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EDUCATION:
Help level the playing field. Provide your neighbors with a life-changing
experience, the tools to reach a goal, a book to open doors. It's
all about dreams.
Published Wednesday, December
25, 2002, in the San Jose Mercury News
Anthony
Chavez and daughter Karizma, 4, paint together in the kitchen
of their San Jose home with art supplies they received from
Wish Book donors. Anthony, who is learning the construction
trade as well as studying graphic design, also received some
new tools. |
Ambitious
dad receives tools for success
Wish
28 •
anthony
Chavez is embarking on a new career, and now he has the tools to take
the next step.
Anthony, 23, has made remarkable strides since dropping out of high
school, directionless, at age 16. It was the birth of his daughter,
Karizma, now 4, that gave him the jolt he needed to begin to turn
things around.
He got back in class, enrolling at the San Jose Conservation Corps
Charter School, and is about to receive his diploma. He is learning
construction skills through YouthBuild San Jose, and he hopes one
day to be a contractor. Meanwhile, he puts in 40 hours a week between
work and school.
The new tools will give him a leg up. Wish Book readers' donations
are making it possible for Anthony to purchase an orbital saw, jigsaw,
router, sander and other necessities.
But Anthony also is feeding his creative side. Before he dropped out
of high school, art class was the only thing that kept the attention
of this gifted young man. Now he is studying graphic design at Evergreen
Valley College, and art supplies provided by reader gifts mean he
and Karizma can draw and paint together.
Judging from their first few efforts, it looks as if Karizma may have
inherited at least a few of her daddy's talents.
Aspiring
dental assistant gets an assist
Renee Fuentes, 20, browses through the selection of scrubs at Absolutely Uniforms in San Jose. Fuentes is studying to be a dental assistant at Bryman College. In addition to her colorful new work wardrobe, she also received a new computer and printer and a set of dental tools. |
Wish
30 • decisions,
decisions.
Renee Fuentes faced the vast selection of scrubs at a San Jose uniform
store and at least momentarily seemed overwhelmed. But it didn't take
long before the 20-year-old began flipping through the racks, holding
up top after top for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
Renee is goal-oriented, and by the end of an hour's shopping spree,
she had a neat stack of slacks and tops to see her back to school
at Bryman College, where she is studying to be a dental assistant.
The colors she chose mix and match for maximum practicality, but there's
some whimsy in her new wardrobe as well: The lavender top with the
sweet "Precious Moments'' characters is her favorite and the one she
has decided to wear on the first day back in class.
Wish Book readers also helped Renee with the fees she will need to
take the Registered Dental Assistant Exam, a computer and printer,
and dental tools. These are the gifts that will help this determined
young woman -- who was in the foster care system from the time she
was 3 until she "aged out'' at 18 -- reach her dreams.
But the gift that Renee will treasure the most will come together
over the holidays, she hopes. That's when she and her three brothers
-- ages 9, 12 and 15 and still in foster care -- will gather at a
San Jose portrait studio and have a family picture made.
For someone who didn't even know she had a family until she was 10,
it will be the most precious moment of them all.
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Thanks
to Mercury News readers, all of the wishes in the 2002 Holiday Wish
Book will be fulfilled.
Here are the details:
 Wish
23 • Scholarships to Animal Camp, a
program of the Peninsula Humane Society, and scholarships for other
camping and summer educational experiences for Bay Area young people.
Nominating agencies: Peninsula Humane Society,
San Mateo; Kids to Camp, a program of Estrella Family Services,
San Jose; and Happy Hollow Corporation, San Jose
Wish 24 • A large, screened-in porch area
for youngsters who use the Learning Zone, the children's homework
center at Commercial Street Inn, San Jose. The non-permanent structure
will be added in the spring. Nominating agency: InnVision,
San Jose
 Wish
25 • Donations will feed a fund administered
by the financial aid offices at Foothill and DeAnza colleges to
provide computers and printers to single-parent students. This is
the third year Wish Book readers have provided this opportunity.
Nominating agency: Foothill-DeAnza Foundation, Los
Altos Hills
 Wish
26 • Young people who participate
in programs of the Boys & Girls Club of Silicon Valley will
have bus transportation and admission to such places as the Exploratorium,
Great America, and theater, dance and musical performances. The
field trips are used to reward excellence in leadership, education
and participation in club activities.Nominating agency:
Boys & Girls Club of Silicon Valley, San Jose
 Wish
27 • Boyette Nachor and Yolanda Garnica and
their children ... Systina, Krystal and Boyette ... San Jose:
bikes and toys. Donations also will purchase books, educational
toys and games used in a home-visit program designed to get young
kids children ready to learn when they enter school. The program
focuses on the youngest children of incarcerated parents who suffer
from the trauma of a missing parent and often live at or below the
poverty level. Nominating agency: Friends Outside
in Santa Clara County, which assists children who have parents or
other relatives in jail
Wish
28 •
Anthony Chavez, a young man on the brink of a new career
in construction after completing a training program through YouthBuild
San Jose: tools and art supplies for himself and daughter Karizma.
Donations also will buy tool belts and starter tool kids kits for
other aspiring tradespeople.
(See story at left) Nominating agency:
San Jose Conservation Corps, San Jose
 Wish
29 • Vuki Ofa, East Palo Alto:
Vuki, who loves music and dancing, will attend classes at Community
School of Music and Arts in Mountain View. Readers' donations also
provided Vuki with a bus pass. Nominating agency:
New Perspectives, East Palo Alto
Wish
30 • Renee Fuentes, San Jose:
Renee is enrolled in an eight-month dental assistant program through
Bryman College, and reader donations are paying for the scrubs she'll
wear in class and for an upcoming internship, tools and exam fees.
A computer will help with schoolwork. And a new family portrait
of Renee and her three brothers will have a prominent place in her
apartment. (See
story at left) Nominating agency:
YWCA in Santa Clara Valley, San Jose
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