My Nonprofit Reviews

In 2005, after having worked in the television news business in various parts of the country for more than 20 years, I decided to take some time off from the "professional" world. My focus turned to raising my three children and doing some community service work. Over the years, I had done many stories on homelessness and the agencies that served the homeless population. Having worked in the San Jose area for 14 years, I had run across The San Jose Family Shelter in the course of news coverage and was very impressed with it's mission. Family Supportive Housing, as the umbrella organization is called, operates services that not only provide temporary shelter for homeless families with children, but works from the very beginning to guide those families to self sufficiency. Before I left the news business, I had already met some of the families who sought help there. I began donating money and other items I thought people could use. But it was not until I ran into Executive Director Trish Crowder at a wholesale grocery store one day in the summer of 2006 that I really began to learn what a truly valuable operation FSH is. Trish asked me outright if I would consider serving on their board of directors and I was flattered and intrigued. I got to know a few other board members and a little more about what the organization did and I became a true devotee. For the past two years, I have worked to raise the organization's visibility in the Silicon Valley, helped to raise desperately needed funds for operating, and taken part in an ambitious and exciting capital project to build a "green" replacement shelter to better serve a critical segment of our population: families in need. It has been an honor to be involved with such a giving organization with a truly dedicated staff and board of directors.

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