Nearly all of the 24 families currently living in the homeless family shelter this winter were treated to a Christmas dinner at The Vault in downtown Hollister on Dec. 15. Thanks to the San Benito County Community Action Partnership, veterans’ organizations, girls from Fusion Elite All Stars (a cheerleading training facility), and other volunteers, there were Christmas gifts for each family, and every child also received a special gift from Santa himself.
Shari Stevenson, chair of the San Benito County Community Action Board, said all the food and gifts were donated for the yearly Christmas event.
“We host them (homeless families) for being a part of our community,” she said, “to make their Christmas as special as we can. Santa is coming to give gifts to the children and people have adopted the families from the winter shelter.”
Stevenson said the organization begins working on the annual event each July.
“This has been going on for a few years and we have some very experienced staff that assists us in coordinating this event,” she said.
County Supervisor Margie Barrios said she was there in her official capacity as supervisor to welcome the families and thank them as part of the community family.
“I just want to express how grateful I am that we have a community that has contributed, that is embracing them, and providing this beautiful event for them,” she said.
Jim Rydingsword of the San Benito County Health and Human Services Agency was also present.
“This is something that the staff at Health and Human Services looks forward to doing every year,” he said, adding, “What we need is more low-income housing in San Benito County so people don’t have to be homeless.”
Enrique Arreola, deputy director of San Benito County Health and Human Services’ Community Services and Workforce Development, who is responsible for running the family shelter, as well as the warming shelter for homeless individuals, said it is particularly rewarding to know that every child at the event would receive a gift and a hot meal.
“It’s just nice to be able to offer this to our families in the program,” he said. “It’s about the holiday and being able to make it a little special for them.”
Arreola remained secretive when asked who was portraying Santa, partly because he probably didn’t actually know who it was.
“He’s a community volunteer and if it’s the same person as last year, he’s a board member from the school district,” he said.
County Supervisor Robert Rivas commented that he enjoyed being at the event and seeing the children excited about receiving gifts. He said the community needs to provide even more resources than what it currently does.
Christina Soto, program supervisor for the Community Action Program, said every family had a sponsor who was providing the gifts for Christmas day. She said of the 24 families staying at the shelter, some are working but can’t afford rent in Hollister.
“They come from very different walks of life,” she said. “Most of them had their one bout of homelessness and they’re still homeless. So, we’re here to help them with our family shelter program so they can get back on their feet.”
While the families stay in the winter shelter, a county case worker tries to help them find housing and lines up needed services.
“We also provide them with monthly workshops in financial literacy,” Soto said. “Public health is going to give a presentation and a mobile van that will be coming in to do screenings for those in the warming shelter will also be available to our families. We just did a flu shot clinic for both shelters.”
Soto said even though they may be homeless, all of the families are considered county residents, so the children are required to attend area schools. She said that through an agreement with local school districts, buses come to the shelter to transport the children each day.
Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez, who owns The Vault, said he put out the word Dec. 17 on Facebook that more gifts were still needed.
“By Sunday, at 2 o’clock, we had over 100 gifts,” he said. “The veterans brought over quite a few and a local company brought about 50 of them. We had a lot of great people helping us.”
He said the event should teach everyone who is more fortunate to appreciate what they have and do their part to help those who are less fortunate.
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