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Tag: Nonprofits

  • Trump boasts of over $1.5B in political funds, which could rock the midterms

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has bragged about building a political war chest exceeding $1.5 billion — a staggering sum that he can wield at his whim to shape November’s midterms and the 2028 race to succeed him.

    Trump’s stockpile — which dwarfs any amounts raised by his predecessors in their second terms — is not easy to precisely calculate given that much of it is being collected by groups that aren’t required to file regular financial disclosures.

    Current and former staffers, as well as others in Trump’s orbit, wouldn’t say exactly where his political bank account stands six months after the president announced on social media that he’d raised, just since Election Day 2024, “in various forms and political entities, in excess of 1.5 Billion Dollars.”

    But what is not in question is that it represents a mountain of cash that could reshape Republican politics for years to come — if he chooses. He’s been reluctant to spend money on other people’s races in the past, and he’s even found ways to funnel some cash to his own businesses.

    The $1.5 billion Trump claimed is roughly equal to what he and outside groups spent on his successful 2024 reelection bid, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks political spending.

    By comparison, Democratic President Joe Biden’s various super PACs, political groups and nonprofits, as well as the Democratic National Committee, raised roughly $97 million during his first year in office, according to public disclosures. That’s only about 7% of Trump’s total, and Biden was gearing up for a reelection run Trump isn’t allowed to make.

    “I think a lot of people are asking, ‘What is it all for?’” said Saurav Ghosh, federal campaign finance reform director at the Washington nonprofit Campaign Legal Center.

    People close to Trump say the main benefit of all that cash is unmatched influence heading into November. They insist Trump is eager to help Republicans so his political agenda isn’t stymied, like when Democratic victories derailed his first-term agenda after 2018’s midterms. His stockpile has helped the GOP build a sizable cash advantage over Democrats ahead of November, at least so far.

    “One of the main reasons a lame-duck president might want to amass this much money is to maintain political relevance,” said Daniel Weiner, a former Federal Election Commission attorney and current director of the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program. “Certainly he’s been far more aggressive about this than any of his predecessors.”

    Trump on Wednesday vowed political consequences for Republicans opposing his tariff policies, and could spend big to hurt them in GOP primaries. Chief among his targets is Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who opposed Trump’s tax and spend package and defied the White House in helping force the release of federal files on Jeffrey Epstein.

    Trump has also endorsed a primary opponent of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., after he voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial over the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. Still, the extent to which Trump will open his pocketbook in congressional races remains to be seen.

    “What I’m a little surprised about is that Trump has not leveraged — at least overtly — the money he controls going into that election on his congressional agenda,” said Jason Roe, a Republican strategist in Michigan.

    Indeed, Trump has a history of not spending big on races where he isn’t running. In 2018, Trump’s America First Action super PAC spent less than $30 million — a pittance given that super PACs spent about $820 million that cycle, according to OpenSecrets.

    He doesn’t always follow through on his threats, either. Despite pledging to travel to Alaska to help defeat Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski in 2022, a Trump-affiliated PAC instead gave $1.5 million to a group opposing her. Murkowski was reelected anyway.

    The president also has made no major moves so far to oppose state lawmakers in Indiana who refused to back new congressional maps championed by the White House.

    Trump’s campaign bank account also would let him play a decisive role in the next presidential race. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are the early favorites, with Trump suggesting pairing them on a GOP ticket he says would be formidable.

    Much of Trump’s political cash comes from the MAGA Inc. super PAC, which raised $100-plus million in the last six months of 2025 and entered this year with more than $300 million. The Republican National Committee reported raising $172 million last year.

    There’s also a constellation of pro-Trump nonprofits, including Securing American Greatness, which are only required to release limited information about their finances. Donations to one Trump entity can be moved through the various nonprofits and super PACs, making it difficult to track what’s spent where.

    “Because there are virtually no restrictions on what super PAC money can be used for, it essentially can be operated as a slush fund at the disposal of whoever controls it,” Weiner said.

    There are many ways Trump has used political funds to enrich his businesses in the past, including billing his campaign for the use of his own airplane. He could also stage political events at his properties in Florida or New Jersey, or his golf club outside Washington.

    At least $26 million has been spent by conservative groups and Republican committees at Trump properties since 2015 — and the actual figure is likely higher since some groups don’t have to offer detailed spending figures.

    Though federal rules govern the ways political donations can be spent, they can also be skirted. In 2020, Trump’s campaign paid tens of millions of dollars to limited liability companies controlled by aides, a move that satisfied federal disclosure rules, but masked the ultimate recipient of the money. In 2024, his political operation clawed back millions of dollars in donations it made to a super PAC supporting Trump’s run and used the money to instead pay legal bills that mounted after his indictments in four federal criminal cases while also facing civil trials.

    “As with so many things Donald Trump, he is sometimes pushing the envelope on what’s permitted, sometimes blowing right through what are pretty clear legal limits,” said Ghosh, of the Campaign Legal Center.

    Trump’s fundraising efforts are tireless. The day after his 2024 election win, he ordered staff to begin fundraising anew, and he’s since attended frequent fundraisers. His allies send out emails seeking donations constantly, often multiple times daily.

    “I’m sitting here. Alone. In the war room. Fighting for you,” Trump wrote in one such message last month. In another, a Trump-affiliated group tried to spur on donors to give by asking, “Does ICE need to come and track you down?”

    During his first presidential run, Trump relied heavily on small donations. But much of his operation now relies on large checks from uber-wealthy donors and well-connected businesses.

    Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, and his wife, Anna, donated $25 million to MAGA Inc. last year, as Trump talked constantly about helping ensure U.S. companies dominate the artificial intelligence field globally.

    Other big donations came from crypto interests that have had federal investigations dropped and big tobacco companies hoping to ease regulations.

    The parents of Howard Brodie, Trump’s ambassador to Finland, donated $500,000 to MAGA Inc., while Isabela Herrera gave $3.5 million before her father, Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini, was pardoned by Trump on bribery charges.

    “Each of these wealthy individuals. corporations, they are ponying up for a purpose,” Ghosh said. “What we’re seeing with Trump’s administration is just an unprecedented level of pay-to-play.”

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  • The new ‘Be The People’ campaign wants to unite hundreds of millions of Americans to solve problems

    As the official celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence culminate on July 4, a well-financed, privately funded initiative will kick off to try to connect hundreds of millions of Americans with efforts to solve local problems.

    The “Be The People” campaign aspires to change the perception that the U.S. is hopelessly divided and that individuals have little power to overcome problems like poverty, addiction, violence and stalled economic mobility. It also wants to move people take action to solve those problems.

    Brian Hooks, chairman and CEO of the nonprofit network Stand Together, said the 250th anniversary is a unique moment “to show people that they matter, that they have a part to play, and that the future is unwritten, but it depends on each one of us stepping up to play our part.”

    Funded by a mix of 50 philanthropic foundations and individual donors, Be The People builds on research that indicates many people want to contribute to their communities but don’t know how. The initiative has raised more than $200 million for its first year’s budget.

    Founding members range from nonprofits — including GivingTuesday, Goodwill Industries and Habitat for Humanity, businesses like Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and the National Basketball Association, to funders like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

    Hooks said this is a 10-year commitment toward trying to achieve what would be a profound shift in behavior and culture. He referenced a 2024 Pew Research Center survey that found most Americans in 2023 and 2024 did not believe that the U.S. could solve its most important problems, saying it was a “red alert” for the country.

    Hooks said the initiative envisions actions far beyond volunteering or service that people could do in their free time. He pointed to a role for businesses and schools and said the initiative would launch a major data collection effort to track whether people are actually more engaged and whether problems are actually getting solved.

    Stand Together, which was founded by the billionaire Charles Koch, works across a broad range of issues and communities in the U.S. and has carved out a role for itself as a convener that can bring coalitions together across ideological lines.

    “Be The People,” will not incorporate as a new nonprofit, but act more like a banner for groups to organize under and use to connect to resources. As an example, at the Atlanta Hawks game on Monday, Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, linked a program they launched last year, Realize the Dream, which aims to increase acts of service, to the new campaign.

    “Our vision is that ‘Be The People’ helps lift up what is already happening in communities across the country and reminds people that service and shared responsibility are defining parts of the American story,” the Kings said in a written statement.

    “Be The People,” will operate similarly to the nonprofit GivingTuesday. While it started as a hashtag to encourage people to donate to nonprofits on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, GivingTuesday has grown into a platform that provides nonprofits with tools, like fundraising kits and advice on how to reach and mobilize their supporters. Nonprofits can participate however they like but gain some momentum by acting alongside many other groups.

    “Our experience with GivingTuesday is that when people volunteer together, when people work together on something to do with positive social impact, they find it harder and harder to demonize each other,” said Asha Curran, its CEO.

    The initiative comes against a backdrop of deep polarization, economic inequality and the degradation of democratic norms and institutions in the U.S.

    A growing number of private foundations have started funding issues related to the health of U.S. democracy, said Kristin Goss, a professor who directs the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism at Duke University. While foundations cannot participate in elections, Goss said they can influence policy or public opinion in other ways.

    “Funders are getting more concerned about of the health of American democracy, the future of the democratic experiment and pluralism and inclusion,” Goss said.

    Another group of funders, including the Freedom Together Foundation, launched a project last year to recognize people and groups who stand up for their communities, which they called a “civic bravery” award. In a November report, they issued a similar call for funders to invest in helping individuals organize together in response to a rise in authoritarianism.

    Hooks and the other leaders of “Be The People” have also convened major communications teams to help tell these stories, which they think are lost in the current information ecosystem.

    “What we’re doing is we’re helping to lift up the story of Americans that is unfolding at the local level, but is not breaking through,” Hooks said. “So we’re holding up a mirror and a microphone to Americans to reveal to each other who we truly are.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • What Should Philly Look Like in 2076? Ask an Eighth Grader

    When eighth grader Lilly Jones thinks about Philly’s future, she worries the city will become more industrial, more tech-centered — less beautiful. She envisions self-driving cars, a Center City so full of screens and flashing lights that it looks like Times Square. More skyscrapers and less greenspace.

           Listen to the audio edition here:

    “Just walking through Philly in general, there is not a lot of green. There might be some trees here and there and in some certain parts of Philly there might be some greenery, but it’s not all of Philly,” Jones says. “I just want kids, adults, elders — whoever — to be able to see how beautiful Philly can be, if it was all natural, instead of just being fake and industrial.”

    Visions of the future — especially when it comes to design — tend to bend less toward the realistic and more towards science fiction. They might focus more on exciting technologies (anyone else still waiting for flying cars?) than the practical infrastructure like housing, bridges and greenspace that helps our society function.

