2020 Stories

The Bay Area News Group and East Bay Times Share the Spirit are pleased to announce the 2021 Share the Spirit grant recipients. These organizations are doing great work in the community and making the holidays brighter for many East ...

Amid the tragedies and hardships wrought by a worldwide pandemic in a tumultuous year, generous East Bay Times readers reached deep into their pockets to help neighbors in need. Readers have contributed a record-breaking $482,134 so far to this news ...

Savory aromas of ropa vieja – the “old clothes” of slow-cooked pulled stewed beef with bell peppers, garlic and onion — often float from the kitchen space at Co-Biz in Richmond. Here is where chef Yaqueline Martinez prepares traditional criollo ...

Over his 23 years, Marsai Turbin hasn’t often enjoyed the smoothest of life paths. Nor has he had the best of luck. An Oakland resident, Turbin spent much of his childhood in the foster care system. As an adult, he ...

When COVID-19 hit the Bay Area earlier this year, the staff at Brighter Beginnings transformed their organization into a sort of emergency center. Brighter Beginnings, which offers a Head Start early education program to help families prepare their young kids ...

A warm breeze wafts over the motley assortment of people and dogs trickling into the expansive clearing along the San Joaquin River. Some wander around sipping coffee while others snack from brown lunch bags marked with the Bible verse John 3:16 ...

Things haven’t always been easy for Gina Harris and her son, Oliver. But, fortunately, they’ve had the Davis Street Community Center in times of need. “I’ve been going there for like three years now,” said the 26-year-old San Leandro resident, ...

As the coronavirus pandemic forces many people to stay at home, Fred Finch Youth & Family Services is finding ways to embrace distance technologies for mental health therapy. The youth center uses a combination of music, video chats and different technology ...

VM always considered herself “an overcomer,” especially when it came to helping others overcome their own adversity. There was the time she and her husband aided her parents when they hit financial shoals at the church they ministered. And when ...

Growing up in a whirlwind of households – spun around from her parents’ home to foster care, to apartments of various relatives and back to multiple foster homes again – it was hard for Danika Anderson to consider stability as ...