2016 Stories

The annual Share the Spirit program sponsored by Bay Area News Group and administered by the nonprofit Contra Costa Crisis Center brought in more than $180,000 this holiday season to benefit dozens of nonprofits throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...

When Hays Englehart visited his father, he worked on a list of things to fix around the house while they spent time together. After his dad died, Englehart wanted to honor him by using skills his father taught him throughout the ...

If being a working mother with six children weren’t hard enough, the Antioch resident and Tri-Delta Transit bus driver has battled congestive heart failure over the years while trying to provide a better life for her family. While life has thrown ...

For 95-year-old Milton Williams, Meals on Wheels is an old friend that never fails to call. The native Oaklander has been receiving Meals on Wheels for about a decade and counts on it for companionship as much as nutritious meals ...

Courtney Montano had been in Santa Rita Jail on a probation violation for five days when she went into labor with her second child. When she arrived at ValleyCare Medical Center in Pleasanton, she asked to call her mom or ...

It was only nine months ago when Patricia grabbed her three children and escaped to a local motel room one night. The 26-year-old mother was a victim of domestic violence, and had to figure out her next steps. “I never ...

Two years ago, Aracely Garcia Gonzales and her husband, Otto Alva Lopez, made a difficult decision. With Otto already in the United States working to send money back home to Guatemala, they resolved that Aracely should join him and bring ...

Kevin Lynn has fought through hunger, homelessness and depression, his teenage years a blur of foster homes that he felt treated him like “a disposable paycheck.” His apartment burned down last year, consuming all of his possessions, including his prized ...

For about six weeks one summer, Karizma Harper and her mom lived among the homeless in Berkeley’s People’s Park. Although she was 8 or 9 years old at the time, it wasn’t as scary or bad as you’d think, she ...

A desire to explore life beyond the circular track led competitive wheelchair athlete Dwayne Scheuneman to the world of dance. It was a place the track-and-field enthusiast never thought he’d find himself. “I had no idea about any kind of ...