Coming Together to Support Our Communities
Even though we can’t be together in person this year to celebrate our hard work, Park District management would like to express its gratitude to all of its staff for contributing every day to the health of the communities we serve.
Our annual holiday charity partners are unable to accept hard goods this year with current circumstances, and so, on behalf of the Park District, the Regional Parks Foundation is urging staff to contribute as they can to the organizations listed below. Additionally, without holding our typical annual raffle this year, the Regional Parks Foundation and the Parks Express program will not be receiving funds that would normally be collected from ticket sales. We hope that you will consider donating to the Parks Express program as you would have done buying tickets. We appreciate anything you can give and thank you for your generosity. Here again, Park District staff are setting the example, stepping up further and coming together as an agency to raise funds in support of our neighbors in need.
Please scroll down or click on the organization below for further details and a link to each agency's donation site:
Alameda County Community Food Bank
For over 30 years, Alameda County Community Food Bank has stood by its unwavering belief that food is a basic human right. They distribute millions of healthy meals every year, and are on the forefront of new approaches to ending hunger and poverty.
Donate
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Donate
About
Started in 1975, the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano stores and distributes donated and purchased perishable and nonperishable food items. They distribute food directly to low-income people at community sites and make food available for other nonprofit organizations serving the ill, needy and children. The Food Bank works to reduce food waste, feed hungry people and raise public awareness of issues related to food and hunger.
One Warm Coat
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About
One Warm Coat believes in the basic right to protection from the cold and provides coats to people in need, free of charge, and without discrimination or obligation. Each dollar donated warms one child or adult.
Regional Parks Foundation
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(type “Parks Express” into the Gift Comments box to specify gift use, or leave blank to support all programs and initiatives of the Regional Parks Foundation)
About
At the Regional Parks Foundation, we believe connections with nature are critical for leading a healthy, balanced life. Every day, we provide resources to ensure underserved populations have equal access to nature through the East Bay Regional Park District's parks, trails, programs and services. When we do, lives are changed, and we inspire the next generation of environmental stewards to value and protect open space and the environment.
Funds donated to the Parks Express program directly support transportation to parks for schools where at least 50% of students qualify for the Free and Reduced Lunch program, as well as for nonprofits and government agencies serving low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Help our communities make up for lost trips to their parks in 2021!
Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
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About
Give Shuumi on Lisjan Oholne lands to support establishing a cemetery to reinter stolen Ohlone ancestral remains and building spaces for current and future generations of Indigenous people.
Toys for Tots
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About
The basic mission of the Marine Toys for Tots Program is to collect new unwrapped toys and distribute those toys to less fortunate children at Christmas, with the primary goal of bringing these children the joy of the holidays and helping send a message of hope.
United Way Bay Area – Wildfire Relief
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About
The Greater Bay Area Central Coast Wildfire Relief Fund was created to provide immediate and long-term recovery assistance to Bay Area and Central Coast residents affected by the August 2020 wildfires that spread throughout the region. Working together, United Way Bay Area, United Way of the Wine Country, United Way Monterey County, and United Way of Santa Cruz County will assist the residents and community agencies in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties that have been adversely affected by the August 2020 wildfires.
The collected funds will be applied to immediate and long-term recovery assistance for residents affected by the wildfires, with an initial focus on providing housing assistance (vouchers or cash), and cash assistance to displaced families and other identified immediate needs.