Mercury News Holiday Wish Book 2003

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 Thursday, December 25, 2003, in the San Jose Mercury News

Thanks to Mercury News readers, all of the wishes in the 2003 Holiday Wish Book will be fulfilled.

Here are the details:

Wish 11 • Eric, an 18-year-old who is studying to become a licensed mechanic: help with tuition at his two-year vocational program, tools and supplies for classes, bus pass for a year. Nominating agency: The Unity Care Group, San Jose.

Wish 12 • The 250 low-income immigrant women in and around Morgan Hill who are learning English and other life skills, and their children: educational software, dictionaries, binders, backpacks, flash cards, other school supplies. Nominating agency: The Learning and Loving Education Center, Morgan Hill.

Wish 13 • Homeless adults who are learning agricultural, floral-design and retail skills by working at the Homeless Garden Project, Santa Cruz: wages and benefits for trainees, tools and supplies. Nominating agency: Homeless Garden Project, Santa Cruz.

Wish 14 • Ernesto Garcia, an 18-year-old senior at Menlo-Atherton High School: enrollment fees to participate in Children's Musical Theater production, costume fees, makeup kit, bus pass, tickets for his family to see the show. Nominating agency: New Perspectives, East Palo Alto.

Wish 15 • Families who use the services of the Child Development Centers in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park: bookshelves and a lending library for the toddler center in Menlo Park and an awning for the patio at the preschool in East Palo Alto. Nominating agency: Opportunities Industrialization Center West, Menlo Park.

Wish 16 • Donations will provide scholarships to camps and summer educational experiences for Bay Area young people. Nominating agencies: Environmental Volunteers, Palo Alto; Happy Hollow Corporation, San Jose; Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills; Kids to Camp, San Jose; Peninsula Humane Society, San Mateo; Youth Science Institute, Santa Clara County.

Wish 17 • Donations will feed a fund administered by the financial offices at Foothill and De Anza colleges to provide computers and printers to low-income, single-parent students. This is the fourth year Wish Book readers have provided this opportunity. Nominating agency: Foothill-DeAnza Colleges Foundation, Los Altos Hills.