During this holiday season, I’m especially grateful to the community of Ridgecrest for stepping up again to help provide gifts to the children of the families we serve at the Oasis Family Resource Center. An amazing group of volunteers led by Kim Metcalf and Karen Saaty stepped up to give back to these local families. Thanks to the generosity of the following businesses, local organizations, and individual donors we were able to provide gifts for a total of 160 children. The generous donors listed below-provided gifts for a total of 120 children from all the families enrolled in all our First 5 Kern programs; in addition to all the children aged 0-5, they included all older siblings to ensure no one was left out.
We are thankful to Avis Rent a Car (Jim and Karen Saaty), Baxendale’s (Lynn Baxendale), The Bunco Babes, Joanne Carr, Mary Covington, Mike Gross, Goldie Jackson, the Heritage Village Stretch & Sip exercise group, Bob and Tammy Kinnan, Karen LaFontaine, the LKG Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, Mary Lundstrom, Michaela Metcalf, Ninfa Cazares, Romancing the West (Mike & Kim Metcalf), Celia Mills, Leslie O’Neill, Sharon Paxton, The Swap Sheet (Peggy Breeden), the Rotary Club of China Lake, David and Cheryl Saint Amand, Esther Sires, and several anonymous donors.
Members of, the Hi-Desert Quilt Guild Society also provided beautiful quilts for all the newborns as well as handmade stockings and pillowcases for the children we serve. The Ridgecrest Salvation Army and Toys for Tots also generously provided Christmas gifts for the additional 40 children enrolled in the Head Start Preschool. The Oasis Family Resource Center is extremely thankful for the generosity of these donors. Our team had the privilege to distribute the gifts to the families, we brought many smiles and received many thanks from the recipients. Thank you for making this holiday more special for many families!
Eric Le Barbé