Community Outreach
Little Wonders helps out with a handful of well-established charity organizations in San Mateo. Our relationship with Family Connections and Homework Central started some 12 years ago and our involvement with Shelter Network approximately 8 years ago. All the programs we support have to do with families and children.
These partnerships provide completely voluntary opportunities for Little Wonders families to get involved with our community and families can choose if and how they’d like to participate.
Shelter Network is a non-profit organization providing housing and support services to homeless families and single adults to help them re-establish self-sufficiency and return to permanent homes of their own. They started in 1987 with a handful of volunteers and currently operate thirteen programs, employ more than 50 full-time staff, and thousands of volunteers. Shelter Network is the Peninsula’s principal provider of housing and support for homeless families and individuals.
Little Wonders has helped Shelter Network by supporting their Holiday Giving program and organizing parenting classes complete with babysitting services.
Family Connections is a tuition-free parent participation program for low income families, educating over 400 individuals each year at three sites in San Mateo County. Parents participate in preschool classes with their children, from newborn to five years old, in a program very similar to Little Wonders’.
Little Wonders’ involvement with Family Connections has included an Author’s Night fundraiser, Rummage Sales, Holiday Gift Donations, Spring Book Drives, and an Easter Party.
Homework Central is an after-school tutoring program serving third, fourth, and fifth graders at three sites in North Central San Mateo. Teachers from Sunnybrae, Horrall, and San Mateo Park Elementary School refer students; parents then enroll their children in the program, and students attend their homework center four days a week. They currently serve three schools in San Mateo with approximately 20 students at each site.
Little Wonders’ supports Homework Central by providing monetary donations for the program.
“We have appreciated the introduction to community service and have enjoyed getting more involved with these groups even after our children have moved on.”