Yasuko and her son have benefited from job and life-skills training.

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THE WISH: LITTLE EXTRAS: MOVIE OUTINGS, DEPARTMENT STORE CERTIFICATES

Single mom, son determined to overcome hardships

with her wide, welcoming smile, it's hard to imagine Yasuko once suffered so badly from depression her ``whole body ached'' or that at age 49 she has lost half her hearing. Even the one-bedroom apartment this single mother shares with her 11-year-old son in Burlingame reveals her revived optimism. ``I'm so happy to be able to pay for our lives, little by little,'' she says.

Yasuko emigrated from Japan to Hawaii while pregnant with her son but was devastated two years later when his father left them. After receiving psychiatric help, she moved to California and worked tirelessly as a cosmetologist until an unexpected hearing loss forced her to abandon the noisy salon. Without other job training, she had to turn to welfare and again felt utterly alone.

She wasn't down long. A rehabilitation center gave Yasuko a hearing aid, and she enrolled in a regional occupational program to learn computer skills to find work in a quiet office. To keep her family stable during her training, HIP Housing of San Mateo's Self-Sufficiency Program paid her a housing scholarship. In less than a year, she was able to get a full-time job as an office clerk at a Japanese wholesale food company.

Still, Yasuko is able to do little for her son beyond necessity. Simple outings to a theme park ($25 each) (2A) or a movie ($16, including popcorn) (2B) would jazz up their weekends. Restaurant gift certificates (in increments of $10) (2C) would allow them to enjoy a few meals out. And gift certificates to a department store ($25 each) (2D) would let Yasuko choose a new outfit to complement her rediscovered smile.

In the past two years, 39 participants have graduated from HIP Housing's Self-Sufficiency Program. To help others like Yasuko find the steppingstones to basic financial independence, $25 (2E) will provide supplies for a life-skills workshop and $100 (2F) will pay for child care at a workshop.

For more information on Human Investment Project for Housing, go to www.hiphousing.org.

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