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Community Corner

Assistance League of Diablo Valley's On My Way Program Partners with Kohl's

Assistance League® of Diablo Valley Corporate Partners Program Chairman Lesley Salo (far l.) and Community Programs Co-Chairman Laurie McIntosh (far r.) welcome Kohl’s Corporate Partners’ employee volunteers Nena Lee, Diane Foltz, Christine Lardiere, Lynda Feline, and Ali Blake during a recent On My Way duffel bag event.

Since 2004, Assistance League of Diablo Valley has worked with the Independent Living Skills Program of Contra Costa County.  Chapter members’ visits to its facility, located in Martinez, revealed a welcoming environment where foster youth could participate in the program and benefit from fellowship, life skills awareness, education, vocational training, and safe refuge.  In return, participants were required to be enrolled in school or be gainfully employed.  For many, the dream of completing high school became a stepping stone to vocational and technical training, community college, and university studies.  Another form of support materialized in 2010, when California Assembly Bill 12, with matched federal funding, extended foster youth coverage from 18 years of age to 21 years. 

In the ensuing years, Assistance League of Diablo’s Community Programs, a group of smaller programs designed to meet one time needs of those in crisis, has provided thousands of dollars to help foster youth pursue their goals.  Through Scholarships, Senior Sponsorships, and Graduation bags, the chapter has shown its commitment to this vulnerable population.  More recently, Community Programs has launched a philanthropic endeavor appropriately named On My Way, implemented to help this underrepresented population transition from emancipation to independence.

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In order to fortify the On My Way endeavor, Assistance League of Diablo Valley has sought financial and hands-on support from local businesses and corporations with its Corporate Partners Program.  Corporate Partners Chairman Lesley Salo reported that on May 29, Kohl’s, America’s largest department store chain, sent five employee volunteers from its Pleasant Hill location to report to the chapter house located in Walnut Creek to stuff 150 duffel bags with essential living supplies for the enrolled foster youth.  These reusable bags bulged at the seams to accommodate toiletry kits, first aid kits, sewing kits, cleaning supplies, body wash and lotion, and shampoo and conditioner.  Testing the duffel bags’ capacity further, employee volunteers added an envelope that contained such school supplies and utensils as a 4 gigabyte flash drive, a pair of scissors, paper, five pens and a flashlight.  A towel, throw blanket, and travel mug completed the inventory.

The partnership that Assistance League of Diablo Valley and Kohl’s have launched did not form merely to distribute inventory; these two community minded corporations put Caring and Commitment into Action that sent the message, “You are worthy of this support, you’re on your way, and we’ve got your back!”  To learn more about Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s Community Programs, as well as its Corporate Partners Program, please visit our website: diablovalley.assistanceleague.org.

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