Last year, The Sheehan Adopt-A-Family Project “SAF Project” a 501(c)3 charitable organization FINALLY reached its ultimate goal, helping not just mentor, educate and employ foster care youth, but also HOME over a dozen foster care homeless kids! This year alone, over 35,000 Foster Care kids “age out”of the system at 18 each year, and are the single fastest growing population in homeless encampments (up 23% in just the last 2 years). With soaring inflation, coupled with the strictest working conditions in the country during the pandemic, rents increasing after Covid by 33% according to the LA Times, those who were hanging on by a thread have now found themselves in free fall as their thread snapped under the weight of economic devastation. If you wonder why it seems like homeless encampments are multiplying everywhere you turn, it’s because we only have 1 bed for each 4 homeless. This year more than 65% of aged-out youth will leave foster care with nowhere to call home, 69% will be unemployed, and of those able to secure work, over 71% will report an income under $25,000 per year. It’s simply too easy to say that one must “pull oneself up from their bootstraps”, when you don’t even own a pair of boots.
This year, SAF hopes to underwrite twenty plus paid Internships that includes housing for only $750.00 per person (each 6 months) and build its 4th computer lab at The Room and Board Opportunity House Los Angeles. Did you know an astounding 9.36 million tons of electronic waste is sent to our state’s landfills every year? Those electronics can be reclaimed, professionally wiped, repurposed, reused and redistributed by SAF. During Covid 19, while LA closed its schools, the Richard H. Sheehan Jr. Computer Lab, that the SAF Project built at the Vista Del Mar Group Home, gave hundreds of kids the ONLY reliable safe opportunity to continue remote schooling for over a year! The SAF Project (along with your incredible tax deductible charitable donation, support and love) helps those who WANT better for themselves, the “boots” to do just that. We help empower young adults by connecting them to technology, long term housing, job opportunities, health and social services, as well as a guidance and direction informed by student teaching. Imagine young adults teaching their own peers how to access and prepare healthy and nutritious meals, tutoring them in both academic and technological mentorships, career development, financial literacy, providing a paying job, and now…a warm bed and roof over their young heads. The only requirement is that each resident must be enrolled in a local community or trade school, complete the 3 month Internship, then teach those materials for 3 months and must remain drug and alcohol free.
We are so proud to be partnering again with Stepping Forward Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Room and Board Opportunity House, The Los Angeles Vikings, Guess Corporation, and Apple Corporation to make this all a reality. Please consider contributing safely at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/2023sheehanadoptafamilyfundraiser This year the annual Vikings Food Packing event is December 17, 2023 at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica at 8:30am:) The kids Holiday party where each child gets 10 new toys and meets Santa for a picture is this upcoming Monday, December 4th, 2023 at 11:30am-1:30pm. (I have put the Vikings in touch directly with the DPSS to pick the kids) or mail gift cards, cash or checks payable to: The Sheehan Adopt-A-Family Project (SAF Project) located at 1590 Rosecrans Ave, Suite D 360 Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 or Melissa Sheehan at 310 435 9808 and our family would be thrilled to collect it personally. SAF also takes donations via cash app, Venmo or Zelle.
If you happen to have an Apple laptop, Mac desktop or Ipad (newer than 2018), Apple will wipe ALL of your personal data for us, free of charge, and your wiped donations will find a new home at SAF’s next Computer Laboratory. We are only requesting Apple contributions at this time as the Guess Corporation has gifted us with 15 plus PC laptops. As a proud Apple partner, Apple does all of our heavy lifting when it comes to clearing your electronics of personal data. Those computers can be redistributed by SAF, and donors will receive a very generous receipt for their tax deductible contributions. Our charity still continues to distribute hundreds of toys to children under 12 every year, and delivers mountains of food boxes to our cities most destitute. As always, all of our overhead costs are funded within our own family. The Greenberg-Sheehan family has always, and will always be committed to education, opportunity and giving back.