About the Holiday Fund About the Holiday Fund (December 31, 2004)

Voice readers who want to make a charitable donation this year can double their money by giving to the Holiday Fund, where donations are matched by contributions from area foundations.

This year, the Wakerly Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation have already pledged matching grants and more are expected. All funds will be held by the Peninsula Community Foundation and dispersed to five nonprofit organizations in February, when the drive is completed.

How to Give
Your gift helps children and others in need

Contributions to the Holiday Fund will be matched dollar for dollar (up to a total of $15,000) and will go directly to programs that benefit Mountain View nonprofit agencies, which are listed below.

No administrative costs will be deducted from the gifts, which are tax-deductible as permitted by law. All donations to the Holiday Fund will be shared equally among the five recipient agencies. If reader donations reach $15,000, each nonprofit will be eligible to receive $6,000.

This year, the following agencies will be supported by the Holiday Fund:

* The Community Services Agency of Mountain View and Los Altos. Grant will be used to provide one-time rent assistance to homeless families and for services to seniors, including those who are homeless and need help receiving medical care. Also operates the Alpha-Omega Shelter, which provides short-term housing and case management services to homeless adults. CSA's shelter is a cooperative effort between 17 faith communities in Mountain View and Los Altos.

* The Community Health Awareness Council. Serves Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills and seven area school districts. Grant would help operate Prevention Plus, a school-based program to protect students from high-risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, premature sexual activity and violence.

* Mountain View Rotacare Clinic. Provides uninsured community residents with medical care and medications and is frequently the last resort for this underserved clientele.

* The Support Network for Battered Women. Operates a 24-hour bilingual hotline, a safe shelter for women and their children and offers counseling and other services for families facing this problem.

* Community School of Music and Arts. Grant will help defray cost of providing hands-on art and music education projects in the elementary classrooms of the Mountain View-Whisman School District. Forty percent of the students are low-income and 28 percent have limited English proficiency.

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