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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month, and the Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency is seeking to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder, focusing on what it is and urging people to seek help for themselves or someone they feel is suffering from it.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events, or set of circumstances. An individual may experience PTSD as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening, affecting their mental, physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being.
Symptoms:
PTSD can be very complicated because not everyone who experiences a traumatic event develops PTSD, and the symptoms are often unique to the individual.
A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs illustrates veterans' vulnerability to developing PTSD. It notes that veterans are more likely to be exposed to a traumatic event, so their risk of developing PTSD is higher.
However, PTSD can occur in all people of any ethnicity, nationality, or culture and at any age; therefore, service members or veterans aren't the only ones who experience PTSD but are however, at a great risk. Anyone who has gone through an intensely traumatic experience could be affected by PTSD, events such as physical or sexual assault, war-related combat stress, terrorism, natural or man-made disasters, and other threats to a person's life can ultimately expose an individual to such disorder. But help is available.
PTSD can be managed through various venues. Visiting a mental health professional or contacting your local Veteran Services office for more information are just a few ways to seek help. Self-care and seeking effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can help reduce symptoms and prevent symptoms from worsening.
For more information, visit: https://tchhsa.org/eng/human-services/veterans-services-office-vso or https://tchhsa.org/eng/mental-health
