her family to be born in the United States, just how important a single piece of paper was for the many women, children and youth served by Puente each year — the farmers, farm and nursery workers who grow our food and flowers and fuel our agricultural economy.

She also understood the value of education for our region’s young people and that is why during her lifetime she pledged $10 each month to Puente. Will you consider donating to Puente today?

My mother had a special appreciation for one of Puente’s most familiar young faces, Laura Rodriguez, age 20, now one of Puente’s Community Resource Navigators. She would frequently ask about Laura and how she was doing. She would be happy to know that Laura was recently approved for a special, blanket visa that will allow her to stay in the U.S. indefinitely and to apply for a green card.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Laura feared highway patrol officers and checkpoints, because someone could discover she had no driver’s license and take her car away. Now she drives without fear – which is especially helpful in her commute to community college, where she is studying to become a computer engineer – the first in her family to go to college.

Her story is shared by countless others in our region who need the extra support that Puente provides. We’ll put your contribution to work immediately by:

• Providing college scholarships and paid internships to students in their chosen career field as well as continuing educational partnerships with institutions such as Stanford University, University of California, Santa Cruz and San Francisco State University.
• Supplying life-saving basics to South Coast farm and nursery workers who need a warm welcome – a hot meal, a blanket, and a welcome bag as well as rental and utility assistance to those who find themselves at the economic margins of society.
• Providing expedited health insurance to the region’s residents and immigration assistance to locals whose paths here left them without adequate resources.
• Advancing the groundwork for a county-funded mobile health van to provide primary health care in 2015 — currently 911 is our only healthcare option.
• Partnering with the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District to launch robust early childhood education options for South Coast children to lay the foundation for all children to read at grade level by 3^rd grade.

Please help us by making your donation go farther than ever before.

A respected Silicon Valley donor will match dollar-for-dollar all gifts that are over and above your previous contribution if you make your gift by midnight on December 31, 2014. 

Your generosity this year will make a huge difference in our ability to improve the quality of life for all South Coast residents – we rely so much on every donation and hope you’ll consider digging deeply again as 2014 comes to a close.

As the holiday season continues, we are grateful for our health, our homes and our beloved community. Your annual contribution enables Puente to continue seeking justice and equality for all residents of the rural South Coast.