Our very fabulous team of FISH Rent Assistance volunteers!

 Dear Friends,

I’d like to share a mid-year report that includes some exciting new programs, changes to existing programs to better service our neighbors, and highlights from our food program including a report by Lauren Scott, Food Room Manager.  Let me begin with our newest program.

Dental Assistance: Sherry Michael is spearheading a pilot program in collaboration with Sonoma Valley Community Health Center that focuses on seniors over 62 years who need financial assistance for essential dental work.  The application for this assistance is now available on our website.  SVCHC will refer those in need to FISH.  FISH will complete the assessment of financial need and, when appropriate, FISH will provide financial assistance directly to the clinic or the dentist.  In working with SVCHC, seniors were identified as the group in most need of financial assistance.  We are thrilled to work collaboratively and to address dental assistance a one of the basic human needs FISH can help address.

Gasoline Assistance:  The gasoline gift cards we offered to homeless individuals for travel to medical appointments changed abruptly when the Valero station in Sonoma closed.  With the help of Jeff’s 76 Station, SOS, and our FISH volunteers, we came up with a new solution.  SOS remains our key partner in providing gas to the homeless population.  Nathalia at SOS accepts the requests and validates them before authorizing gasoline from the FISH account at Jeff’s 76 Station.  This arrangement has allowed us to expand our ability to serve the homeless because now Homeless Action Sonoma can call Sonoma Overnight Support and Nathalia is able to authorize gasoline.  SOS and HAS work closely with the homeless population but neither have a the ability to provide gasoline for doctor appointments.  These changes has expanded FISH’s ability to help more people keep their critical medical appointments.

Welcoming All:  Our Dispatchers have been the entry point to all FISH services, and beginning four years ago, FISH was able to have Spanish-speaking Dispatchers join our dispatching team to improve outreach to the community.  Recently we discovered that our answering service, the initial contact to all calls before they go to Dispatchers, did not answer in Spanish (once the call was received by our Spanish-speaking Dispatcher, everything worked well). 

 It was a huge disappointment to realize that there was such a gap for our Spanish-speaking callers.  Immediately we began investigating ways to serve our callers in their own language the moment the call is answered.   Most of the options we examined really upend how we do business.  However, with some valuable advice from a friend of FISH, a solution was identified.  We are now in the process of working with the answering service to make these minor alternations and every caller will be welcomed in their own language.

Expanding our Rent Team:  Our wonderful Rent Team volunteers, pictured above, met in person just the other day.  Anne Neely and Carol Lussier are the newest members to the team.  Sherry Michael hosted and orchestrated the discussion around rental assistance.  Beyond the critical need for patience, developing comfort asking questions, and natural problem-solving abilities, the group review the unspoken values of the program – "filter people in the program and try not to filter them out" is the first.  The second guideline is around making an error – "always err on the side of generosity".  These are the critical values that have sustained FISH for 53 years.

Meet our newest Board Member!

FISH is happy to welcome Charlotte Ruffner, who has a long history of community participation through service.  Locally, Charlotte has served on the Sonoma Valley Historical Society and Sonoma Valley Newcomers boards.  More broadly, Charlotte has been a Habitat For Humanity volunteer, and a board member of the Rainbow Honor Walk and Curry Without Worry.  Charlotte brings her commitment to community building and her experience as a retired lawyer to the FISH Board. 

The services that FISH provides could not be accomplished without our incredible volunteers.  As of June 1st, these kind and generous people have joined the FISH volunteer class of 2024.

Drivers
Tom Haeuser
Doug MacPherson
Elizabeth Saunders
Bob Smote
Deric Torres

Food Room
Mary Evelyn Arnold
Evelyn Dorset
Jeanne Haugh
Randy Neely

Clothing Room
Marcia Beales

Rent
Carol Lussier
Anne Neely

A huge thanks to the Letter Carriers who in early May collected canned goods to help "Stamp Out Hunger". Over 12,000 pounds of food were collected from our generous Valley neighbors.  A delightful group of volunteers transported the hundreds of bags of food to FISH where other volunteers were waiting to sort and stack the items.  Those who volunteered included FISH volunteers, a Girl Scout Troop, and members from a number of churches. A very special thanks to Dee Weaver who did all the coordinating with the Letter Carriers Union and to Lauren Scott who coordinated the volunteers at the Food Room.  Thanks to all who helped stamp out hunger.

We are delighted to share that Paul’s Produce is again in production and providing beautiful produce to FISH each Monday morning.  And or the next two months we welcome FEED Sonoma, a cooperative of more than 50 North Bay farms, as a partner in produce.  For June and July we are ordering $1,000 of fresh produce each month for our pantry. 

The Redwood Empire Food Bank Offers Nutrition Guidelines

By Lauren Scott, Food Room Manager

 The Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB) offers FISH the valuable service of providing food for our food pantry. In addition to being a valuable source for food, the organization offers its partners monthly “virtual partner check ins”. These sessions, presented by Kim Caffrey, REFB Partner Development Manager, investigate issues that can enhance the work we do.

 Recently the subject of the monthly “check in” was nutrition and the presentation was built around Healthy Eating Research (HER). This study, conducted by a panel of experts from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was tailored to the unique needs of the charitable food agencies. 

 According to HER food is labeled green, yellow or red. This color-coding helps determine how often we should include the item in our diet. Green = often, yellow = sometimes and red = rarely. Some examples: fresh produce is green, rice, beans, and pasta are yellow and no surprise, desserts are red.

 FISH is looking at providing these standard labels to the food in our pantry providing us with a tool to determine the nutrition of the food we offer our clients. Beginning June 1, during the growing season here in Sonoma Valley, we will begin a pilot program offering more fresh produce, eliminating canned fruit and vegetables. This parallels the REFB program to cut back on canned food. They have reduced the amount of canned goods by 1/3 and offer 40% to 50% low and no sodium products.

 After offering the opportunity for partners to ask questions, Kim closed the session saying, “We plan on delving into this push model of offering healthier foods to our Partners and subsequently your participants, with more to come!”

Summertime always brings additional donations of backyard garden produce – and special thanks to Beth Records for managing the calls and the hundreds of pounds of produce.  We are so happy to be the conduit that connects our generous gardeners with those who are grateful for the beautiful produce. 

This season is a time of bounty – may that also include a bounty of kindness and good will.

- Sandy