    But a new program from Penn and Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia, a Germantown nonprofit that offers teacher training and enrichment courses for middle schoolers, is setting out to change that. It asked 20 eighth graders, including Jones, to come up with practical — but exciting — designs for Philadelphia’s future. Students thought about how they could expand rec centers or increase rooftop gardens in the city. The students, already participants in Breakthrough’s programming, came from schools across the city.

    The program was part of a broader project, helmed by Penn’s Weitzman School of Design, called “New Philadelphia: The People’s Vision is Coming Soon,” which considers what Philadelphians of all ages want their city to look like in 2076.

    Photo by Kait Privitera

    A new vision for Philadelphia

    The idea for “New Philadelphia: The People’s Vision is Coming Soon” grew out of an ongoing partnership Penn architecture professor Rashida Ng has developed with the Philly Peace Park, a grassroots organization that offers sustainable farming, green economy and wellness programming at their two community parks / urban farms in North and West Philly. Ng has worked closely with the park’s leaders to bring students from her and her colleague Eduardo Rega Calvo’s spatial justice seminar to their locations, and in 2023 the Peace Park participated in Penn’s Housing Justice Futures symposium, which considered how race and climate change influence housing design and policy.

    “We think that there’s a vision here for a future of Philadelphia that is more responsive to people’s needs, their desires,” Ng says. “The idea is that the things that people want in their neighborhoods are achievable.”

    “It’s not every day where adults listen to kids. [We] can give adults ideas on how we want the future to look like for ourselves and our kids and I think we can — as a community with adults and other children — make this world more than what it is.” — Lilly Jones, 8th grader

    Ng was thinking about design and the future of Philly ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this year. She was inspired, in part, by some of the counterprotests that took place in Philly over the bicentennial in 1976, when more than 40,000 people marched in protest of the Vietnam War, unemployment, racial inequality and poverty in the city. Ahead of the 250th, Ng wanted to create an opportunity for Philadelphians to share what they wanted for their neighborhoods, how they envisioned them growing and changing, over the next 50 years. She partnered with the Peace Park on these efforts because of their track record of engaging with neighbors on design efforts.

    “We really want to encourage people to reflect and remember that America is still an experiment. It’s continuous, and that means that we can actually transform what the future looks like,” says Lavinia Davis, director of operations and special programs for Philly Peace Park. “But we have to do it together.”

    As part of the program, Ng and her partners knew they wanted to elevate the voices of children, who are often left out of the city planning process. Ng had spoken at Breakthrough’s career conversations events in the past, so they felt like a natural partner to bring children’s voices into the project. She worked with DesignPhiladelphia, a nonprofit that offers design education programming for kindergarteners through 12th graders in Philly, to create a curriculum.

    Then, they brought in a team of Penn grad students to teach courses on planning and design across nine sessions, held every two weeks during Breakthrough’s fall semester. Lessons focused on everything from sustainability and resiliency to how design affects community building.

    “I think it’s important to expose them to design and the role that it plays in society,” says Michael Spain, director of design education for DesignPhiladelphia. “If they understand these concepts and how it works and how it affects them, we’ve done our job.”

    Photo by Kait Privitera

    Designing Philly’s future

    The program started small, teaching students about “third spaces” — places outside of home, work or school where people can gather and build community. Then, they asked students to build models and collages of third spaces that either already existed in their lives or that they would like to see using construction paper, cardboard and magazine clippings.

    Some students mentioned libraries and recreation centers in their neighborhoods. Others said Breakthrough was their third space. Many designed spaces had outdoor areas with fields or basketball courts and indoor spaces where they could spend quiet time reading or playing on a tablet. Philly has more than 150 recreation centers, but students wanted more places where young people could gather for free. (Makes sense, considering they’ve been banned from malls, carnivals and a host of other places).

    “There’s not a lot of community centers in Philly, so that’s what we put in our new city model,” says Kaleah Parker, a student who participated in the program. “It had libraries, basketball courts, track fields, football fields, and it was about access to stuff you could do outside of home and school.”

    “We want to encourage people to remember that America is still an experiment. It’s continuous … we can actually transform what the future looks like. But we have to do it together.” — Lavinia Davis, Philly Peace Park.

    As the program progressed, students moved from designing individual spaces to neighborhoods and considering what they want Philly as a whole to look like. Instructors asked students what they’d keep from Philly’s existing infrastructure — they loved our historic sites, the promise of the stadium district and Philly’s 4,000 murals — and what they’d change. Many said they wanted more natural space, like urban forests in the city. Others took a more futuristic approach to greening the city, envisioning rooftop gardens and covering our sports arenas with vining plants. They drew sketches and built models, and used AI design tools.

    “I was able to be creative and work with them to make ideas for a better future for all of us,” says Andy Nguyen, another student who participated in the program. “We learned how to keep clean and care for the environment in the projects that we worked on.”

    Jones wants to create a greener city as a way to counter both the lack of nature she sees when she walks through the city today and the industrialism she fears is in store for the future. She liked working with other students to combine their ideas. The program also got her interested in becoming a graphic designer.

    “It’s not every day where adults listen to kids,” she says. “I think us kids can give adults ideas on how we want the future to look like for ourselves and our kids and I think we can — as a community with adults and other children — make this world more than what it is.”

    Photo by Kait Privitera

    What will Philly actually look like in 2076?

    Ng is in the process of reviewing the student’s projects so that she can work with the Philly Peace Park and an AI visualization lab to incorporate them into part of “New Philadelphia: The People’s Vision is Coming Soon,” a larger exhibit coming later this year. Students who participated in the program also had an opportunity to share their designs last month with teachers, parents and friends.

    “Each individual eighth grader had a different view of their community,” says Sakina Parks, program manager for Breakthrough.

    While the City might not be gathering ideas from eighth graders any time soon, design educators say it’s important to think about the needs of children when designing cities. Kids will have to live with the design decisions adults make. Today’s eighth grader will be in their sixties for the country’s tricentennial.

    When city planners think about the need the needs of vulnerable residents — including children, women and the elderly — they make cities safer and more accessible for everyone. Kids are also good at outside-of-the-box, innovative thinking.

    Ng says, “What’s really wonderful about children is … their ideas about the future are a little bit less fixed, and it’s sometimes easier to tap into the imaginations of children.”

    The process also transformed the students themselves, encouraging them to think about environmental justice and homelessness — and how better urban design can help ensure people have affordable, healthy places to live.

    “We’re not necessarily creating more designers, but good citizens,” Spain says.

    MORE ON STUDENTS AND OUR FUTURE

    Photo by Kait Privitera

    Courtney DuChene

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  • Colorado program finds foster care for people’s pets as they recover from addiction, abuse, mental health issues

    When Ashlee Chaidez’s black Lab mix, Duck, charged toward her and rubbed his face — a little more gray than the last time she had seen him — against her cheek, she knew her struggles over the past several months had been worth it.

    Six months ago, Chaidez, 27, and 6-year-old Duck were living out of her car around the Front Range. Chaidez dropped Duck off at doggy daycare to get him out of the summer heat while she delivered orders for Instacart, narrowly earning the money to board her beloved dog.

    Chaidez barely broke even financially, was off her mental health medication and needed help, she said. But the thought of giving up Duck — her best friend and reason for getting up in the morning — while she sought inpatient psychiatric care was a blow that felt insurmountable.

    After reaching out to animal shelters, Chaidez learned about a program through the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that finds foster caregivers for people’s pets while they recover from addiction, abuse or mental health problems.

    Through that program, Duck lived with a foster family while Chaidez got back on her feet.

    “One of the main things preventing me from getting help was that I didn’t want to give him up because he’s my family,” Chaidez said. “This gave me the peace of mind to get the help I needed, and I don’t think I would be where I am now without this program.”

    The program, Pawsitive Recovery, launched in Denver in 2021 and is so popular that the organization is looking to expand it across the country.

    “This program gave me a lot of hope when I didn’t really see any,” Chaidez said.

    Serena Saunders got sober from alcohol about five years ago through an inpatient program. The former veterinary technician told her therapist at the time that she wished she could work with dogs while going through recovery. That was the impetus for Pawsitive Recovery, a nonprofit Saunders started out of her Denver home, where she cared for the cats and dogs of people in recovery.

    Two years ago, Saunders met an employee with SPCA International who became interested in her work. The longstanding animal advocacy organization hired Saunders and folded her nonprofit into their mission.

    “It was probably the best decision of my life,” Saunders said.

    Pawsitive Recovery partners with mental health treatment and sober living facilities across Colorado. People who need inpatient care but have pets they don’t want to leave behind get referred to the SPCA and connected with a foster caregiver.

    The organization and its host of volunteers care for around 30 to 40 animals at a time — mostly cats and dogs, although Saunders has looked after 10 tarantulas in her office and found temporary homes for guinea pigs, too.

    The fosters are typically volunteers from the recovery space — therapists, people in long-term recovery, parents of family members impacted by addiction, Saunders said. (Anyone interested in volunteering or getting connected with the program can find information at spcai.org/our-work/pawsitive-recovery.)

    Sometimes, due to challenges like homelessness, the pets have trauma that can lead to behavioral issues, Saunders said. The program partners with a training facility in Brighton that takes on behaviorally challenged animals, she said.

    Ashlee Chaidez, right, hugs SPCA volunteer Sara Broene after being reunited with her dog, Duck, after six months apart while Chaidez sought psychiatric care, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at Hounds Town dog daycare and boarding in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

    They also have a standing arrangement with local boarding facility Hounds Town, which can take in pets quickly, Saunders said. A fast placement can be critical if a client is escaping a domestic violence situation and needs to leave right away, she said.

    “We are not limited to dogs that are in perfect shape,” Saunders said. “We can take broken ones, too, which is amazing because the dog and the person get to heal simultaneously.”

    Pawsitive Recovery commits to fostering pets for six months, giving the person in recovery time to figure out their next move, Saunders said. The SPCA charges $100 per month for a boarding fee, which Saunders described as an accountability tool for the person in recovery.

    “It’s part of their responsibility, having a little skin in the game when it comes to the care of their animal,” Saunders said. “If they’re in treatment, a lot of these people are not working, so what we do is set up a fundraiser for them, and as they start rebuilding their life, they can go in and make payments. It’s all situational.”

    For Chaidez, the program was life-changing.

    She got the medical care she needed, secured a job at a Starbucks in Vail and got her own apartment.

    When times in recovery got hard, the thought of reuniting with her furry friend kept her motivated, she said.

    Ashlee Chaidez give a kiss to her dog, Duck, after being reunited after six months apart while Chaidez sought psychiatric care, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at Hounds Town dog daycare and boarding in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
    Ashlee Chaidez give a kiss to her dog, Duck, after being reunited after six months apart while Chaidez sought psychiatric care, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at Hounds Town dog daycare and boarding in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

    Elizabeth Hernandez

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  • Health subsidies expire, launching millions of Americans into 2026 with steep insurance hikes

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year.

    Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash.

    In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date. A House vote expected in January could offer another chance, but success is far from guaranteed.

    The change affects a diverse cross-section of Americans who don’t get their health insurance from an employer and don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare — a group that includes many self-employed workers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers.

    It comes at the start of a high-stakes midterm election year, with affordability — including the cost of health care — topping the list of voters’ concerns.

    “It really bothers me that the middle class has moved from a squeeze to a full suffocation, and they continue to just pile on and leave it up to us,” said 37-year-old single mom Katelin Provost, whose health care costs are set to jump. “I’m incredibly disappointed that there hasn’t been more action.”

    The expired subsidies were first given to Affordable Care Act enrollees in 2021 as a temporary measure to help Americans get through the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats in power at the time extended them, moving the expiration date to the start of 2026.

    With the expanded subsidies, some lower-income enrollees received health care with no premiums, and high earners paid no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners was also expanded.

    On average, the more than 20 million subsidized enrollees in the Affordable Care Act program are seeing their premium costs rise by 114% in 2026, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

    Those surging prices come alongside an overall increase in health costs in the U.S., which are further driving up out-of-pocket costs in many plans.

    Some enrollees, like Salt Lake City freelance filmmaker and adjunct professor Stan Clawson, have absorbed the extra expense. Clawson said he was paying just under $350 a month for his premiums last year, a number that will jump to nearly $500 a month this year. It’s a strain for the 49-year-old but one he’s willing to take on because he needs health insurance as someone who lives with paralysis from a spinal cord injury.

    Others, like Provost, are dealing with steeper hikes. The social worker’s monthly premium payment is increasing from $85 a month to nearly $750.

    Health analysts have predicted the expiration of the subsidies will drive many of the 24 million total Affordable Care Act enrollees — especially younger and healthier Americans — to forgo health insurance coverage altogether.

    Over time, that could make the program more expensive for the older, sicker population that remains.

    An analysis conducted last September by the Urban Institute and Commonwealth Fund projected the higher premiums from expiring subsidies would prompt some 4.8 million Americans to drop coverage in 2026.

    But with the window to select and change plans still ongoing until Jan. 15 in most states, the final effect on enrollment is yet to be determined.

    Provost, the single mother, said she is holding out hope that Congress finds a way to revive the subsidies early in the year — but if not, she’ll drop herself off the insurance and keep it only for her four-year-old daughter. She can’t afford to pay for both of their coverage at the current price.

    Last year, after Republicans cut more than $1 trillion in federal health care and food assistance with Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, Democrats repeatedly called for the subsidies to be extended. But while some Republicans in power acknowledged the issue needed to be addressed, they refused to put it to a vote until late in the year.

    In December, the Senate rejected two partisan health care bills — a Democratic pitch to extend the subsidies for three more years and a Republican alternative that would instead provide Americans with health savings accounts.

    In the House, four centrist Republicans broke with GOP leadership and joined forces with Democrats to force a vote that could come as soon as January on a three-year extension of the tax credits. But with the Senate already having rejected such a plan, it’s unclear whether it could get enough momentum to pass.

    Meanwhile, Americans whose premiums are skyrocketing say lawmakers don’t understand what it’s really like to struggle to get by as health costs ratchet up with no relief.

    Many say they want the subsidies restored alongside broader reforms to make health care more affordable for all Americans.

    “Both Republicans and Democrats have been saying for years, oh, we need to fix it. Then do it,” said Chad Bruns, a 58-year-old Affordable Care Act enrollee in Wisconsin. “They need to get to the root cause, and no political party ever does that.”

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  • The nation’s 250th anniversary arrives with a call for year-round community service

    NEW YORK — The U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission wants to turn America’s 250th birthday celebration into the country’s single biggest year for volunteering.

    But America Gives, the program unveiled Wednesday just before the U.S. begins commemorating the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence, will have to revitalize a culture of service that has recently waned. Declining volunteering rates still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. Just 28% of Americans said they volunteered time to a religious or secular charitable organization this year, according to a December AP-NORC poll.

    Organizers don’t know how many service hours they need to set the record and aren’t targeting a specific number. The idea is to leverage nationwide reflections on the country’s direction to encourage lasting community involvement that will strengthen nonprofits’ volunteer pipelines beyond 2026. Funding comes from congressional appropriations as well as corporate sponsors including Walmart and Coca-Cola.

    Participants are invited to pledge their time and log volunteering on an online tracker. Nonprofit partners include Girl Scouts of the USA, which will offer a volunteering badge to any of its roughly 1 million youth members who complete a service project, and Keep America Beautiful, which is leading efforts to clean up 250 million pieces of trash by the Fourth of July. JustServe — a service project coordinator sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is sending 250 semitrucks to deliver food donations to 250 food banks across the 50 states.

    “We strongly believe that this is as much about the future as it is the past,” said America250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the nonpartisan commission created by Congress to organize the anniversary. “Especially this next generation, we want them to give them something to believe in.”

    That forward-focused goal requires courting a demographic that many nonprofits struggle to reach: young volunteers.

    About one-quarter of adults under 30 said they volunteered their time to charity or provided non-financial support to people in their community in the past year, according to a March AP-NORC poll, compared with 36% of those over 60.

    Rios said America Gives is working with high schools, many of which already list community service as a graduation requirement, to ensure those volunteering hours are logged and build giving habits that continue after students’ secondary education.

    “They’re very passionate. They’re very purpose driven. They do want to give back,” Rios said, adding that “inspiring them to not just visualize, but maybe fuel their own future, is a big priority for us.”

    Service could be an opportunity to meet younger generations’ desire for in-person connections. Sofia Alvarez — a cohort lead for the Youth250 Bureau, a separate effort to center Gen Z perspectives throughout next year’s programming — said young people want “third spaces.” That means somewhere outside of home, school or work that feels “safe,” she said, but doesn’t require spending money.

    “I think any sort of craft or activity that really helps people connect, where they can chit chat and bond with each other, really builds that sense of community,” Alvarez said.

    Sarah Keating, vice president of Girl and Volunteer Experience at Girl Scouts of the USA, said they’ve had to make their volunteer opportunities more manageable.

    Young people want to give back, Keating said, but they are busy and don’t know how. She said nonprofits must offer experiences “that match their lives.” Someone might not have time to lead an entire troop, for example, but they can help lead a specific badge program.

    “A campaign like this shines a light on the multitude of ways that you can volunteer — that it doesn’t have to be whatever stereotype you have in your head,” she said of America Gives. “There are small ways to volunteer. There are big ways to volunteer.”

    The patriotic appeal must also overcome extreme polarization and the slow erosion of national pride — trends that America Gives organizers believe they can counter with their call to action.

    Acknowledging political divisions, Rios said the commission’s research shows that most Americans want to bring back a spirit of volunteerism.

    “It is about one country,” she said. “I think there’s gonna be a lot of people who feel like now, more than ever, we all need to stand up.”

    Keep America Beautiful CEO Jennifer Lawson expects her nationwide nonprofit network to unify people around the bridge issue of litter. Her benchmark next year is to reach 4 million volunteers through local chapters devoted to cleaning up their communities, planting trees and making gardens.

    Lawson wants the volunteer opportunities to show people patriotism is an action — not a concept — that involves working with your neighbors.

    “It doesn’t have to be all flags and tricornered hats,” Lawson said. “Patriotism in this country is an act of giving into community.”

    America Gives will engage volunteers beyond July 4th in an attempt to build up the habit of giving back. Volunteers who register their service hours can enter a sweepstakes where 250 randomly selected winners will get to donate $4,000 to an approved nonprofit partner.

    The program also plans to rally people around the national days of service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and 9/11. The year-round goal will be to keep things as local as possible.

    “It should be on people’s minds all the time, not just the day that they’re doing service,” Rios said. “But how do they plan ahead to keep it going?

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Campbell toy store helps Brownie troop with giving tree

    Elves in training

    Members of Brownie Troop 60125 volunteered at the Family Giving Tree warehouse in Sunnyvale on Dec. 7, sorting, wrapping and organizing gifts and getting them ready for bagging for the nonprofit’s Holiday Wish Drive. The troop also hosted a Virtual Giving Tree along with Junior Troop 60174, adopting 25 wish cards, and used cookie sale proceeds to shop for gifts at Pennyland Toys in Campbell, which offered the troops a discount. Donations to the Virtual Giving Trees can be made until 9 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2026, at https://wishdrive.org/girlscouttroop60125

    Founded in Milpitas and now located in Santa Clara, Family Giving Tree has already collected more than 24,000 gifts this season and is working toward helping 50,000 children and families across the Bay Area, according to Evelyn Huynh, director of community resource development.

    Peninsula Symphony concert

    Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang will perform with the Peninsula Symphony Jan. 17, 2026, in a program balancing the First Concerto of Beethoven with three orchestral visions of the story of “Romeo and Juliet.” Works by Strauss, Prokofiev and Diamond complete this program, to be performed at Campbell’s Heritage Theatre, located at 1 W Campbell Ave.

    The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35-$50 at https://peninsulasymphony.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket. Children and students are admitted for free.

    Anne Gelhaus

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  • Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are awarding $5 million to a leader in neurodiversity education

    NEW YORK — Mega billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, former news anchor Lauren Sánchez Bezos, are awarding $5 million to the founder of a neurodivergent student support network, a recognition that the lesser-known recipient credits to the students powering his fast-growing movement for more inclusive classrooms.

    “I feel like there’s a narrative sometimes that our little actions don’t matter,” Neurodiversity Alliance CEO David Flink said. “That’s just not true. And this proves it. Lots of little actions that happen every day in our work, collectively over time, reached the ears of folks like Lauren and Jeff.”

    Flink is among this year’s five winners of the Bezos Courage & Civility Award. Given most years since 2021, the grant celebrates barrier-breaking individuals who unify people behind bold solutions to often neglected challenges. The no-strings-attached prize money can be used however honorees want to pursue their charitable goals.

    The Neurodiversity Alliance began over 25 years ago as a peer-to-peer mentorship program for students with various learning and developmental differences such as autism, ADHD and dyslexia. The nonprofit now reaches more than 600 high schools and colleges, encouraging youth to build educational environments that serve classmates whose brains function differently from what is considered typical.

    The Bezoses, who tied the knot this summer in a lavish Venice ceremony that drew protests highlighting wealth inequality, did not release any explanation for their support of the cause. The Amazon founder’s net worth sits around $240 billion, according to Forbes, making him the fourth richest person in the world.

    Bezos has previously shown an interest in early childhood education through his nonprofit network of tuition-free preschools inspired by the Montessori model.

