SMO Survives the Perfect Storm

In late 2008 Single Mothers Outreach almost went out of business. We had no cash to pay employees or rent. We laid off the staff and moved into a 90 square foot room that was donated to us by the County of Los Angeles and quite literally started over. All we had in the bank was a restricted grant from the City of Santa Clarita that hadn’t been spent because we hadn’t executed the program. We found a $10,000 grant from the Cityof Santa Clarita that hadn’t been paid out because we had not provided proof of liability insurance (we quickly provided it.) That and the generosity of one church and a donor allowed SMO to re-start. Read more…

Whole Foods Employees Hit it Out of the Park 

Through their generous “Feed 4 More” campaign, Whole Foods increased community awareness of Single Mothers Outreach and donated:

• 540 cans of pears
• 540 boxers of oatmeal
• 480 packages of mandarin oranges
• 216 jars of peanut butter
• 240 boxes of mac and cheese
• 264 bottles of shampoo
• 168 boxes of crackers
• 300 jars of spaghetti sauce
• 312 cans of peas
• 192 bottles of shower gel
• 240 packages of spaghetti
• 96 cartons of applesauce
• 120 bottles of body lotion
• 264 cartons of soup
• 66 cartons of almond milk

Our families were thrilled to receive the delicious, healthy food!

This program was such a huge success that Whole Foods reached it’s goal by the end of November. All funds collected during the month of December were tallied and given to SMO…another $1728.68!

Making the Holidays Merrier

A Few Changes Around The Office

We said goodbye to our much loved Programs and Services Director, Jennifer Kennedy, who is moving on to find a job that will allow her to save for her daughter’s college education. We welcomed our new Programs and Services Director, Maria Clemens, who brings valuable experience working with parents and children in a behavioral and mental health capacity. Maria has a Masters in Social Work, and she speaks Spanish!

Financial Training Program Huge Success

Single Mothers Outreach is getting ready to launch our Spring session of Financial Peace University (FPU) in February.  This powerful program teaches parents not only the principles, but the practical application of budgeting, saving, the importance of getting out of debt and so much more.  To date we have graduated close to 100 students from this program.  These single parents have saved a combined total of more than $118,000 dollars and reduced their debt by nearly $100,000 during the course of the program.  In addition to FPU for our parents, we have incorporated a kids version in our childcare program.  Our kids learn the importance of work, saving, spending, giving, staying out of debt and integrity.  Like their parents, they learn practical application, through earning play money each week, budgeting it using the envelope system and then spending it in our Kids Store during the last class (some on themselves and some on a gift for their parent).  We hope to launch a teen version later this year.

February Calendar

2/15 – FPU Classes Begin
2/18 – BRIDGES Moms Mentoring Program Begins