THE STORY OF OUTREACH

When presented with real-life and simulated situations, students should demonstrate a desire to overcome these challenges and improve in community skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork skills, and task completing skills.

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The “Outreach Program” was originally started over 20 years ago by the school psychologist and the school counselor at the Cyrus J. Morris (CJM) Elementary School in Walnut Valley Unified School District (WVUSD). The high school mentors were typically from the Walnut High School (WHS) Outreach group, and their job consisted of mentoring 20 to 30 “at-risk” students who were referred by teachers and staff at the selected elementary school. These students have social/emotional/economical disadvantages as compared to the rest student population.

When Mrs. Fu transferred to Evergreen Elementary School in the year of 2017, she did not want to see the “Outreach Program” disappear. Therefore, with her effort and help, the Evergreen “Outreach Program” was born! The difference was that in addition to the high school volunteers from WHS, a group of Diamond Bar High School (DBHS) volunteers also joined Outreach Club and became new additions to the existing high school mentors for the Evergreen Outreach kids.

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In the early fall of 2018, after meeting with Isaiah’s Rock Pastor Charlene King and hearing their stories, the DBHS Outreach Club founder (Luke Zhou) was deeply touched by what Isaiah’s Rock had been doing consistently for the community. He also was inspired by the generosity and service spirit of this organization. Luke and our Outreach club officers decided to expand our Outreach services to support Isaiah’s Rock in their effort to serve the local homeless population and needy families. As time went by, we have attracted and teamed up with a few other Chinese community volunteer groups (e.g., “Helping Hands,” WEL-JVG Education Group, and the Chinese-American Donation Center), by organizing and participating in monthly projects with the Isaiah’s Rock to help organizing/cleaning/sorting/ distributing foods and clothes and other living materials. During the holidays, we serve even a much larger number of people, with groceries and seasonal items (e.g., Thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas toys and blankets, etc.).

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During the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been continuously doing multiple fundraisers and purchased and distributed many Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies (masks, face shields, gloves, hand sanitizers, Lysol disinfection sprays, cleaner supplies, toilet papers and paper towels, etc.) to Isaiah’s Rock in order to help their volunteer staff members, homeless people, as well as other needy families in Chino and its nearby communities and cities.

Helping Hand was an organization created by Ms. Ying Cao. It started when a student made an effort to collect crayons, pencils, and other supplies to donate to a small, local church of hers. However, the church had no way of distributing these school supplies. As the Outreach program's partnership with Isaiah's Rock gained more influence and popularity, Ms. Cao recommended the student and her friends to join the Outreach program. They did, and in the fall of 2018, Outreach expanded its program to provide services for the homeless and needy. Later, the "Helping Hand" program was created as a separate organization from the original Evergreen Outreach program. The name "Helping Hand" was chosen to differentiate from Outreach and also to convey the newly-created program's purpose:

aiding those in need.

While undergoing the COVID-19 lockdown, Helping Hand has sought out alternative ways to help the homeless population and the others in need. Alongside the Outreach program, we have been done multiple fundraisers and purchased and distributed many Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies (masks, face shields, gloves, hand sanitizers, Lysol disinfection sprays, cleaner supplies, toilet papers and paper towels, etc.) to the Isaiah’s Rock foundation.

(The Isaiah’s Rock Non-denomination is a 501(C)3 non-profit Christian ministry that works closely with the homeless and needy families in Chino and surrounding cities. They distribute groceries twice a week to approximately 500 families. They also provide cooked meals every day for those who come in need of breakfast, lunch, or dinner. During the holidays, they serve a much larger number of people, with groceries and seasonal items. Each year during Christmas week, they typically provide brand-new toys and thousands of tons of food to approximately 2,000 – 5,000 needy families, with the help and generosity of local community businesses and volunteers.)

You can find their Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Christian-Church/Isaiahs-Rock-Non-Denominational-115416895154615/

and Isaiah's Rock's official website here: https://isaiahsrock.org/

This summer, Helping hand has recovered our in-person support activities, and have organized bimonthly volunteering events to support Isaiah’s Rock, beginning in June. Hope we can see you join us soon too, be a “Helping Hand,” in this very meaningful volunteer service activity!