    Sánchez Bezos grew up with undiagnosed dyslexia. She told “Good Morning America” last year that her children’s book, “The Fly Who Flew to Space,” is for “the 8-year-old me who was told I wasn’t smart.” She credited a college professor, who recruited her to the school newspaper despite her insistence that she could not spell, for encouraging her to get tested.

    The selection of Flink marks a departure from the award’s previous higher profile recipients. Past honorees include CNN political commentator Van Jones, World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés, actor-director Eva Longoria and country superstar Dolly Parton. The shift reflects a desire to get the money closer to the ground rather than let well-known figures distribute money to the nonprofits of their choice.

    The smaller scale approach differs from many of Bezos’ ultra wealthy peers, according to an Indiana University professor emeritus in public affairs and philanthropic studies. Leslie Lenkowsky said that today’s entrepreneur-philanthropists — Bill Gates, for example — tend to focus on systemic change in the realms of health or education.

    “Rather than trying to change the system, what they’re trying to do is provide funding to individuals or communities to deal with important issues,” Lenkowsky said of the Bezoses. “It really is a much older model of philanthropy.”

    The award’s size is also smaller this year. Five winners are equally splitting a $25 million pot whereas past awards have totaled as much as $100 million.

    Flink said the money will help the alliance meet its goal of reaching more than 2,000 sites by 2028. He promised to invest in growing the mentorship program, telling more stories that challenge negative narratives about neurodiversity and expanding the national network of student leaders who get training to sustain their schools’ clubs.

    He said this support is especially important when “the demand has never been greater” and they’ve witnessed “some oscillation” in the resources that schools receive.

    The Trump administration’s dismantling of the Education Department has included mass layoffs at the agency charged with addressing complaints that students with disabilities are not receiving adequate support from their schools. Earlier this month, the department brought back dozens of Office for Civil Rights staffers, saying their help is needed to tackle a growing backlog of discrimination complaints.

    Kala Shah, an attorney whose 24-year tenure at the Department of Education included enforcing protections for students with disabilities, said that neurodivergent students depend on that oversight.

    “This is an especially critical time for private foundations and philanthropy to help fill the gap in resources that’s been created by the current federal climate,” she said.

    __

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for $40 billion stablecoin fraud

    NEW YORK (AP) — Onetime cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison after a $40 billion crash revealed his crypto ecosystem to be a fraud. Victims said the 34-year-old financial technology whiz weaponized their trust to convince them that the investment — secretly propped up by cash infusions — was safe.

    Kwon, a Stanford graduate known by some as “the cryptocurrency king,” apologized after listening as victims — one in court and others by telephone — described the scam’s toll: wiping out nest eggs, depleting charities and wrecking lives. One told the judge in a letter that he contemplated suicide after his father lost his retirement money in the scheme.

    Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said at a daylong sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court that the government’s recommendation of 12 years in prison was “unreasonably lenient” and that the defense’s request for five years was “utterly unthinkable and wildly unreasonable.” Kwon faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

    “Your offense caused real people to lose $40 billion in real money, not some paper loss,” Engelmayer told Kwon, who sat at the defense table in a yellow jail suit. The judge called it “a fraud on an epic, generational scale” and said Kwon had an “almost mystical hold” on investors and caused incalculable “human wreckage.”

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    More than the combined losses in FTX and OneCoin cases

    Kwon pleaded guilty in August to fraud charges stemming from the collapse of Terraform Labs, the Singapore-based firm he co-founded in 2018. The loss exceeded the combined losses from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood’s frauds, prosecutors said. Engelmayer estimated there may have been a million victims.

    Terraform Labs had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable “stablecoin” — a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices. But prosecutors say it was an illusion backed by outside cash infusions that came crumbling down after it plunged far below its $1 peg. The crash devastated investors in TerraUSD and its floating sister currency, Luna, triggering “a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets.”

    Kwon tried to rebuild Terraform Labs in Singapore before fleeing to the Balkans on a false passport, prosecutors said. He’s been locked up since his March 2023 arrest in Montenegro. He was credited for 17 months he spent in jail there before being extradited to the U.S.

    Kwon agreed to forfeit over $19 million as part of his plea deal. His lawyers argued his conduct stemmed not from greed, but hubris and desperation. Engelmayer rejected his request to serve his sentence in his native South Korea, where he also faces prosecution and where his wife and 4-year-old daughter live.

    “I have spent almost every waking moment of the last few years thinking of what I could have done different and what I can do now to make things right,” Kwon told Engelmayer. Hearing from victims, he said, was “harrowing and reminded me again of the great losses that I have caused.”

    Victims say losses ruined their lives, harmed charities

    One victim, speaking by telephone, said his wife divorced him, his sons had to skip college, and he had to move back to Croatia to live with his parents after TerraUSD’s crash evaporated his family’s life savings. Another said he has to “live with the guilt” of persuading his in-laws and hundreds of nonprofit organizations to invest.

    Stanislav Trofimchuk said his family’s investment plummeted from $190,000 to $13,000 — “17 years of our life, gone” during what he described as “two weeks of sheer terror.”

    Chauncey St. John, speaking in court, said some nonprofits he worked with lost more than $2 million and a church group lost about $900,000. He and his wife are saddled with debt and his in-laws have been forced to work well past their planned retirement, he said.

    Nevertheless, St. John said, he forgives Kwon and “I pray to God to have mercy on his soul.”

    A prosecutor read excerpts from some of more than 300 letters submitted by victims, including a person identified only by initials who lost nearly $11,400 while juggling bills and trying to complete college. Kwon had made Terra seem like a safe place to stash savings, the person said.

    “To some that is just a number on a page, but to me it was years of effort,” the person wrote. “Watching it evaporate, literally overnight, was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.”

    “What happened was not an accident. It was not a market event. It was deception,” the person added, imploring the judge to “consider the human cost of this tragedy.”

    Kwon created an “illusion of resilience while covering up systemic failure,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mortazavi told Engelmayer. “This was fraud executed with arrogance, manipulation and total disregard for people.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.

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  • Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $7.1 billion to nonprofits in 2025, a major increase

    NEW YORK (AP) — The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits in 2025 Tuesday, marking a significant increase in her annual giving from recent years.

    Writing in an essay on her website, Scott said, “This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year.”

    Scott acknowledged donating $2.6 billion in 2024 and $2.1 billion in 2023. The gifts this year bring her total giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion.

    Scott’s donations have captured the attention of nonprofits and other charitable funders because they come with no strings attached and are often very large compared to the annual budgets of the recipient organizations. Forbes estimates Scott’s net worth at $33 billion, most of which comes from Amazon shares she received after her 2019 divorce from company founder Jeff Bezos..

    With the exception of an open call for applications in 2023, it is not possible to apply for her funding nor to reach her directly, as Scott maintains no public facing office or foundation. Organizations are usually notified through an intermediary that Scott is awarding them a donation with little prelude or warning.

    In advance of her announcement on her website, Yield Giving, more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities revealed they had received $783 million in donations from Scott so far this year, according to research from Marybeth Gasman, a professor at Rutgers University and expert on HBCUs.

    “One of the things that I really admire about Mackenzie Scott is that she is like an equity machine,” Gasman said, especially at a time when efforts to promote equity in education have come under attack from the Trump administration. She also said Scott’s gifts to HBCUs this time are bigger than the round of donations she made in 2020.

    Not all of the schools that previously had received funding from Scott received a gift this time and there were some first-time recipients as well. In total, Gasman has tracked $1.35 billion in donations from Scott to HBCUs since 2020.

    In addition, UNCF, which is the largest provider of scholarships to minority students, received $70 million from Scott, and said it will invest the gift in a collective endowment it is building for participating HBCUs. Another $50 million went to Native Forward Scholars Fund, which had also received a previous gift from Scott and provides college and graduate scholarships to Native American students.

    Unlike Scott’s gifts, most foundations or major donors direct grants to specific programs and require an application and updates about the impact of the nonprofit’s work. Scott does not ask grantees to report back about how they used the money.

    Research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy in 2023 looked at the impact of Scott’s giving and found few of the recipients have struggled to manage the funds or have seen other funders pullback.

    Kim Mazzuca, the CEO of the California-based nonprofit, 10,000 Degrees, said her organization was notified of its first gift from Scott of $42 million earlier this year.

    “I was just filled with such joy. I was speechless and I kind of stumbled around with my words,” she said, and asked the person calling from Fidelity Charitable to clarify the donation amount, which is about double their annual budget.

    10,000 Degrees provides scholarships, mentoring and other support to low-income students and aims to help them graduate college without taking on loans. Mazzuca said that usually nonprofits grow only gradually, but that this gift will allow them to reach more students, to test some technology tools and to start an endowment.

    Mazzuca credited Scott for investing in proven solutions that already exist.

    “She comes from a very deep, reflective space, very heartfelt,” Mazzuca said. “And she’s only providing these financial means as a tool for people to recognize they are who they’ve been waiting for.”

    That idea references a prophecy from the Hopi Tribe that ends with the line, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Mazzuca said she’s drawn on the prophecy for years to empower both her organization and the students it supports to recognize their own power to shape our world.

    In October, Scott posted an essay on her website under that title and sharing the prophecy. The essay, which she expanded upon in December to announce her giving, also reflects on how acts of generosity and kindness can ripple far afield and into the future. She cited her own experiences getting help while in college, including a dentist who repaired a tooth for free and her roommate who loaned her $1,000.

    Scott now has invested in that same roommate’s company, which offers loans to students who would otherwise struggle to get financing from banks. The investments seem to be part of an effort Scott announced last year to move more of her money into “mission aligned” investments, rather than into vehicles that seek only the highest monetary returns.

    In her 2025 essay, Scott seemed to urge people toward action, writing, “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Share the Spirit: Hijas del Campo uplifts farmworkers in east Contra Costa County

    BRENTWOOD – Mayra Jimenez Almaras was 8 when she came to the U.S. from Mexico with her parents and two siblings. At 11, she was working long hours under the scorching sun in the Brentwood fields, picking green beans and packing corn.

    Those days are now behind her as the 21-year-old prepares to graduate from Saint Mary’s College of California in December with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

    As a way to give back to the organization that helped her family, Jimenez Almaras works as a community health worker with Hijas del Campo, which, translated from Spanish, means “daughters of the field.”

    The Contra Costa County-based nonprofit aims to help migrants, seasonal farmworkers, and their families to improve their lives, working conditions, health, and safety. Their work focuses on food security, health care, housing, education, workers’ rights and legal aid.

    Jimenez Almaras was in high school when she first met Marivel Mendoza and Dorina Moraida, co-founders of Hijas del Campo. At the time, they were handing out back-to-school supplies and educational resources.

