June 4, 2022

Dear Friend of SOS,

The 64th Sonoma Valley Memorial Day observance was held in Sonoma last weekend.

The Rotary Club of Sonoma Valley, the Rotary Club of Sonoma Sunrise, and the Rotary Club of Sonoma Springs provided an “All-American Picnic” in the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Building. We are so grateful that they donated 160 extra hamburgers and buns to SOS. The need continues to grow – we served 96 breakfasts, 160 lunches, and 42 deliveries, totaling 298 meals in a single day.

Produce donations from our local farms help us keep our menu healthy. Dawn, our Sous Chef, visited Sun Ray Farm this week and picked up spinach, turnips, radishes, Little Gems lettuce, fennel, and arugula.

To handle the workload during the summer, with staff and volunteers taking well-deserved vacation breaks, we have hired an additional kitchen assistant, Sonia C.

In the words of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, “For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation.”

At SOS, we measure our success not just in the number of meals we serve or the number of people that we feed, but in the compassionate service we provide for those who want a better life.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Gratefully,

Kathy King

Executive Director

Sonoma Overnight Support

Christmas came early this year!

Our friends from Secret Santa, led by Constance Grizzell and Patti England, managed to gather gifts for 225 people who might not otherwise have any. We celebrated the occasion with a delicious dinner cooked by chefs Dan and Dawn, including a tres leches dessert, and a visit from Mr. Claus himself.

Santa came again in the form of the Sonoma Valley Democrats who donated hundreds of pairs of underwear, socks, and t-shirts for our clients. Over the past few weeks, they have been gathering donations from individuals throughout the valley. To mark the occasion they took the time to wrap all these gifts and to put together some beautiful decorations at La Luz, where we picked them up.

Lastly, Seana Pedelabordewho leads Amano Studio Jewelry, has been raising money for SOS through her own webpage. Just this year she’s raised more than $2,000 for the hungry and homeless in Sonoma and Sonoma Valley, and she’s been supporting the community for more than 5 years.

The great Christmas author, Charles Dickens, said, “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” We hope to keep this warm holiday spirit in our hearts as we continue to serve the most vulnerable in our community in the year to come.

Thank you for all your support.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Kathy King

Executive Director

Sonoma Overnight Support

As we continue to feel the chill of winter around us, we are always looking for ways to shelter the most vulnerable in our community.

Last week during the atmospheric rains, we moved 14 people into hotel rooms to ensure they had a warm, dry place to sleep. Additionally, 14 others have been moved into Los Guilicos Village and the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds. This doesn’t include those who are a part of our Safe Parking Program.

That’s 28 people who are temporarily housed while we help them search for more permanent housing. We were able to achieve this through your generosity and a Sonoma County grant for winter hotel rooms, but it will last only until the end of January 2022.

To ensure that our clients in hotels also had food, our friends at Delicious Dish prepared weekend meals (two per day, per person), and SOS staff delivered them on Saturday and Sunday.

Rainer Maria Rilke said, “This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love. The more they give, the more they possess.” Each time we give to our neighbors, we recognize just how much we have at SOS.

Over this year, we’ve been able to learn more about the people we serve. They range in age from 5 to 87 years old and receive everything from warm meals to one-on-one case management that helps them access housing, healthcare, and work opportunities.

In 2021 we served 738 unique individuals across our various programs, including the 193 people who got their essential COVID vaccines at our clinics. Of those who use our food program, 92% are Sonoma residents. They grew up here; many of them went to school here. Their families are still here, and they may be the sibling, child, or parent of someone you know.

Since 2007, SOS has been the only provider of local services for the hungry and homeless in Sonoma and Sonoma Valley. We exist to help and to be there for our neighbors who are struggling. Our services often alleviate the impossible choice many of our clients face: of either paying for rent or buying food.

We can’t do all of this without you.

As this year comes to a close, I encourage you to make a year-end contribution to SOS as we rise to the challenge of providing 50,000+ meals, countless services, and shelter to those in need.

Please help us help our Sonoma community!

Thanks so much.

Kathy King

Executive Director

Sonoma Overnight Support

Dear Friends of SOS,

When Elizabeth Kemp and others came together to found our organization, they were driven by a mission to give when others couldn’t, to help those who truly needed help. Over the past 14 years, we have been moved by the kindness of our community members who, in the spirit of SOS’ founding, offer to serve others in a time of need.

This week, we had two exciting events to showcase our community’s generosity.

BeBe Davis came to the Springs Hall to give free haircuts to anyone who wanted them. She has been offering her services to SOS for the past five years, coming monthly to The Haven in order to serve our neighbors. It’s incredible how much a haircut can boost someone’s self-confidence. Thank you, BeBe!

On Tuesday, Michelle Dale helped put together the Sonoma Valley High School Senior Breakfast for graduating seniors. After the event, she called our chef, Dan Kahn, and kindly offered to bring us extra food from the event. Thank you, Michelle!

Finally, on Wednesday, SOS held our third COVID vaccination clinic, which brings our total to 122 vaccinated. We’ve received many grateful messages from community members who got the vaccine at the Springs Hall, and we were thrilled that Sonoma Valley Hospital, Fox and Associates, and the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center helped to make it happen. The Sonoma Chamber of Commerce also donated Whole Foods Market gift cards to help incentivize others who were undecided about getting vaccinated.

These acts of kindness truly warm our hearts. In the words of actor Jackie Chan, “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.”

With this in mind, we continuously try to spread kindness to our clients, our volunteers, and our neighbors in an effort to change lives for the better.

Thank you for being a part of it.

Gratefully,

Kathy King
Executive Director
Sonoma Overnight Support
P.O. Box 748
Sonoma, CA 95476

Sonoma Overnight Support realizes that we have a high-risk and complicated situation serving the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic. The best way we can help the homeless is to mitigate their risk and

try to prevent them from transmitting the virus. With that in mind, we have implemented the following procedures:

All of our clients will be monitored for symptoms morning and night. We will take their temperature and urge them to report to us any dry or sore throat, fever, headaches,cough, significant trouble breathing, or other aches and pains. Anyone with any of those symptoms will be treated with fever reducers and cough medicine and asked to wear a mask and gloves and as much as possible keep themselves separate from other clients and our staff. They will be sent to the Sonoma Valley Community Health Center for testing if they present all of the virus symptoms.

Starting yesterday, we are serving only to-go food at La Luz on Friday nights. We will also serve only to-go food at the Springs Hall. At both locations, this will be for the foreseeable future. No one at either location will be allowed to sit and/or socialize.

Volunteers have been asked to make sandwiches and food “to-go bags” in containers. Volunteers are also asked to drop this food off and not have contact with the homeless.

A health care professional from the community health center came in The Haven last week to assess our clients, and to date, no one has presented with any symptoms. Today we are having The Haven deep cleaned.

We are implementing new day service hours. They will be from 9 am to 11 am Monday-Friday.

We will serve only to-go food in the backyard, where we are setting up a large pop-up tent. We will allow two people into The Haven at a time to use the shower and the restroom. No other services will be provided. Winter Shelter clients will also be served to-go food. They will be monitored for symptoms and have their temperature taken every evening.

We are treating our clients as if they are in a retirement facility. This is why we are limiting anyone going in and out of The Haven as well as interactions among our clients, staff, and volunteers. Only staff who volunteer to come in will be at The Haven, and like our clients, they will be monitored for symptoms and have their temperatures taken every day.

SOS is mindful that we are all in this together. It is imperative that we provide for those who have no home to shelter in place, but SOS is not able to do that. We are in contact with the County and the City to learn what they plan to do if unsheltered people need to be in quarantine for 14 days.