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April 26

1906 - Bobby Batugo, World Champion Mixologist in the 1970s, born in The Philippines [story]

Single Mothers Outreach Adding Case Workers, Hours

SCVNews.com | Tuesday, Aug 4, 2015

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It’s hard to believe that summer is almost at an end. Maria Clemens, our wonderful Director of Programs and Services returns from maternity leave on August 10, and I think I can speak for all our parents and staff: it can’t come too soon. We’ve missed her!

I also became a grandparent for the first time. Meet Olivia and my daughter Trisha! They live in The Netherlands, so it was very special visit we made in July.

Summertime always brings a much needed pause to catch our breath before the busy Fall season. We’ve been interviewing Masters in Social Work interns from CSUN. We are excited to announce this year we will expand our capacity with four interns, including one second year intern. We also hired Digna Yepez, our second year intern from last year. This means we can significantly grow the numbers of parents who receive individual therapy. Almost 80% of new parents joining our program are suffering from either anxiety or depression or both. We’ve had a wait list of women seeking these services. For many, this is the very first step toward becoming self-sustaining.

With the increase in case workers we will also expand our work hours. Starting in September we will be open Monday – Friday from 9:00 – 5:00 and we hope to stay open late one night per week to accommodate working single parents. We are still working out the details, so stay tuned.

August is also Dancing With Our Stars month. Our wonderful Miriam Robles will dance for Single Mothers Outreach on August 28 at the Performing Arts Center. We bought a block of tickets, so please contact our office (661-288-0117) if you would like to purchase a ticket.

We also have a few ways you can support Miriam by attending special events we’ve planned to help her reach her fundraising goal. You can find more information in the News section.

– DaAnne Smith

On July 7, a group of our single parents and their children were treated to a guided nature hike and live animal presentation at Placerita Canyon Nature Center. Our host, Ranger Frank, taught the group about local plants, insects, animals and birds, and also explained the history of the Oak of the Golden Dream. The parents and kids were treated to pizza at the end of the hike. It was a fun and educational morning for everyone!

Come cheer on the boys in blue and support

JCI Santa Clarita and Single Mothers Outreach in their Dancing With Our Stars campaigns!

For just $40 you get a game ticket and entrance into the all you can eat pavilion!

Click on the flyer for more information!

Join us at the Dancing with our Stars Event

Miriam Robles has worked hard to raise money for Single Mothers Outreach. Please join us in supporting her as she dances her heart out for SMO at the 2015 Dancing with Our Stars event where she will compete against 21 other Santa Clarita nonprofits.

SMO has an extremely limited supply of great seats available.

Donate Your Car, Boat, RV or Motorcycle

to Support Single Mothers Outreach

Single Mothers Outreach has chosen Cars 4 Causes® to process our vehicle and boat donations. Cars 4 Causes® is America’s 1st vehicle donation organization, so rest assured they have the experience necessary to get the most for our cause. Your donations will help us support single mothers and their children. When you strengthen a family you strengthen the community. You can contribute to our mission by donating your car or boat today!

Click on the picture for more information.

Gail Cosico started volunteering at Single Mothers Outreach (SMO) in October 2014. She and her family had relocated to Santa Clarita Valley from Minnesota, and she was interested in becoming more active in this community. One of her first impressions of her new city was the vast array of local news sources delivered to homes. The magazines and newspapers were especially helpful to a newcomer. She recognized the spirit of giving by our residents and was very happy to have settled in the SCV.While researching local organizations on the Internet, she found the SMO website and was immediately drawn to the cause. Being a mom is a critically important job and, even when partnering with a husband, carries immense responsibilities and critical time-management skills. She was aware of the stress that single parenting can cause having lived through the divorce of her parents. Her own children were at an independent stage and she decided she wanted to do something to help single parents with their day-to-day struggles. She had long been a stay-at-home mom and had lived in several different cities as her family had relocated for her husband’s career. She had a college education but had not been employed outside the home in many years. So, she sat down and drafted a resume and visited the SMO office to explore volunteer opportunities. She was immediately impressed with the dedication of the staff she met at SMO – a delightful group of strong and caring women who love what they do and who welcomed her help.

She worried at first that her computer skills were not on a par with today’s office workers but she got encouragement and resources at SMO that helped her quickly get up to speed. She now manages a program called Lynda.com (recently acquired by Linked-In). Lynda.com is an online education company offering thousands of video courses in software and creative and business skills. The tutorials are taught by industry experts. This program is offered free to SMO members to improve their job prospects and build confidence. It has proven to be very popular and has a waiting list for attendance. She has witnessed tremendous growth in the moms who have taken advantage of this and other SMO programs.

Gail says she feels good at the end of every day at SMO. She has learned what a generous community we have in the SCV. She shares “ In all of the cities I have lived and volunteered in, I have never seen the level of generosity I see here. Whether it’s donations of money, diapers, food or volunteering their time, this community is amazing.” She strongly encourages single parents to become a member of SMO to “ learn how your life can be transformed. Even if you are not struggling financially, there is a great opportunity to meet others and learn new ways to improve family life.”

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