    “A door opened for me, providing different types of resources, not just education-wise but, in general, so much mentorship and leadership,” said Jimenez Almaras.

    Through the nonprofit, Jimenez Almaras not only received support for her college application but also a laptop.

    That same laptop not only helped Jimenez Almaras, but also her mom, who later used it to complete a community health worker certification program through Hijas del Campo.

    Now, Jimenez Almaras’s mother no longer works in the fields, but instead in an elderly care home.

    Her two siblings have also moved on. Her older brother teaches at an area school, while her younger brother is pursuing a degree at a community college.

    Jimenez Almaras said that while the world sees farmworkers as a vital source of food for their plates, many fail to recognize that farmworkers themselves face food and financial insecurities, as well as chronic diseases.

    She urged local leaders to respect and advocate for the community that provides sustenance.

    “Have that respect, treat everyone equally, and at the end of the day, just be thankful that we’re there every single day, not only thriving for our own families, but thriving for yours as well,” said Jimenez Almaras. “Look out for the people that feed you and don’t bite those hands.”

    Hijas del Campo co-founders Dorina Salgado-Moraida, left, and Marivel Mendoza are photographed in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. Hijas del Campo is Contra Costa County-based nonprofit organization that aims to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers, along with their families, to improve their daily lives, working conditions, health and safety. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
    Hijas del Campo co-founders Dorina Salgado-Moraida, left, and Marivel Mendoza are photographed in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. Hijas del Campo is Contra Costa County-based nonprofit organization that aims to help migrant and seasonal farmworkers, along with their families, to improve their daily lives, working conditions, health and safety. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

    Hijas del Campo was founded by a group of women who met in early 2020 after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted farmworkers.

    Mendoza and Moraida are both first-generation Mexican-American women whose parents toiled in the fields when they first moved to the U.S.

    “My dad didn’t work in the fields too long, but he would always talk to us about how hard that work was and how important it was for us to honor the people who pick our food because it’s a backbreaking job,” said Moraida, the nonprofit’s program director.

    Volunteer Milka Ambrosio sorts and unloads a recent shipment of donated items while at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
    Volunteer Milka Ambrosio sorts and unloads a recent shipment of donated items while at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

     

    The organization just celebrated its fifth anniversary. Over the years, it has worked with 500 core families — nearly 2,000 people — through outreach activities, giving farmworkers bags of essential, seasonal items, said Mendoza, executive director of Hijas del Campo.

    For example, during the summer, packed bags include intravenous fluids to treat dehydration, masks to reduce the risk of valley fever, and sunscreen to protect workers from the sun. During the winter, there are hand warmers, socks, gloves, and scarves, among other items.

    “When we say we take care of farmworkers in our county, it doesn’t matter where they’re from,” said Mendoza. “We’re going to make sure that we have some kind of touch point with them and connect them to resources where they live, if it’s possible.”

    Volunteers work on sorting donated clothes at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
    Volunteers work on sorting donated clothes at Hijas del Campo in Brentwood, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) 

    The nonprofit has also partnered with Contra Costa Health Services, the California Department of Public Health, and San Joaquin County to inform providers about the rise in valley fever and how to recognize its symptoms among agricultural workers.

    Amid federal political uncertainty, Mendoza and Moraida said the organization is also educating farmworkers on their rights and partnering with immigration law groups, such as the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area.

    Beyond health, education has become a cornerstone of their work. The organization partners with Lenovo, which donates about 20-30 laptops annually to students from farmworker families, and organizes a “Lunch and Learn” program, bringing in professionals who are either immigrants or first-generation college students to share their stories and inspire students.

    In 2023, Hijas del Campo began building four tiny homes to provide transitional housing for farmworkers living in unsafe or substandard conditions. Each of the homes offers wraparound services, including financial literacy, mental health support, and healthcare access.

    Part of the rent paid to the nonprofit is deposited into a savings account and returned after two years, in hopes that the residents will be independent enough to move out and find their own housing.

    “The hope is that in two years, they’ll feel more stable and confident. Having a secure place to live changes a person,” said Moraida.

    Share the Spirit 2025 logo
    ABOUT SHARE THE SPIRIT
    Share the Spirit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by the East Bay Times/Bay Area News Group. Since 1989, Share the Spirit has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.

    HOW TO HELP
    Donations to Hijas del Campo will enable the nonprofit to buy and distribute 500 food bags to 378 low-income farmworker families in Contra Costa County for two months, prioritizing access for people who face barriers to traditional food assistance. Goal: $10,000

    HOW TO GIVE
    Donate at sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate or by mail using this form. Donations are tax deductible.

    ONLINE EXTRA
    Read other Share the Spirit stories, view photos and video at sharethespiriteastbay.org.

    Hema Sivanandam

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  • America celebrates its 250th birthday next year. There’s now a commemorative ornament

    WASHINGTON — When the nonprofit organization planning America’s 250th birthday celebrations decided it wanted an ornament to commemorate that milestone in history, its leadership knew just where to turn for guidance.

    America250.org worked with the White House Historical Association, which, since 1981, has sold a popular Christmas tree ornament honoring a president or a key White House anniversary. More than 1 million of those ornaments are now sold every year.

    The two groups worked together to produce a keepsake to mark the anniversary — officially known as the semiquincentennial — and America250.org unveiled it on Monday.

    The limited-edition, hand-crafted ornament features the Declaration of Independence, the document the Second Continental Congress used to announce it was breaking away from Britain on July 4, 1776. President Donald Trump has a copy hanging in the Oval Office.

    One side of the keepsake features the document printed on linen and the other side shows American flags waving atop the White House and the America250 logo with the years 1776-2026 on a red ribbon. The ornament is trimmed in 24-karat gold.

    Organizers say they view the celebration of America’s founding as an opportunity to help unite a politically divided country. “It’s a moment for us to reflect on the last 250 years and, even more importantly, where we’re going for the next 250th,” said Jennifer Condon, executive vice president of America250.org.

    Condon said she hopes the ornament will play a small part in that endeavor as “a symbol of, truly, this unity that we’re trying to strive for.”

    It is rare for the White House association to release an ornament outside of its annual holiday series. Stewart McLaurin, the White House association’s president, said his nonprofit organization had helped create a collector’s piece “that embodies the spirit and history of our nation.”

    It is made by the veteran-owned Rhode Island company that produces the White House association’s ornaments, and will be sold exclusively starting Monday at America250.org for $26.95, and in January on the White House association’s website.

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  • Advocates call for action from Colorado lawmakers as older population grows and care becomes more expensive

    DENVER — With Colorado’s population of older adults projected to surge nearly 30% by 2035, advocates gathered Friday at the State Capitol to discuss the biggest problems facing the fastest growing demographic in our state.

    The rally came as the Colorado Fiscal Institute released its latest “Cost of Aging in Colorado” report, which warns of rising demand — and inadequate funding — for programs like home-delivered meals, transportation and in-home care. In 2023, more than 50,000 older Coloradans relied on such services, most of which are funded through state and federal dollars.

    “We’re going to have a billion-dollar shortfall in ’25, probably about a billion-dollar shortfall in ’26, and they’re [state lawmakers] going to have to look at the biggest line items on their budget, including Medicaid,” said Emily Peterson, executive director of PACE Programs.

    Peterson said the financial uncertainty is rippling through senior communities, leaving many hesitant to make life changes — even for the better — out of fear they could lose benefits.

    “One of the things that hurts me the most is when a senior tells me, ‘I’m afraid to make a change, even if it’s a change for the better because of uncertainty. They’re not sure if their government benefit will be there next year,’” Peterson said.

    Colorado receives $22 million annually in federal funding for older adult programs, but advocates say that amount falls far short of meeting the growing need.

    Colorado Fiscal Institue

    Since 2021, Colorado has received $22 million in federal funding. Advocates say it is not keeping up with demand and cost of care.

    “There’s no way [funding] is keeping up,” Peterson said. “It’s going to call on a lot of private individuals, foundations, businesses even to help with some of that, because the government’s never going to be able to keep up with it.”

    Advocates like Peterson and Steve Olguin, executive director of Bright Leaf Inc., say collaboration among agencies is key.

    “If we are doing our own thing, I mean, we’re never going to be able to make things happen,” Olguin said. “If we’re not all together and we’re trying to make this push, I don’t think anything’s going to get done.”

    Peterson agreed, emphasizing that “relationships are everything” when it comes to creating trusted spaces for seniors. “Let’s not leave our vulnerable seniors in the shadows when they have earned the right to live in the sunshine,” she said.

    The state has unveiled a plan this year to address aging-related challenges. Advocates hope it will lead to urgent, meaningful changes.

    “This might be the opportunity to make it work. I can’t really say, but I do know that more and more people are getting engaged,” said Bob Bocker, founder and president of AgeWise Colorado. “It’s really important for people to pay attention to what’s going on and notice your neighbors.”

    As Colorado’s senior population grows, advocates say visibility will be critical.

    “Once you have gray hair, you often become invisible,” Peterson said. “Raising the visibility is key.”

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    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Colin Riley

    Denver7’s Colin Riley is a multimedia journalist who tells stories impacting all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on transportation and our state’s population of older adults. If you’d like to get in touch with Colin, fill out the form below to send him an email.

    Colin Riley

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  • More Than 80 Nonprofits Receive $250M for Global Women’s Health From Melinda French Gates

    More than 80 organizations that provide health care for women all over the world received grants Wednesday totaling $250 million from Melinda French Gates after a year-long application process.

    “It will be instructive for the world to see what it looks like when organizations like this aren’t so chronically underfunded,” French Gates said in written responses to The Associated Press, which receives funding from Pivotal for news coverage.

    The grants, which range between $1 million and $5 million, were awarded through a competition that was open to nonprofit organizations from most countries. French Gates said the point of holding such an open call is to learn about organizations that aren’t already known to major funders. The Chicago-based nonprofit Lever for Change ran the application process and said more than 4,000 organizations from 119 countries applied.

    “This seems to be a topic that resonates,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, of global women’s health. “So I’m excited about helping to uplift and elevate the profile of these organizations with other funders.” Her organization often provides donors, both large and small, with advice about what organizations to support, drawing from the list of finalists who have applied to the grant competitions they run.

    This is the second largest funding competition that Lever for Change has hosted, after MacKenzie Scott gave $640 million to community-based nonprofits in the U.S. in March 2024.

    For the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health based in the Philippines, the $5 million grant represents 10 years of funding at their current annual budget.

    “I could not contain the joy of people in the room,” said executive director Junice Melgar when she and her staff learned they had been selected.

    For 30 years, Likhaan has provided primary care to very poor communities and advocated for policy changes to reflect community needs. Beyond the money, Melgar said the recognition affirms the effectiveness and sustainability of their community-based model.

