What We Do… 

Sunday Friends empowers families to break the generational cycle of poverty by fostering positive development in children. We educate and guide parents to support their children's life success.

On Sundays, from 11 am to 5 pm, we bring together 200 to 300 very low-income family members along with 80 to 100 volunteers at Lowell, Anne Darling and Santee Elementary schools in San Jose. The majority of our program funding comes from a variety of corporate and foundation grants and private donors.The program at Santee is funded by FIRST 5 Santa Clara County. Here’s what takes place on Sundays:

·       Kids and volunteers work together to make craft gifts for sick children in the hospital, for patients in hospice, for seniors in care homes, and for veterans in the hospital. Children come to recognize their value to society as they give back to the community.

·       While their children are making gifts, parents attend classes on parenting, English, financial literacy, health and nutrition, violence prevention, stress management and more. These classes help parents to be more engaged in their children’s education while they strengthen their own lives.

·       Children, parents and volunteers engage in educational activities, including letter and essay writing, reading, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects, computer classes, Money Masters classes, MathShelf, Xtramath and educational board games. Kids develop a love of learning and families create a culture of learning together.

·       Kids, parents and volunteers prepare and serve nutritious food to everyone. They feel the satisfaction of working together while experiencing new and healthier food choices.

·       Community experts provide bilingual one-on-one consultations in health and mental health, child development, path to college, job seeking, summer activities, and legal and financial issues. Families receive personalized help to resolve their issues and move forward with their lives.

·       As the children and parents participate in the activities, they all earn tickets, the currency of Sunday Friends. They use the tickets to shop in our stores – open 6 days a week - and buy basic necessities, school supplies, toys and household items. This helps to relieve some of their financial burden.

·       We are the “Working Alternative to Charity.” Our families prefer to earn what they receive. They do not want handouts and they do not want to feel like charity cases.

·       At Sunday Friends, we create a diverse, healthy and enriching community that provides guidance, leadership and mentoring. While families are learning new skills, they build relationships and become supportive of each other.

·       Sunday Friends treats people with respect. We see the best in people and we believe everyone has something to offer.

 

Learn more at www.SundayFriends.org

  

Measured Results… 

Sunday Friends isn't just a good idea along with heartwarming pictures, quotes and stories. We also have professionally measured results showing that our program is effective. In 2015, Santa Clara University conducted an independent, professional evaluation of the outcomes of the Sunday Friends program. The in-depth study of hundreds of program participants was led by Dr. Carol Ann Gittens, Interim Dean of the School of Education.Many thanks to Dr. Gittens and her professional, hard-working team of researchers.

Here is an excerpt from the over 200 measured results.

Parents tell us that, because of Sunday Friends…

·       98% spend more meaningful and educational time with their children.

·       87% spend more time at home with their children with the TV turned off.

·       99% are more dedicated to ensuring regular school attendance for their children; 93% now talk with teachers about their children’s behavior in school; and 90% talk about their children’s grades.

·       99% feel better about how they discipline their children.

·       100% pay more attention to leading their children by example and 97% feel they have become better role models for their children.

·       96% feel better able to handle life’s many demands.

·       95% report that their children act less depressed.

·       96% tell us that their children talk to them about important topics more often.

·       99% reportthat their children show more respect for people and 96% of children have become more helpful to neighbors, friends and family.

·       99% tell us that their children are now more able to find acceptable ways to get what they want and 97% of kids are more able to say no to wrong or dangerous things.

·       95% have seen that their kids read more for fun; 98% of kids pay more attention; 98% enjoy learning more; and 99% now try harder to do the best they can.

·       98% of parents report that their children are doing better in school.

·       97% of parents feel they are using their money more carefully; 99% feel they are setting a better example for their children by spending carefully and 99% are more confident that their children will be financially stable when they grow up.

For more results and a deeper analysis, please visit www.SundayFriends.org/achievements.Contact us at mail@sundayfriends.org to arrange a tour of our program.