18 a Day Before Graduation by Karen Blanco - City News Group, Inc.
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18 a Day Before Graduation

By Karen Blanco, Community Writer
July 9, 2014 at 10:32am. Views: 42

When Alicia Washington rose to speak to a room filled with successful business men and women during the 22nd Annual A. Gary Anderson Memorial Golf Classic, silence settled over the room. “During the first year of my life, I was left in a taxi cab and became part of the foster system,” said Alicia. “I grew up in many different homes, and went to many different schools. I soon realized that I wanted to create my own ‘freedom pass’ through education. My 18th birthday fell the day before my high school graduation, which meant I was homeless. On the day of graduation I had to try and find transportation to the graduation ceremony.” Washington continued her story of being homeless for quite a while and then discovered a program offered by San Bernardino County which provided transitional housing for foster youth, known as Children's Fund. Created in 1986, Children’s Fund is a non-profit whose mission is to prevent child abuse in our community; to ensure that at-risk children who are abused, neglected, impoverished, or abandoned receive adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care and education; and to provide equal opportunity for social development for these children. Since its inception, Children’s Fund has served more than 1.3 million children. Alicia shared that she recently graduated from California State University – San Bernardino and proudly stated, “I again graduated, the day before my birthday.” She went on to say that she is the voice for foster youth. After Washington received a standing ovation, a $50,000 pledge was made by the Colonies Partners for foster youth. And, the pledges kept coming in, totaling more than $75,000 for older foster youth by the end of the evening, bringing the grand total raised by the event to more than $500,000. The largest annual fundraiser for Children’s Fund, the event’s co-title sponsors were the A. Gary Anderson Family Foundation and Diversified Pacific Opportunity Fund, and the event sponsor was Young Homes. After his passing in 1992, the A. Gary Anderson Memorial Golf Classic was established to continue Gary’s work supporting at-risk and abused children through Children’s Fund. Since its inception, the AGA Memorial Golf Classic has raised more than $6 million to serve the most vulnerable children in our region. “I cannot say thank you enough. Thank you on behalf of the children whose lives and futures you are changing,” stated Erin Phillips, president & CEO of Children’s Fund. “We are grateful for all that has been donated, knowing that there is still so much more that we can do together.”

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