    The investment in global women’s health organizations is part of a $1 billion commitment that French Gates made to support women’s rights over two years. She also gave $20 million each to 12 individuals to distribute to nonprofits of their choice and has pledged $150 million to boost gender equity in workplaces.

    Lisel Lifshitz, the executive director of the small nonprofit Mujeres Aliadas, which also received a grant, said her organization makes “magic” with every dollar they receive. Located in Michoacán, Mexico, Mujeres Aliadas trains midwives and provides education to women and teens about sexual and reproductive health.

    “You don’t know what it takes to be very creative in more rural and complicated contexts, talking about security, about poverty, about the many, many things that are missing here,” she said.

    For 16 years, her organization has advocated for greater recognition and acceptance of midwives, who blend traditional knowledge and local beliefs with professional training. The funding comes at a critical moment. In 2025, she said two grants they were expecting did not come through because of foreign aid cuts and other policy changes.

    “Having this kind of trust-based and unrestricted funding means the world to us,” Lifshitz said.

    Since 2000, many gains have been made globally in reducing the number of women who die in child birth, increasing access to contraception and decreasing cases of HIV among women, according to a 2024 report about sexual and reproductive health from the United Nations Population Fund. But the report also found that profound inequalities in health outcomes for women remain within countries and between countries.

    Rahel Nardos, director of Global Women’s Health at the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, University of Minnesota, said the historic exclusion of women from medical research and a lack of research into issues that impact women specifically, like menopause, contribute to women’s poor health.

    From her own practice as a specialist in treating pelvic floor conditions, Nardos said she also sees women prioritizing family members and delaying care for themselves, despite living with extreme health problems. Additionally, violence and instability have contributed to stalling progress on maternal mortality, she said, even as it is well-known what combination of treatments and approaches work to prevent these deaths.

    Some recipients of Pivotal’s funding are developing new tools to reach women who have been left behind. Sabine Bolonhini and Adriana Mallet, cofounders of SAS Brasil, use telemedicine and mobile clinics to provide specialized care to patients in Brazil, who otherwise would have to travel long distances.

    For example, in partnership with a university, they have been training an artificial intelligence model to identify likely cases of cervical cancer from images. Bolonhini said that she hopes French Gates’ giving will inspire wealthy families in Brazil to also give more to organizations like hers.

    “For us, it’s also using (the funding) responsibly and being a good role model for how this money can find solutions that no one else has found yet,” Bolonhini said.

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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  • Prince Harry apologizes to Canada over ‘Hat Gate.’ Duke sorry for wearing Dodgers cap

    LONDON — LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry went to Toronto for events marking the end of World War I and found himself on an apology tour for offending Canadians.

    Speaking to a military charity on Thursday night, the Duke of Sussex sought to once again address the “blue-hatted elephant in the room.” He was referring to his widely ridiculed choice to wear a Los Angeles Dodgers cap at a World Series game in Los Angeles against the Toronto Blue Jays.

    It was seen as a major snub in Canada, a British Commonwealth nation, where his father, King Charles III, is the head of state. He was blasted on social media in the Great White North.

    Harry apologized for the blunder and tried to put a humorous spin on the incident he referred to as “Hat Gate.”

    “When you’re missing a lot of hair on top, and you’re sitting under floodlights, you’ll take any hat that’s available,” he joked in an interview with Canadian broadcaster CTV.

    He then donned a Blue Jays cap that happened to be an arm’s length away.

    The incident was perceived by some as a test of his allegiance between his birthplace and his adopted home in the U.S. The prince and his wife, Meghan, stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and moved to Canada briefly before settling in California.

    The appearance of Harry and Meghan at Game 4 of the series — that LA went on to win in seven games — also rankled some Dodgers fans who were upset at their prime position behind home plate.

    The couple sat in the first row – in front of LA royalty — Dodgers great Sandy Koufax and LA Laker star Magic Johnson, who is a part owner of the team.

    Harry said the couple, who live about an hour west of Los Angeles in the ritzy coastal enclave of Montecito, had been invited to the game by the team owner.

    He felt “under duress” and wore the hat as a polite gesture, something he told the Toronto audience that he thought Canadians — known for their civility — would support.

    Harry was in Canada for two days of events and meetings in advance of Remembrance Day on Tuesday that honors armed forces members who died in the line of duty.

    “I am truly sorry for wearing a Dodgers cap,” he said to applause at a dinner for the True Patriot Love Foundation, a charity for Canadian service members and veterans.

    He then played up his connections to the country, including the fact that his actor wife — before they married and when she was known as Meghan Markle — lived so long in Toronto filming the show “Suits” that many thought she was Canadian.

    “Hopefully you can forgive her as a native Californian for her Dodger’s loyalty, even if for just one evening,” he said. “But all jokes aside, this city has always meant a great deal to me — you provided me a wife.”

    Harry insisted that he was rooting for the Jays for the final three games of the series — an admission that he told CTV might make his return to LA more difficult.

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  • From a few to more than 350, children and parents ride together to school as a ‘bike bus’

    MONTCLAIR, New Jersey (AP) — On a sunny fall morning, children wearing helmets and backpacks gathered with their parents in Montclair, New Jersey, for a group bicycle ride to two local elementary schools. Volunteers in orange safety vests made sure everyone assembled in a neighborhood shopping area was ready before the riders set off on their 5-mile “bike bus” route.

    Every few blocks, more adults and kids on bikes joined in. Eventually, the group grew to over 350 people. Older students chatted with friends, while younger ones focused on pedaling. Cars along the way stopped to let the long line of cyclists pass. Pupils and parents peeled off toward the first school before the remainder reached the group’s final stop.

    It’s a familiar Friday scene in Montclair. For the past three years, what began as a handful of parents hoping to encourage their kids to bike to school has grown into a weekly ritual for both the township of about 40,000 residents and many of its families.

    “It was so fun,” second grader Gigi Drucker, 7, said upon arriving at Nishuane Elementary School. “The best way to get to school is by bike because it gives you more exercise. It’s healthier for the Earth,” she added.

    But traveling to school on two wheels isn’t just for fun, according to organizer Jessica Tillyer, whose are 6 and 8 years old. She believes that biking together each week helps promote healthy habits for the children and strengthens the sense of community among parents.

    Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.


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    “And it really started because a small group of us, about five parents, all wanted to ride to school with our kids and just felt like it wasn’t safe. And for me, I felt kind of lonely riding by myself to school. So, bike bus just took off as a small effort. And now we can have up to 400 people riding together to school,” Tillyer said.

    The bike bus movement isn’t new. Hundreds of them exist throughout the U.S. and Europe, as well as in Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Israel, according to Bike Bus World, a nonprofit organization that promotes and provides information about bike buses.

    Co-founder Sam Balto, who established a bike bus in Portland, Oregon, more than three years ago, said interest has grown so much that he offers free coaching calls to help others launch their own. He estimates there are more than 400 routes worldwide, and the number continues to grow.

    “Children and families are craving community and physical activity and being outdoors. And when you present that versus a school car line, people naturally gravitate to something that’s super joyful and community-driven,” Balto said.

    Organizers hope the bike bus movement will not only get more children on their bikes but also push elected officials in the United States and abroad to invest in safer biking infrastructure.

    While starting a bike bus may not be difficult, keeping it running year-round through different seasons takes more effort. Organizers of successful rides shared advice for parents hoping to create their own.

    Plan and communicate

    Andrew Hawkins, one of the leaders of Montclair Bike Bus, said that once enough families express interest, the first step is to plan a route carefully. That means identifying streets with low traffic while considering how many students can join at the starting point and along the way.

    “It took us a while to come up with a route we were happy with, but we’re still ready to adjust if necessary,” Hawkins said. “Things can change. It could be that new groups of students move into a certain block, or traffic patterns shift, and you have to adapt.”

    The Montclair group started via word of mouth and social media posts. As the number of participants grew, the organizers created a chat group to coordinate and share weekly updates. They also reached out to other families through PTAs, school forums and other parent communication channels.

    One unexpected benefit, several parents said, is the bike bus motivates children to get up and out the door more quickly on Friday mornings.

    “He’s more excited to get out of bed for the bike bus than for the regular bus. So actually, I have an easier time getting him ready for school,” said Gene Gykoff, who rides with his son to the boy’s elementary school.

    To keep momentum going all year, the Montclair Bike Bus team organizes themed rides on weekends and holidays. These events also allow families who can’t join on weekday mornings to experience what the bike bus is all about before committing to a regular schedule.

    Start young and go slow

    Montclair Bike Bus consists of multiple adult-led groups and routes that encompass all of the township’s elementary schools and middle schools. Organizers think the primary grades are when children benefit most from cycling with a group. Students in the first few years of school can learn about riding safely and apply those skills when they bike on their own or in small groups as they get older.

    The Montclair parents found that most elementary school students can handle a distance of 3-5 miles, and the group travels at a speed of around 6 miles per hour so the younger kids can keep up.

    “The slow speed can be tough for some of our older kids who want to go a little bit faster. We tell them there’s no racing on the bike bus — everyone gets to school at the same time. But there have been occasions where we’ve had to split the ride into two groups so that some of the older kids can go a little bit faster than the younger kids,” Hawkins said.

    Be consistent no matter the weather

    Keeping a bike bus going year-round requires consistency, which means preparing to pedal when it’s raining or cold outside, Balto and Hawkins said. Leaders monitor weather forecasts and decide whether to cancel a Friday ride due to unsafe conditions or to proceed as planned while reminding families to dress appropriately.

    “As it gets colder, we tell everyone to make sure they have the right gear — gloves, neck warmers, warm jackets,” Hawkins said. “The idea is that kids should feel comfortable riding all year.”

    The Montclair bike bus secured reflective vests and bike lights from sponsors to increase visibility on dark winter mornings. Leaders also carry basic maintenance tools, such as tire pumps.

    Weather is often more of a concern for adults than it is for children, Balto observed. “Kids want to be outside with their friends,” he said. “If you’re going to do this in all weather, just do it consistently. People will get used to it, and they’ll start joining you.”

    Just do it

    Despite all the planning and coordination involved in running a regular bike bus, experienced organizers say the key is simply to start. It can be as informal as two families riding to school together and sharing a flyer to spread the word, Balto said.

    “If you’re consistent — once a week, once a month, once a season — it will grow,” he said.

    Tillyer said she gives the same advice to anyone who asks how to begin: just go for it.

    “Don’t ask for permission. Don’t worry about what it’s going to take,” she said. “Find a small group of people, get on your bikes and ride to school. Once people experience it and enjoy it, more will want to join.”

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  • The Unsung Heroes Behind Georgia’s Crisis Hotline

    September was National Suicide Awareness Month—a time when people across the country learn steps to prevent suicide, for themselves and those around them. But the conversation about mental health doesn’t start and stop with a calendar. It matters every day, at every hour.

