Annual BART Holiday Toy Drive to bring joy to families across Alameda County
Update: The BART Holiday Toy Drive collected more than 750 toys and $500 in gift cards, which were delivered to BOSS on Thursday, Dec. 15.
Michelle and her five-year-old daughter have lived at Ursula Sherman Village, a shelter in Berkeley run by Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), for about one year. In that time, Michelle, a domestic violence survivor, has had a comfortable and stable home where she can prepare for her next chapter and, importantly, heal.
“They really take care of us here,” Michelle said as her daughter snuggled up against her. “I feel like they’re my second family.”
Michelle moved from Texas to California and lived in an RV with her child for two years. She said she is incredibly grateful to have connected with an organization like BOSS, which is helping her find stable work and permanent housing.
“They’re here to help us, they want us to do better,” Michelle said. “I feel blessed to be here.”
Michelle and her daughter in silhouette at Ursula Sherman Village in Berkeley.
The shelter at Ursula Sherman Village is one of three in Alameda County run by BOSS, an award-winning, Berkeley-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to help homeless, poor, and disabled individuals achieve health and self-sufficiency, and to fight against the root causes of poverty and homelessness. This year, BOSS will be the recipient of toys and gift cards collected through BART’s annual Holiday Toy Drive.
“BART is honored to work with an organization like BOSS that makes such an outsize impact on the Bay Area community,” said Rodd Lee, BART Assistant General Manager, External Affairs. “Since 1971, BOSS has served thousands of people in Alameda County, and we are grateful that we can support their efforts with our Holiday Toy Drive.”
For the annual Holiday Toy Drive, the BART Board President selects the recipient organization from within their district.
The common outdoor area, featuring a playground, playhouse, and planters, at Ursula Sherman Village in Berkeley.
BOSS directly serves at least 4,000 people a year in Alameda County with an incredible variety of services. Sonja Fitz, Chief Development Officer for BOSS, estimates the nonprofit has supported more than a quarter million people in its fifty-plus years.
The organization started with street outreach in 1971. Four years later, BOSS opened its first shelter in Berkeley – ten beds for the mentally ill homeless, Fitz said. The nonprofit kept expanding from there.
“It grew steadily over the next few decades as homelessness exploded and started affecting working people and families and people with substance abuse issues,” Fitz said.
Today, BOSS serves a myriad of different people – unhoused folks, disabled individuals, families, justice system-impacted individuals – who have a variety of needs. BOSS’s mission is fighting for equity and fighting against poverty and racism, Fitz said.
Ursula Sherman Village, which sits off Fourth Street in Berkeley, is warm, inviting, and cozy. Singles sleep in dorm-style bedrooms, while families live in private bedrooms with shared common areas and kitchens. In addition to the sleeping quarters, the shelter has a computer lab, laundry room, playground for the children, and ample outdoor space with a luscious garden. Residents feel comfortable here, and safe. The shelter offers much-needed respite and guidance for individuals who have faced immense difficulty and struggle in their lives.
A bedroom for a family at Ursula Sherman Village in Berkeley.
At Ursula Sherman Village, clients can stay up to six months (with extensions as needed) and receive assistance with “housing, increasing income, mental health, and family needs,” Fitz said. In addition to the Village, BOSS manages shelters in Oakland and Hayward, as well as an RV site in Oakland and a tiny home village in San Leandro. The latter program has been so successful, the city of Oakland asked BOSS to open a cabin community in the city, next to the RV park. The community is slated to open in the new year.
Also in the new year, BOSS will unveil its Community Healing Trauma Recovery Campus in Oakland, building on its award-winning array of reentry and violence prevention programming and creating a “one-stop shop for services.” In addition to BOSS’s regular programming, the campus will offer community healing and restorative justice groups.
For Michelle and her daughter, the new year brings hope. She thinks she’s on the brink of finding work and permanent housing, and she’s optimistic for her and her daughter’s future.
“I’ve grown a lot and matured here,” Michelle said. “You have to work and put effort into it. You can’t sit here and complain. It’s a situation where you get what you put in.”
Michelle said she’s especially grateful for people like Rochelle Hamilton, a site coordinator who works with families at the Ursula Sherman Village.
“This is my girl right here,” Michelle said of Hamilton. “I talk to her about a lot of life stuff. It’s nice to have somebody that has really been through something to sit down and be like, ‘I feel you.’ She’s directed me on the right path. It means a lot.”
If you’d like to donate to BOSS, click here.