Family Promise of Riverside serves 5,000 local unhoused children while partnering with faith communities to transform unused Sunday school rooms into family shelters.
Golden hour light bathes Mt. Rubidoux, highlighting its rugged beauty beneath a dramatic sky. (Bob Sirotnik)
Wednesday Gazette: July 30, 2025
Hello Riverside, and Happy Wednesday! Riverside is full of powerful, untold stories—layers of history that shape who we are today. From Indigenous homelands to citrus booms, civil rights milestones and vibrant cultural movements, our city holds narratives waiting to be explored and honored.
This Sunday, Aug. 3, from 1–2 p.m., you can experience one of those stories firsthand with the screening of Pá'Čapa: A Mt. Rubidoux Story—a documentary sharing the deep Indigenous history of Mt. Rubidoux, guided in part by Lorene Sisquoc, a culture keeper and educator we’ve proudly featured as a Neighbor of the Week.
Community Nonprofits See Growing Need During Back-to-School Season
Family Promise of Riverside serves 5,000 local unhoused children while partnering with faith communities to transform unused Sunday school rooms into family shelters.
Claire Jefferson-Glipa stands among clothing and supplies for families with babies. (Ken Crawford)
Approximately 5,000 unhoused children attend school in Riverside and Alvord Unified School Districts, part of a hidden crisis as families struggle with housing instability.
Driving the news: Family Promise of Riverside is working to address this issue, utilizing unused church spaces to provide emergency shelter and support services for homeless families.
The organization currently has 90 families on its waiting list, with demand increasing dramatically.
Why it matters: Back-to-school season creates urgent needs for nonprofits serving families, often overlooked as community attention shifts away from charitable giving.
Countywide, about 17,000 K-12 students have been identified as experiencing homelessness.
The big picture: Family Promise offers multiple programs beyond emergency shelter, including a two-year post-housing stability program to prevent families from sliding back into homelessness.
The organization is supported 95% by individual donors, with an average contribution of $35.
What they're saying: "We could quite literally have zero children sleeping in cars or worse, if every congregation that had space that was not being used or being underutilized, opened it up for us to engage families," says Claire Jefferson-Glipa, who leads Family Promise of Riverside.
Food Bank's Hunger Resource Center Marks First Year, Assists 2,100 with CalFresh Applications
New facility served 200 households monthly through pantry, created 100-plus volunteer positions.
(Courtesy of Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino)
The Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino (FARSB) Hunger Resource Center celebrates a year of impactful service, helping over 2,100 families apply for CalFresh and serving 200 households monthly through its pantry.
Driving the news: FARSB's second building, which opened in January 2025, has become a hub for community support, offering a learning center, Fresh Start Pantry, and CalFresh Resource Center.
CEO Carolyn Fajardo emphasizes the center's role in strengthening community connections and adapting to emerging needs.
Why it matters: The expansion represents a significant growth for FARSB, introducing the organization's first on-site choice pantry and creating over 100 new volunteer opportunities.
The center hosts resource fairs, cooking demonstrations, and child nutrition education classes.
The big picture: FARSB serves as the primary food source for more than 250 nonprofit organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, distributing over 3.1 million pounds of food monthly.
What's next: FARSB continues to adapt its services to meet community needs, building on its 44-year history of combating hunger in the Inland Empire.
UC Riverside admitted a record 71,069 students for fall 2025—far exceeding last year's 51,345—while leading all UC campuses in admitting California residents, first-generation, and low-income students.
Caliber's 14th annual food drive raised $1.3 million and delivered 8.5 million meals to over 200 food banks including Feeding America Riverside, exceeding their goal by 40% to combat food insecurity nationwide.
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