    Every day in the United States, more than 133 people die by suicide, and over 1.5 million attempts are made each year. It’s a topic many avoid because it’s heavy, emotional, and sometimes uncomfortable. But the more people understand it, the more lives can be saved.

    When someone is in crisis—whether it’s themselves or someone they care about—help is available. Dialing 988 connects a caller to a local trained crisis specialist who can guide them through that moment. At the Georgia Crisis and Access Line (GCAL), specialists receive between 600 and 900 calls a day, and as many as 5,700 calls a week—each one different, each one a chance to help. The work these specialists do is quietly heroic: a few words, a listening ear, or a steady presence on the phone can support a mother, a child, a sibling, or a friend in ways that are hard to measure.

    The Atlanta Voice recently spoke with Lydia Damte, a crisis referral specialist, about what her work really looks like—the emotional weight, the preparation, and the moments of hope. Even in the most heart-wrenching situations, she finds ways to support, guide, and sometimes save lives.

    The Atlanta Voice recently spoke with Lydia Damte (above), a crisis referral specialist. Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

    What motivated you to become a Crisis Referral Specialist?

    I’ve worked in healthcare pretty much my whole career. I started as a nursing assistant and later worked with nonprofits focused on mental health and unsheltered communities. I’ve always cared about public health and helping people reach their full potential. Seeing so many people fall through the cracks is what pushed me toward public health. I want to be that bridge—helping people feel seen, heard, and connected to the care they need.

    What’s the hardest part about the job?

    I think one of the hardest situations is when we get calls from parents or schools about a child who is hearing voices or expressing thoughts of harming themselves. That always shakes me up. It’s heartbreaking—hallucinations, delusions, paranoia are difficult for anyone, but for a child, it’s especially devastating. Even talking about it now makes me a little emotional.

    When I work with these kids, I like to talk to them directly whenever possible. I ask if I can speak to them and gently ask questions to understand what they’re experiencing. Hearing their small, sweet voices describing something so serious—it’s hard. That kind of case is definitely the toughest.

    When a teen or minor reaches out to themselves, we handle it with extra care. We always try to involve a parent or guardian while still addressing the child’s immediate needs. Safety and support are always the priority.

    Do you have a personal anecdote that drove you to help people?

    Yes, actually—it happened a long time ago. I had just turned 12. My family is from Ethiopia, and when I visited, I saw so many people living in really hard conditions. Some were traveling to other countries to work as servants just to support their families.

    I remember asking my dad why these girls—some around my age—were working. He told me they were from rural areas, leaving home to work abroad. That moment really stayed with me. I remember thinking, how can people not find work in their own country and have to leave everything behind just to survive?

    From that age, I realized how many people fall through the cracks—how unseen they are. These girls weren’t in school; they weren’t getting opportunities. Meanwhile, I was going to school, playing sports, and living comfortably. I still think about their faces to this day. That experience opened my eyes to inequality and made me want to help people live healthier, more stable lives.

    What protocol do you all follow when receiving calls?

    We have something we call the “Big Five,” and we screen every caller for suicidal ideations, homicidal ideations, psychosis, substance abuse, and interpersonal relationship violence.

    How do you deal with high-risk calls?

    First, I would say I feel like leadership has my back. I’m well-prepared, well-trained, so I don’t get flustered. Sometimes emotional, yes—people share really deep things, and my heart breaks. Sometimes it’s a tearjerker.

    I always start my shift with a prayer. My faith is big, and I ask God for empathy, patience, and precision, because there’s so much going on behind the scenes. People might think I’m just answering a call, but I’m listening, taking notes, doing an assessment, screening for the Big Five, and identifying risk.

    I also do self-care. I’m super active, I like to work out, and in between calls, I might wash my face, go for a walk, or take a shower. Touching water, feeling cool—it helps me reset. Starting with prayer, leaning on leadership, and doing something active or grounding keeps me in a good place, in a good space.

    Do you have your own personal approach to answering calls?

    Honestly, my personal approach is—I just, I don’t know—I have a lot of confidence. I don’t feel anxious, I feel very well-prepared, and I just treat the person like a friend. Like, I’m just having a conversation.

    We have reviews, and I’ve had comments a couple of times saying, “You’re so chill.” I just treat them like a friend. This is a person who’s calling because they have nobody else to call—they’re in crisis, they need help. I don’t want to scare them or make things worse. I try to act cool and calm.

    How do the hours work for the crisis line?

    Anyone can call at any time, day or night, no matter the size of the crisis. Someone will answer.

    How many calls do you get on average?

    I know that in the month of August, I took about 592 calls.

    What are some moments that really stuck with you?

    Ironically, it’s not always the dramatic calls. Sometimes it’s someone calling to get back on their medications after four years, or looking for therapy. Just seeing someone advocate for themselves—it’s really powerful. That willingness to get help makes me proud.

    What’s something about mental health people don’t often think about?

    People often judge superficially. Like, someone might look like they’re “just abusing drugs,” but there’s usually more—childhood trauma, job loss, other struggles. Mental health is layered. Society can do better by being patient, avoiding judgment, and understanding the intersections of people’s experiences.

    Tabius McCoy, Report for America Corp Member

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  • How Hunger Relief Groups Say You Can Help Feed Your Neighbors if the Shutdown Pauses Food Aid

    NEW YORK (AP) — Your neighbors might soon need extra assistance putting food on the table.

    Philanthropy can’t fill the gap. Food banks, pantries and other nonprofits maintain they are equipped to be the last resort — not the essential service they’ve been impossibly tasked with providing.

    But they say you can still ease hardship in your community. Here’s how:


    Donate money to your local food bank — and volunteer

    Donation preferences will vary but most food banks say that cash is more helpful than canned goods. They know which products are needed most in their area and can stretch every dollar to buy them at cheaper prices. Monetary donations also give flexibility to purchase culturally relevant products and special dietary foods that don’t often show up in their donation streams.

    Because they spend so much money buying food, many wholesalers offer them deeper discounts and even donated items. For example, Island Harvest President Randi Shubin Dresner said her food bank spends about $7 million annually on food purchases. They recently bought large enough quantities that the distributor then donated 25,000 pounds of peanut butter.

    “We have relationships,” she said. “We leverage those relationships all the time — but especially at times of disaster or high crisis need.”

    But some pantries might want donated food. Corie Burke said the situation is so dire in her rural North Carolina community that Glen Alpine Food Pantry just needs more product.

    Many also need volunteers to pick up, sort or deliver food. Burke said older generations are “aging out of their ability to do physical labor” and that pantries can’t get enough able-bodied people to lift the 60 pounds she routinely has to carry.

    She emphasized that even 9-to-5 employees can find volunteer shifts after work because Second Harvest Food Bank affiliates like hers offer a range of pickup hours.


    Give these products if you do drop off food

    Hunger relief groups emphasize that their clientele shouldn’t be treated as desperate enough to just accept whatever food comes their way.

    “Think about when you’re sitting with your family at a meal,” Dresner said. “It’s not just that you’re eating. You want to feel good about what you’re eating.”

    Needs will vary from community to community. But here’s a list of some recommended food donations that provide nutrition, flavor and dignity:

      1. Canned protein such as beans, meat or fish

      2. Chunky, low-sodium soup

      3. Dry rice

      4. Canned vegetables

      5. Peanut butter

      6. Boxed mac and cheese.

      7. Spices

    Dresner added that many food banks accept just about any nonfood item you can find at the store. She suggested donating personal care products because many families may stop buying them when the loss of cash assistance forces them to make difficult decisions about what they can and cannot put in the grocery cart.

    It’s also worth thinking about cultural food preferences and dietary restrictions. Those who follow Muslim or Jewish religious traditions might look for halal or kosher products. Food banks also need alternatives for vegetarian and gluten free recipients.

    Food banks tend to already get fresh produce from retail partners and special USDA support. But this fall could look different after the Trump administration cut a nutrition program that buys commodities from U.S. farmers for emergency food providers.


    Join a mutual aid group or stock a community fridge

    Mutual aid refers to reciprocal support networks of neighbors who promptly meet each other’s most pressing needs when existing systems fail to make them whole. They emphasize “solidarity” with each other as opposed to “charity” for another beneficiary.

    The groups have grown in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic exposed gaps in the social safety net. You can search for ones near you at https://www.mutualaidhub.org/ or find their pages on social media sites such as Instagram.

    This localized form of support can be especially helpful for marginalized folks — such as people with disabilities or medically fragile children — who are physically unable to line up at food distribution sites.

    The Free Formula Exchange is an example of a nationwide mutual aid network. The free online tool connects families who need baby formula with others donating theirs.

    Your neighborhood might also have what’s known as a community fridge. These are fridges, perhaps powered by a participating local business, where neighbors place food for anyone to grab. Search for one at https://freedge.org/ or ChangeX.

    “You don’t need to prove that you are poor to access those benefits,” said Freedge co-founder Ernst Bertone Oehninger. “The fridge doesn’t ask you any question. You can just go and help yourself with the food that’s there.”

    The benefit is that they are centrally located and accessible. Many community fridges run 24/7. Donation guidelines vary and often depend on the jurisdiction’s food code.

    Oehninger can’t promise that Freedge’s database is completely up-to-date or an exhaustive list of every location out there. They recommend checking Instagram, where many community fridges post their current needs.


    Give directly to those in need

    GiveDirectly is delivering one-time $50 cash transfers to households with children that receive the maximum SNAP allotment.

    The nonprofit is partnering with Propel, an app that helps millions manage their benefits, to send funds on the same day that recipients lose out on their usual SNAP deposit. The effort is aimed at immediately empowering families to meet their individual needs with no strings attached and without having to wait in long lines.

    The public can donate to the emergency response at GiveDirectly’s website. Propel already committed $1 million and GiveDirectly says the “more we can raise, the more days we can cover families who missed their SNAP payments.”

    The for-profit crowdfunding platform has put together a centralized Feeding Communities Hub where users can find verified fundraisers and nonprofits seeking help affording groceries, stocking pantries, distributing meals or funding mobile food banks.

    GoFundMe’s Essentials Fund also provides cash grants to those struggling to afford everyday necessities. The company is committing at least $350,000 from October through December to help get people back on their feet.


    The biggest help? Experts say replenishing SNAP

    Very little safety net is left once you take away SNAP.

    It’s not possible for a nonprofit network to fully fill the gap in food insecurity, according to Christopher Wimer, the co-director of Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Consider that Feeding America says food pantries provide about 1 meal to every 9 provided by SNAP.

    “The best thing would be a robust SNAP program that’s not being turned on and turned off because of the shutdown,” Wimer said.

