Valley Children’s Hospital commits $2 million to launch Our Valley Cares, an initiative supporting at-risk youth across greater Fresno and uniting a host of youth-serving nonprofits. (GV Wire Composite)
- Valley Children’s Hospital donates $2 million to launch Our Valley Cares, supporting at-risk Central Valley youth.
- Initiative unites Fresno Mission, CASA, and other nonprofits, creating a coordinated system of care for children.
- Our Valley Cares provides single hub for families to access food, services, and support for youth in crisis.
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Valley Children’s Hospital is committed $2 million to help launch Our Valley Cares, an initiative supporting at-risk youth across the Central Valley, leaders announced Thursday at Fresno Mission’s City Center.
The program brings together Fresno Mission, CASA, Breaking the Chains, City Without Orphans, Central California Food Bank, Justice Coalition, Martin Park, and the Troy Center to create a coordinated system of services for children and teens in crisis.
Funding and Vision
Matthew Dildine, CEO of Fresno Mission, who is spearheading the initiative, said Valley Children’s will contribute $1 million this year and another $1 million next year as the program’s founding supporter.
“Valley Children’s has agreed to become the founding supporter of the Our Valley Cares initiative, investing $2 million over the next two years … to help us launch the Our Valley Cares Initiative,” Dildine said.
“This initiative … is focused at moving the needle. In providing care and love and treatment, and importantly, creating a system of care. This is not a one and done. This is a new way to do it.” — Todd Suntrapak, president/CEO, Valley Children’s Healthcare
Dildine said the initiative will build a robust system of care for youth in crisis and a new facility that is “going to be awesome.”
Todd Suntrapak, CEO of Valley Children’s, said the initiative reflects the hospital’s commitment to the region’s children, many of whom live in poverty.
“Often, we are the organization that is attempting to elevate awareness of the challenges that at-risk youth in our Valley face. If you consider that the primary service area of Valley Children’s is about 12 counties in the central part of the state and every single one of them has at least 30% of kids 0 to 17 living in poverty, this is not a good environment,” Suntrapak said.
He added the initiative represents a new way of providing care. “This initiative, more than any I can remember in a long, long time, is focused at moving the needle. In providing care and love and treatment, and importantly, creating a system of care. This is not a one and done. This is a new way to do it.”
Coordinating Support
Zara Arboleda, communications director for Valley Children’s Hospital, said the program provides a single hub for families to access services.
“If there’s a child who comes in, in need of support, this initiative now allows us to have one hub through which we can refer all of our patients to,” Arboleda said.
Kymberly Dildine, co-CEO of the Central California Food Bank, said the program will streamline access to food and other essential services.
“I think what’s really important for people to understand is that no one organization can do this work alone.” — Debra Rush, founder, Breaking the Chains
“Our Valley Cares will help facilitate a referral system amongst the partners here at City Center. So our traditional market is open to the community and, as you heard, individuals wait in line a significant amount of time,” she said. “Through Our Valley Cares, there will be appointments for those that are seeking services through other nonprofits on campus.”
Kymberly Dildine added that when an at-risk youth is identified as lacking food they will be able to make an appointment on a day the First Fruits Market is closed to go in and shop.
Debra Rush, founder of Breaking the Chains, emphasized the importance of collaboration among nonprofits.
“I think what’s really important for people to understand is that no one organization can do this work alone and it is so incredibly important to those that we serve that they have access to all the different partner services that are available from CASA to the Fresno to Troy Center, Martin Park, Community Food Bank. These are absolutely fundamental in their long-term success,” Rush said.
How to Get Involved
Matthew Dildine encouraged the public to participate through donations or volunteer work.
“So today we’ll be launching the website, which is ourvalleycares.com… and we really do want people to go to that, to get involved, to find ways,” he said. “It almost kind of works like a menu at a restaurant… what cause speaks to your heart. Maybe it’s human trafficking, maybe it’s hunger, maybe it’s foster youth, maybe it’s unsheltered minors, maybe it is mentorship. And what we’re asking people is to find one cause and then donate to it, become a monthly giver.”
The site is intended to be a rallying point for local businesses, foundations, and philanthropists, he said.
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