Share the Spirit 2017 stories of help and hope.

Take a look back at some of the highlights from 2017 here.

Bay Area News Group 2017 video

Here are some video highlights from 2017 stories ...

Share the Spirit: For East Bay residents in need, donors make a difference

(photo by Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) WALNUT CREEK — The annual Share the Spirit campaign sponsored by Bay Area News Group and administered by the nonprofit Contra Costa Crisis Center brought in more than $208,000 this holiday season to ...

Ministry cleans the body and spirit of Antioch’s homeless

ANTIOCH — It wasn’t until Ken Rickner lost his home that he felt truly free. He could stop wasting money on fighting the bank and pursue a mission he said came from above: the Shower House Ministries. “He’s been where ...

Formerly homeless Air Force veteran vows to ‘leave no one behind’

BERKELEY — Following a stint in the Air Force, Mark Mendoza worked as an undercover police officer rooting illegal drugs out of Northern California high schools and later as a federal agent trying to stop the illegal flow of narcotics ...

East Bay father gets a fresh start with help of parenting classes

CONCORD — Last year, Manuel Contreras found himself in a situation that often can be the end of the road for parents or the beginning of a nasty cycle: the loss of custody of his young son after a domestic ...

For Vietnam veteran, Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services brought light as well as food

Arthur Mansolf needed some light. Not that he necessarily knew it then, but he realizes it now. Mansolf had come to accept the darkness. His Martinez apartment has thick window blinds that lent a nighttime feel no matter the time ...

When pet health problems come knocking, Paws in Need answers the door

Mary Fielding had just stepped out of the shower one Sunday last November when she received an unusual text from her husband, Jeff. “I just put a pit bull in our backyard,” the text read. That was the start of ...

Community center’s holiday baskets brighten season for Alameda County families

SAN LEANDRO — Rose Padilla-Johnson doesn’t just recognize the community she serves year-round as CEO of the Davis Street Community Center. She also remembers when she resembled it. “The people who come to Davis Street are us. I was a ...

Richmond entrepreneur gets a hand building his dream

Richmond resident Amos Louis learned years ago how to paint homes and fix up buildings, but turning those skills into a successful, growing business was a new challenge he faced several years ago. Born in Haiti, Louis had lived in ...

How a new bike helped an East Bay family struggling with leukemia

For Violet Gutierrez, raising two sons on the autism spectrum hasn’t been easy. But in October 2016, her life got even harder: Her third child, 8-year-old Arianna, was diagnosed with leukemia after weeks in the hospital as doctors struggled to ...
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Share the Spirit 2016 stories of help and hope.

Take a look back at some of the highlights from 2016 here.

Share the Spirit: How donors made a difference this holiday season for East Bay residents in need

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 ...

Contra Costa seniors get in-home help thanks to volunteer handymen

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 ...

Antioch’s Salvation Army has helped 100,000+ folks in need since 2005

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 ...

Meals on Wheels is a reliable friend to Alameda County seniors

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 ...

Shelter, Inc. helps young mother in recovery get her life back on track

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 ...

Pleasanton nonprofit Child Care Links empowers victim of domestic abuse

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 ...

Immigrants’ story: from a land of violence to one of hope

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 ...

Homes help former foster youth ‘enter a challenger, exit a champion’

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 ...

Teen escapes homelessness, finds kinship with aid of nonprofit

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 ...

Oakland dance company reaches out to disabled veterans

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 ...
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Share the Spirit 2015 stories of help and hope.

Take a look back at some of the highlights from 2015 here.

Share the Spirit donations hit three-year high

East Bay residents were generous during the holiday season, contributing $194,000 to the annual Share the Spirit campaign, which warms the winter days for the less fortunate. It was nearly 27 percent more than the drive collected in 2014. People ...

San Leandro agency offers lifeline for working mother

Laura Amezcua is a typical client of the Davis Street Family Resource Center: a single working mother who struggles to provide for her family in the face of the Bay Area’s exorbitant cost of living. With no familial support, Amezcua, ...

Bay Area Rescue Mission evolves, but goals stay same

Before he turned 30, John Anderson was “a self-centered, egotistical yuppie” managing the Latin America data processing operation for a major oil company, while running his own consulting business on the side. He also was “a white-collar drug addict” whose ...

Pittsburg’s First Baptist Head Start aids families in need

In 2013, Jazmine McDonald knew she was going to need child care after her baby was born, so she didn’t waste any time. While still pregnant with her daughter, she placed herself on a waitlist for First Baptist Head Start’s ...

Oakland recreation program offers safe place for special needs kids

Thirteen-year-old Mai Richard likes to hang out at the Mosswood Recreation Center, where she and other special needs kids can play games, chat, whip up snacks and check out computers. It’s a safe place for the girl with cerebral palsy ...

Domestic violence shelter helps families rebound from abuse

Thirteen years after she and her family were placed in a domestic violence shelter at Tri-Valley Haven, 26-year-old Elizabeth recently strode back through the agency’s double doors. She had just left a shift at her retail job and soon would ...

Homeless woman finds her life nourished by Loaves and Fishes

Deb Gomes has known a number of setbacks and challenges. Only one left her wondering if she could bounce back. A violent assault in February 2014 left her unable to work for more than six months. A self-employed haircutter, Gomes, ...

Spreading warmth in winter

It began with a misplaced hat. Four years ago, Corinne Hindes and Katrine Kirsebom, 11-year-old downhill ski racers, were rummaging through the lost and found at a ski resort when they were struck by an idea. Still troubled by the ...

With nonprofit’s help, disabled Concord man shows it’s never too late to learn

There’s nothing Bill Harwell likes more than a car trip, even a short one, and his caretakers know that better than anyone. On a recent Friday, Drew Moore got Harwell, who is developmentally disabled, out of his Concord apartment and ...

Beyond Emancipation helps former foster youths take control of their lives

When Kimberly Ruiz-Castillo told authorities that she had been sexually abused at home for years, her ties to family members were severed. Just 12 years old at the time, Ruiz-Castillo, now 22, said authorities removed her from a relative’s crowded ...