Virtual Donates $6,700.00

We are a non-profit committed to loving and caring for families well and equipping them with faith and research-based parenting tools to help them break out of generational parenting cycles of poor and broken parenting habits. We partner with local churches and community centers to offer parenting classes to families of all sorts, but we aim to primarily serve under-resourced families and families raising children with trauma backgrounds (typically foster and adopted children). Our aim is to foster connection and build trust and rapport in the context of those classes and build supportive long-term relationships with those parents, garnering the support of other like-minded organizations to wrap around the family and tend to other needs they have to begin to thrive instead of merely survive the day to day. All of us on staff are nationally certified trainers using research and evidence-based curriculums aimed at creating a spirit of cooperation and connection with our kids. We also offer spiritual encouragement and insight into how we can draw from God’s heart as we navigate the ups and downs of parenting. It is our highest aim to encourage and equip every unique family that He created and brings across our path.

Founded in 1971 by a group of people who felt that no person should ever go hungry in the Conejo Valley, Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank has been providing food assistance to our friends and neighbors in need for more than 40 years; and have made it our mission — “To feed hungry people in the Conejo Valley”. Manna is situated in a 700 square-foot house in the “Old Town” area of Thousand Oaks, and serves, on average, more than 1,400 people per month. With holiday distribution programs, we help over 20,000 people each year throughout the 101 corridor cities from the Calabasas Grade to the Conejo Grade. Unlike many food pantries in the area, Manna is not formally affiliated with any religious organization, nor are we federally funded in any way. In fact, Manna exists almost entirely on private donations of food and funding. More than 95% of the food Manna distributes each year is donated by organizations, businesses and individuals from around the Conejo Valley. Funding is provided through generous donors and grant writing efforts.

The mission of Classroom Central is to equip students living in poverty to effectively learn by collecting and distributing free school supplies. One in two children in our community is living in poverty. Their families are struggling each month just to pay rent and buy groceries, so thousands of children arrive at our schools emptyhanded. For these students, Classroom Central has become the primary resource for the tools they need. Classroom Central supports over 127,000 students in nearly 200 schools throughout six school districts through four core programs that enable teachers within high-poverty schools to “shop” for the materials they and their students need to learn and achieve: Free Store, Classroom Up, ClassVROOM Central Mobile Free Store, and Backpacks & Basics. We are 100% privately funded and receive no financial support from governmental, schools or federated entities. Classroom Central is an efficient steward of donor contributions; turning every dollar invested into our programs into $9 worth of school supplies contributed back to area classrooms and students. To measure success of our programs, we track teacher utilization rates, teacher visits, the number of high-needs schools served, as well as the amount of supplies distributed to students living in poverty.