Sunday Friends gives hope and a path to a brighter future. It’s an innovative approach to non-profits by providing life-long skills, a community and value system that rewards hard work and dedication.
If you are looking to make an impactful difference in people’s lives... join our cause.
Sunday Friends is not about handouts, it is about earning, learning and serving.
I consider myself blessed and find it a sheer privilege to be associated with the Sunday Friends Foundation!
It gives me tremendous satisfaction and joy to see the impact this organization is making in trying to break the generational cycle of poverty by fostering positive development in children while educating and guiding parents to support their children's life success.
Working with families in this organization, I've heard their stories of learning skills that enable employment, feeling closer to their family than ever before, reversing their diabetes, releasing the feeling of the need to steal, successfully staying away from the gang life, and many more. This organization is making a true difference in the community!
The happiness of the low-income San Jose families and volunteers is evident every Sunday, with laughter and joy filling the room. The organization makes learning essential skills fun and rewarding for family members of all ages, so to graduate them from poverty. From participating, families not only receive strongly needed household goods, but also toys for children and valuable skills like STEAM, ESL, and computer literacy. Further, rent relief and college scholarships make graduating out of poverty possible for many well-deserving families. For all this and more, I strongly recommend the Sunday Friends Foundation.
Sunday Friends is an amazing nonprofit transforming and empowering lives of the under-privileged communities. In varying roles from a volunteer to a Board Member, I have been closely involved with this nonprofit from its earliest days in the homeless shelter. I have seen lives change radically due to the effective programs supported voluntarily by schools, colleges, professionals and all. Their rigorous scientific approach to evaluation of the programs, addressed needs of their population and impact on their lives provides the right perspective to evolve stronger to keep enriching lives across generations.
Our son volunteered with Sunday Friends back in 2015 to launch his Eagle Scout computer project. He teamed up with Sunday Friends to refurbish surplus laptops for Sunday Friends children to "earn" upon completing a Math and computer education curriculum. We don't think of Sunday Friends as a typical charity, rather, an alternative to charity. Under this innovative operating model, children and their parents work together to develop the life skills needed to graduate from poverty into opportunity. Sunday Friends teaches families to become self-sufficient by teaching them how to fish so that they can feed themselves for a lifetime. We are very proud to serve on the Sunday Friends' Board to create positive impact on our community.
Sunday Friends has the great motto, “A hand up, not a hand out”. People are allowed to keep their dignity by doing jobs to help and thereby earn items they need. Children are taught the art of gratitude by writing thank you notes for each and every donation. Both are very valuable life lessons.
I learned about this fabulous organization through Junior League of San Jose and served on the Board for four years. I found their unique format enriches families and volunteers alike. The families full partnership in the organization was evident in in their justifiably proud tours of the program. I’m proud too of the program and all involved and how much they’ve grown and shared their model.
Sunday Friends has been providing a working alternative to charity for low income San Jose families for about 20 years. Its a great place for volunteers to come work with the families (kids and adults) and be part of a program that is make a real difference. The programs are very well organized and a dedicated set of core volunteers and staff keep it smooth. Independent studies have also shown that the model of "earning" rather than handouts is really working in this program.
For volunteers, the program has provided a very satisfying and enriching experience.
Sunday Friends provides the support environment for low income families to become self-sufficient rather than being dependent on charity from the community. Adults get awarded with tickets while they learn to manage financials of their family, be better parents and contribute to the community. Children get awarded with tickets while they participate in educational programs (reading, games, cooking and music) as well as contribute back to the community. Families work together to meet their needs and use their tickets to purchase basic life necessities from the store that donors donate to. This frees the families to use their limited cash for other life necessities such as rent, insurance, etc. This is truly a unique program.
Sunday Friends works with over 900 families in need in San Jose, California. These are the families who demonstrate program after program that they prefer to earn what they need and to give back to their community rather than to receive mere handouts. The parents care deeply that their children experience the satisfaction of giving; they don't want them to self-identify as charity cases. They want their children's lives to be different from their own on-going struggle for day-to-day survival.
It is a joy to help the families who are working so hard to help themselves. That is why I have volunteered with Sunday Friends for the past 14 years. Janis