SPTF envisions a county without suicide and aims to accomplish this by implementing a full range of strategies, starting from prevention and early intervention. Your donations to the SPTF will help increase prevention and early intervention services, and help our community members better understand and recognize the signs and symptoms of suicide risk.
For more than five decades the Lily Pond was a popular water feature in Mooney Grove Park. Due to the increasing cost of repair and maintenance over time, the Lily Pond is been non-functional for the past 15 years. To avoid demolition and to honor the history of the Lily Pond, the County is seeking donations from the community to help repair and restore the Lily Pond.
The funds donated to the Human Services At-Risk Youth fund benefit youth who are participating in an employment program and working to make the transition to adulthood and self-sufficiency. This program helps youth in need of emergency monies for necessities such as transportation, work apparel, utilities, medical, dental, and prescription expenses.
The Kings/Tulare Area Agency on Aging helps provide programs and activities for local senior citizens, from arts and crafts to Medicare counseling, line dancing to home-delivered meals. Your donations to the Area Agency on Aging will help us continue to provide a wide range of services and activities to encourage older Americans to remain healthy, active, and involved in the community.
Donations to the Homeless Fund will help supply toiletries, clothing, identification card/application fees, furnishings, or cooking utensils/appliances, or may fund expenses like a utility bill or car repair for those experiencing, at risk for, or exiting homelessness.
Contributing toward the support of our local veterans through the VSO General Fund is a great opportunity for the members of the community to give back and thank veterans for their services.
Your donations to the Step Up program will be used for collateral items (i.e., T-shirts, backpacks, etc.), venue rental, event food, printing, speakers' fees, awards, materials, and other items associated with Step Up—a movement to encourage youth to participate in extracurricular activities, foster positive associations, and connect to constructive social networks.
Tulare County HHSA’s Adult Services Division recently received a grant through the Suicide Prevention Task Force to purchase 93 iPads for local seniors who have been disconnected from loved ones and the community due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to receiving the iPads, the seniors received a prepaid data plan and training on how to use the iPads. Some of them preferred to learn on their own, while others took full advantage of the training, either by Adult Services staff or via Cyber Seniors, a nationally renowned organization that specializes in training older adults in technology.
The iPads have made a tremendous difference in the lives of many seniors by enabling them to connect through FaceTime with family and friends they have not physically seen in over two years.
A testimonial shared by one recipient:
One recipient lost his spouse in March 2021, and he sadly did not have any family locally. This client was very excited to learn about the FaceTime feature on the iPad and asked our Client Advocate, who delivered the iPad, to set it up so that he could call his brother, who lives far away. He was so happy to see his brother over FaceTime, he cried happy tears.