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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  • Complex property deal involving Lakewood, Jeffco Schools and a nonprofit group has landed in court

    A cash-strapped school district that’s looking to unload a shuttered elementary school.

    A nonprofit human services agency that’s in need of a bigger home as it serves more than 60,000 households a year.

    And a judge who’s telling Colorado’s fifth-largest city not to make any moves on the whole situation — a complex deal that would allow the agency to move into the school — until she can determine whether everything is on the up and up.

    That’s the strange nexus at which Lakewood, Jeffco Public Schools and The Action Center have found themselves after their proposed real estate deal was challenged in court by a former Lakewood city councilwoman who thinks the whole arrangement is “taking place in secret.”

    “Government should have to do this in a way that’s transparent and above board — and includes the public in this kind of decision-making,” said Anita Springsteen, who’s also an attorney. “I think it’s unethical. I think it’s wrong.”

    The deal on the table calls for Lakewood to purchase Emory Elementary — which closed three years ago because of declining enrollment — from Jeffco Public Schools for $4 million. At the same time, the city would buy The Action Center’s existing facility on West 14th Avenue for $4 million.

    The Action Center, in turn, would buy Emory from the city for $1 million when the organization, which for more than a half-century has provided free clothing and food, family services and financial assistance to those in need, moves to its new home in the former school on South Teller Street.

    The core problem, Springsteen says, is that Lakewood did not properly announce two September 2024 executive sessions during which officials discussed details of the deal in private. In a lawsuit, she accused the city of violating Colorado’s open meetings law, which requires governments to state, in advance and “in as much detail as possible,” what will be discussed behind closed doors “without compromising the purpose for the executive session.”

    Jefferson County District Judge Meegan Miloud had enough questions last week about how Lakewood gave public notice of its executive sessions that she imposed a temporary restraining order on the City Council — forbidding it from voting on three ordinances that would authorize the deal to move forward.

    The council had been scheduled to consider the measures Monday night.

    Miloud said the city’s executive session notices on the council’s September 2024 agendas were “so vague that the public has no way of identifying or discerning what is being negotiated or what property is being assessed.”

    On Tuesday morning, the judge conducted a hearing on the matter but did not make a ruling. She called another hearing for next Monday and said in a new order that her injunction remains in effect.

    The fast-moving situation has Lakewood playing defense. A special council meeting that had been set for Wednesday night — to once again put the ordinances up for a council vote — will now have to be rescheduled, city spokeswoman Stacie Oulton said.

    Lakewood, she contended, has been open throughout the process.

    “The public process has included updates from the city manager during public City Council meetings, and the city has followed the public notification process for these agenda items,” she told The Denver Post in an email this week. “Additionally, the proposed end user of the property, the Action Center, has had several public community meetings about its proposal.”

    Anita Springsteen, a lawyer and former Lakewood city councilwoman, is leading a challenge to a complex land deal between the City of Lakewood, Jeffco Public Schools and The Action Center that would bring the humans services nonprofit to the former Emory Elementary School in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. She posed for a portrait outside the former school. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

    Questions about meetings, market value

    Jeff Roberts, the executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, said it was “unusual” for a judge, via a temporary restraining order, to preempt a city council from casting a vote.

    But case law, he said, makes it clear that governing bodies in Colorado must provide as much detail as possible when they announce closed-door sessions — short of disclosing or jeopardizing strategies and positions that are crucial in real estate negotiations.

    “In general, an announcement that doesn’t give any indication of the topic is not enough information for the public,” Roberts said. “In most cases — and that’s why it’s in the law — you must tell the public what the executive session is about.”

    That standard, he said, was upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2020, when it ruled that the Basalt Town Council violated the state’s open meetings law several times in 2016 by not properly announcing the topic of private deliberations it would be having regarding a former town manager.

    In the Lakewood school matter, the alleged open meetings violations are not the only thing that bothers Springsteen. She objects to the structure of the proposed real estate transaction, saying it would be a sweetheart deal for The Action Center and a waste of money for taxpayers.

    “They are stealing money out of our pockets,” said Springsteen, who served on City Council from 2019 to 2023.

    Lakewood, she said, would be underpaying for the 17-acre Emory Elementary School parcel, overpaying for The Action Center’s current facility and basically giving the school property away to the nonprofit.

    “For the city to not intend to own the property, but to buy it on behalf of a nongovernmental organization — when did we become an agent for other agencies?” Springsteen said.

    According to the Jefferson County assessor’s site, The Action Center’s buildings on West 14th Avenue have a total value of about $2 million, while the city has proposed purchasing them for double that. The assessor’s office lists Emory Elementary as having a total value of up to $12 million.

    Springsteen said she is flummoxed by the Jeffco school district’s willingness to sell the elementary school to Lakewood for a third of that valuation.

    “What bothers me most is the way Jeffco schools is handling this,” she said. “The district didn’t even have a school resource officer at Evergreen High School because of budgetary issues.”

    She was referring to when a 16-year-old student critically wounded two fellow students at the foothills high school last month. There was no SRO at the school at the time of the shooting. Evergreen High School’s principal told reporters the district had “deprioritized” SROs for its mountain schools leading up to the shooting.

    The school district is looking at a $39 million budget hole for the coming year.

    A spokesperson for Jeffco schools said a decision on whether to sell Emory Elementary to Lakewood hadn’t been made yet. That vote, by the district’s school board, is expected Nov. 13.

    Raven Price picks out food at The Action Center's food bank in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
    Raven Price picks out food at The Action Center’s food bank in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

    ‘We need to bring this into our community’

    Pam Brier, the CEO of The Action Center, said property values don’t tell the full story.

    “There are many instances locally and nationally of municipalities helping to support the affordable acquisition of properties for organizations like The Action Center — who are serving such a critical need in our community,” she said, “and ultimately saving taxpayer money by helping to meet people’s basic needs.”

    On Wednesday, she provided The Denver Post a May 2024 appraisal done by Centennial-based Masters Valuation Services that valued the organization’s current facility — made up of a 14,960-square-foot building and a 15,540-square-foot building — at $4 million.

    Her organization, Brier said, serves 300 households a day. It provides a free grocery and clothing market, financial assistance, free meals, family coaching, skills classes and workforce support to people who are down on their luck.

    “As public dollars dwindle, our work is more important than ever,” she said. “Without organizations like The Action Center to provide food, clothing and other critical support, individuals and families fall into crisis, needing assistance that will cost taxpayers and cities so much more.”

    Oulton, the Lakewood city spokeswoman, said it was not unusual for cities and counties across metro Denver to “provide financial support in a variety of ways to nonprofits that serve their communities.”

    “Additionally, Jeffco Public Schools has clearly communicated to the city that the district views the value of this project in more than the dollars involved, because the district’s priority has been to see former schools used in a way that will continue providing services and support to Jeffco Public Schools students and their families,” Oulton said.

    Diana Losacco, a 48-year resident of Lakewood who lives about a mile from the Emory site, was one of more than three dozen people who urged the city to pursue the purchase and sale of the school to The Action Center on the Lakewood Speaks website.

    Raven Price and her 4-year-old son, Gabriel Luna, head home with a wagon full of food they selected from The Action Center's food bank in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
    Raven Price and her 4-year-old son, Gabriel Luna, head home with a wagon full of food they selected from The Action Center’s food bank in Lakewood on Oct. 28, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

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  • MacKenzie Scott gives $60 million to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy

    MacKenzie Scott, one of the world’s richest women and most influential philanthropists, has donated $60 million to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, according to a Tuesday announcement from the nonprofit.

    The donation is among the largest single gifts Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has made to a nonprofit, and the largest the Center for Disaster Philanthropy has ever received.

    Patricia McIlreavy, CDP president and CEO, called the gift a “transformative investment” that would help the nonprofit “strengthen the ability of communities to withstand and equitably recover from disasters.”

    The gift comes at a time when climate disasters are becoming more frequent and costly and as President Donald Trump stokes uncertainty about how much federal support communities will receive to recover from future emergencies.

    Founded in 2010, CDP offers advice and resources to donors seeking to maximize their impact on communities recovering from climate disasters and other crises. The organization emphasizes medium- and long-term recovery, two oft-neglected phases of disaster response.

    CDP also does its own disaster giving, including through its Atlantic Hurricane Season Recovery Fund which will soon support Hurricane Melissa recovery in the Caribbean, according to the group.

    The $60 million grant would go toward “improving disaster preparedness, addressing the root causes of vulnerabilities to hazards and providing vital resources for the long-term recovery of disaster-affected communities,” according to a CDP statement.

    Scott, 55, amassed most of her wealth through shares of Amazon that she acquired after her divorce from the company’s founder and executive chairman, Jeff Bezos. Forbes estimates her current wealth to be about $34 billion.

    Soon after her divorce, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of her wealth throughout her lifetime. She has donated more than $19 billion since 2019.

    The author of two novels is known for her quiet and trust-based giving. Scott rarely comments on her donations apart from sporadic essays published on her website, Yield Giving.

    Nonprofits are often surprised to learn they are receiving one of her grants, which come without restrictions on how groups can use the money.

    McIlreavy told The Associated Press she found out about the gift in September through a phone call. “There was a disbelief and joy mixed together,” she said.

    The lack of restrictions allows CDP to put some of the money toward general operations like staffing, an aspect of nonprofit work for which it is often difficult to fundraise.

    McIlreavy said nonprofits trying to raise money for administrative costs can sometimes feel like they are running a pizza shop. “People would come in and say ‘I want pizza, but I don’t want to pay for the staff to make it, or the trucks that bring in the cheese.’”

    The support comes as climate disasters continue to grow in frequency and cost, stretching the abilities of both governments and donors to respond.

    The U.S. has experienced at least 14 disasters this year that exceeded $1 billion in damages, according to Climate Central, totaling $101.4 billion. That count does not include the deadly July Texas floods, which are still being assessed.

    President Donald Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which manages the federal response to disasters. He has denied major disaster declaration requests to states even when FEMA assessments proved extensive damage. His administration has also cut billions in disaster resilience funding.

    The uncertainty is challenging for survivors, and for donors and philanthropists who can’t anticipate where and when their support will be most needed, said McIlreavy.

    “When people are facing disasters across this country, not knowing what may come, how they may get assistance and from whom, that steals a bit of the hope that is intrinsic in any recovery,” she said.

    Several other groups announced this month that they received grants from Scott, including the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which got $40 million, and the Freedom Fund, which received $60 million. Scott donated $70 million to UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to minority students, last month.

    Scott hinted at a new cycle of donations in an Oct. 15 essay on her website while downplaying her own giving and touting the power of smaller acts of kindness and generosity.

    “What if care is a way for all of us to make a difference in leading and shaping our countries?” Scott wrote. “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”

    ——

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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