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Community Corner

Local Nonprofit Gives Underprivileged Children a Boost

Unspoken Works provides hygienic items, school supplies and bikes to in-need children, who are often bullied because they can't afford the same things as their classmates.

 

When Lisa Bruce set out in 2010 to provide underprivileged kids in Santa Clara and San Benito counties with hygiene products, backpacks and bikes, she never imagined her work would turn into a full fledged nonprofit called Unspoken Works

The organization, which partners year-round with schools, foster care and social service programs, currently serves about 400 youths in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Martin, and Hollister, and helped about 200 young adults in 2011. 

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"When people hear that we give young people hygiene products, they say, 'Why do they need that?' Bruce said. “It's stuff that we take for granted that a lot of kids don't have.”

Bruce, who co-founded Unspoken Works with Jacqueline Dilley, said cuts to school bus services have increased the need for bikes, and that the sour economy has made acquiring basics like shampoo, deodorant, school notebooks and pencils impossible for many families. Youths lacking such necessities often become targets of ridicule, she said.

"Kids are getting bullied because they stink," Bruce said. "I was bullied when I was younger and I just can't sit by and watch that happen."

Susan Britton, Unspoken Works board member and kindergarten teacher at , said the bullying underprivileged children endure often leads them to withdraw from school. 

"Most of us live so comfortably, but kids are truly being bullied for not having the things others do," she said. "They end up making themselves invisible. We want to help them and give them the things they are lacking."

Teachers, school nurses and others who interface with youths identify those who can benefit from Unspoken Works’ services. The organization then passes along donated items, like backpacks loaded with class-specific materials, to the contacts without highlighting their involvement.

"We stay out of it," Bruce explained. "We just tell [the kids] that the items came from the community to let them know that the community loves and supports them. We don't take any credit for it."

Bruce said the need for the items Unspoken Works provides has "just exploded."

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To raise funds, Bruce and Dilley organized an auction and dinner at Hecker Pass Winery, Saturday, which about 120 people attended. 

The event was the first fundraiser held by Unspoken Works, and the purpose was to raise between five and six thousand dollars—a goal Unspoken Works Board Member Debbie Snell said was likely reached—for backpacks and other supplies.

The evening included a silent and live auction with prizes donated from Station 55,  and sports organizations like the San Jose Sharks and San Francisco 49ers, among others. 

Bruce and Dilley were also hoping to raise enough dough to purchase their own Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). Unspoken Works currently has a nonprofit account with Gilroy’s , which requires Bruce and Dilley to hold events through First Baptist.

Hollister resident Eduardo Rodriguez, 43, said he knows how important it is for organizations like Unspoken Works to exist.

“I adopted my daughters at 4-years-old, but after [age] 4 it becomes a lot harder for foster kids to get adopted and many organizations are short on resources for them,” Rodriguez said during Saturday’s event. 

Gilroyan Doug Mitzner, 56, who holds youth Bible study sessions at First Baptist Church, praised the nonprofit for helping families that “just don't have the money to buy some of the things that Unspoken Works provides.”

"There is a tremendous need out there. They really are helping the less fortunate,” he said.

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