forest foundation

Guest Blog: Alli Blender

The following is from Alli Blender, one of our fellows in the Bay Area:

I grew up in Los Angeles (or the San Fernando Valley if you want to get technical) with all of my family in very close proximity. I’ve never had to fly to visit a relative and I’ve never been without family on a holiday. It is so important to me to be with those I love, but somehow I’ve wound up at UC Berkeley, a 5-6 hour drive from home. I love Berkeley and my experience here is something I will cherish forever, but being here has made me realize just how important loved ones are, which is why both programs I’m working on with the Forest Foundation are about bring people together and making people feel safe, wanted, and loved.

Initially, I came to the Forest Foundation with an idea called KIDLINE, which is based on a program in Tucson, Arizona. The program provides simply someone to talk to for children ages 5-13. The average callers are home alone and/or lonely and someone asking them how their day was, is all they’d ever want to make them feel safe and comforted. Unfortunately for me and those children, I’ve had some trouble finding a location for the program, which has postponed its debut into the Berkeley/Oakland area, but it is definitely still a work in progress and I hope to see KIDLINE up and running by next fall.

After attending the Forest Foundation conference in Santa Barbra, I was incredibly inspired to make at least some program work in Berkeley. Motivated by the Santa Barbra’s Forest Foundation branch’s work with the elderly, I’ve decided to begin an Adopt-A-Grandparent program which matches college students with the residents of the Jewish Home for the Aged who don’t necessarily have family close by to visit. This program will also start in fall, 2005 and until then, I’ve been working with the Jewish Home for the Aged on their events.

I am so grateful to the Forest Foundation for allowing me this amazing opportunity to work on projects about which I am passionate. It is so rare for college students, or even any age group these days, to have the opportunity to love their work and I truly love what I’m doing.

posted by forest foundation @ 3:19 PM