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A team effort. Last month we had a family from Canada - a mom, dad who had suffered a stroke and was left physically handicapped and blind, and a 15-year-old physically and mentally challenged son. They were pulling a very small travel trailer and were coming back from the Grand Canyon when the transmission and brakes went out on the truck. She called my office and left a message on the answering machine that they were broken down in the desert and were in desperate need of food. I called a friend who works out at Tanger Mall and she went driving around until she found them. Once we knew where they were, I went to Desert Manna and got food for them and to the Humane Society to get dog food and cat food and to Catholic Charities to get personal hygiene supplies. I also called one of my board members to go with me and when we got there we found out what the problem was and that they also needed gas for the generator on the trailer. The board member then called a friend at an auto repair shop in town and he had them towed into town, put them in a RV park and took the truck to his shop. They had no money left but would be receiving a disability check on the first of the month (5 days away). We fed them for 5 days, got more food for the animals and food to get back on the road with. The man who repaired their truck charged only for the parts, did not charge for the towing and he also paid for the RV park for 5 days. They received their money on the 1st and went on their way. This was a team effort of many people working together to help this family and had a positive outcome. United Way of Mojave Valley
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Their dollars go further. One of our small rural senior citizens center serves hot meals Monday through Friday for the folks who live out that way. They had taken a very large cut in county funding and were having a difficult time serving the meals. As a group made up of United Way board members, Kiwanis Club members, the holiday meals program people, and some of our Key Club members from Barstow High School decided we could help. We worked for 3 weekends and got the supplies we needed donated and broke ground for a garden complete with the water lines. We purchased seeds and plants, got the PVC pipes donated, as well as the 3 tons of rocks and the chicken wire to keep the rabbits from eating everything. We planted 7 trees around the garden to provide some shade and also planted 6 more trees around the center and made a rose garden with a patio in the center with a park bench. We also planted a lot of desert grasses and desert bushes to provide a beautiful landscape for them. They are growing a large amount of their vegetables now to use in the preparation of meals every day. They also expanded the garden to allow the seniors who live in that area to have a small garden plot of their own as long as they maintain it. They are now able to make their dollars go further since they don’t have to buy as many vegetables. United Way of Mojave Valley
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Needed school supplies. We have 2 school districts in our area with somewhere around 9,000 students with an average free and reduced lunch rate of approximately 70%, some of the schools are in the 80% range. The teachers tell us that many of these children come to school unprepared to learn because they do not have the paper, pencils, etc. at home to do homework with (the school provides these items in elementary to use at school). In the 2008-2009 school year, we made this known to the community and received $12,000 in donations to purchase school supplies for 16 schools. K-12 students were given a bag (the 3,000 bags were donated by Southwest Gas Corp.), the items were purchased from Walmart, and one of our member agencies that works with the mentally and physically challenged adults picked up the supplies for us and spent a week putting all the bags together. They also helped the Board of Directors of our United Way deliver the bags of school supplies to all the schools the week school started. With that effort we were able to provide 3,000 students the needed school supplies. The teachers and students alike were thrilled at our efforts. United Way of Mojave Valley
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