As the new Board President, I would like to invite you to join us in a very important observance. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. PSS is set, once again, to help bring attention to this vital issue. Public awareness is key to effective prevention. So, we are launching a community awareness campaign through the media.
Businesses and individuals can contribute by calling our office and asking to display our "Wear A Blue Ribbon" poster.

To aid us in our efforts, the Berkeley Black Repertory Group and the National Council of Negro Women have generously offered to host a benefit performance of MY Sister, My Twin, on April 14th, at 2 p.m. (see below). We hope to see you there.

Corporate and individual sponsorship of seats at the performance would enable PSS clients to attend.

Spring is a time of growth. That is also true for our agency. We continually face the need to provide more services to the community. The Board works integrally with the agency to support growth while providing balance and stability. Essential to this is the increased priority being placed on development and community awareness.

The Board too, has set goals for increased presence in the community. Toward this we are building our skills and looking to increase our ranks. If you are interested in Board opportunities we welcome hearing from you. We want to reach potential clients with our services, and we invite every member of the community to support the important work we do.

Sincerely,

Leslie Fisher
Board President

SWEET SUCCESS

Dynamic, Creative, Outspoken, Upbeat. These are a few of the words we use to desribe our Administrative Assistant, Reshawn Goods. Oh, and let's not omit Mother, Community Activist and Entrepreneur. When PSS discovered her, Reshawn was a CalWORKs participant employed through Laney College, while attending school in her effort to get an education and transition from welfare to full-time employment.

Reshawn attended college for a time after high school and at twenty-one started her own child-care business. When the home where she lived and worked was sold, she lost everything. Later, she also became pregnant. For the first time, she lost her independence and sought assistance.

CalWORKs has helped her regain her independence and she helped CalWORKs. She explains, "First I organized the support groups for students like myself. Then they asked me to failitate them. CalWORKs and PSS Counseling are there to encourage the students to talk about the problems they face as parents and students. You have to put in 32 hours of work/study, or risk losing benefits."

She adds, "Where PSS becomes vital is in working with people who don't have any prior college experience or in many cases work ethic. They don't have any skills. So to take on all this responsibility, well, many can't cope and really need the support. I chose PSS because they are part of my community."

Family Support Line Volunteer Experience
Anna Kern worked as an intern with PSS in 1996-1996. After earning her Marriage Family Therapist license, Anna returned to our hotline in 2000 as a volunteer.

"PSS hotline work is so rich with diversity. It's been my way of staying involved with the wide range of issues PSS deals with and also a way of giving back to the community.
     You never know what is going to come up in any given time. You don't know what kind of tools the caller will have to work with. Some callers are great at brainstorming, others need a sounding board. Some people want answers. Still others may seem at first to have parenting issues that may also involve boundary issues. We try to enlighten them to their child's needs. I think it is important that we can't solve every person's problems, because it is a process. This work keeps my MFT skills sharpened.
     You learn from the calls you take, but you also learn from other people's calls and insights, thoughts, and beliefs. I've worked on other hotlines, where calls are piped to your home, but at this point in my career, I've really enjoyed spending time with other people and sharing fruitful discussions about parenting and mental health."

Volunteer Opportunities

Family Hotline Counselors 24-hrs
Learn intervention skills & provide support on our hotline.
Respite Care Providers
Provide brief childcare in your home to give a break to parents without resources. We train & certify.
Counseling Trainees or Interns
We provide clinical supervision.
Recruitment Volunteers
Get to know your community better while helping us recruit volunteers.

Give a special gift for Mother's Day and Father's Day this year. Make a donation to PSS in honor of your Mom or Dad and we will send a special card in your name. Your gift can make a difference in the lives of the children we serve.

During the month of April, we are asking you to wear a blue ribbon. The tradition began when a grandmother lost her beloved grandchild at the hands of her daughter's boyfriend. She wanted to bring attention to the death of her grandchild, symbolized by the wearing of a simple blue ribbon.

Each of us can join her in honoring all children and in promoting the prevention of child abuse and neglect.

The Grove Building on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way has been home to our Oakland staff for more than fifteen years. During the last three years our program, counseling and administrative needs have grown and we now occupy more than half of the 10,500 square feet of usable office space. Recently, our landlord announced his intention to retire and sell the building. We are exploring the possibility of purchasing the Grove Building, an exciting and daunting endeavor.

We realize that affordable office space may soon be as precious to nonprofit organizations in Oakland as it is already in San Francisco. Our infrastructure costs continue to rise. These costs could accelerate rapidly if the Grove Building is sold to someone else. We see the purchase of this building as a way of allowing us to continue to serve the community from our familiar, easily accessible location, while stabilizing our infrastructure costs and meeting our present and future space needs.

There may be, as yet, unrealized obstacles in our path as we continue to plan and assess the feasilbilty of this purchase. in our initial planning PSS has come to realize that we have many friends who have encouraged us to move forward. To continue this project, we will need many more friends. We hope to be able to reach out to all of you in the near future with more information on purchasing this building and how you can help.

The Black Repertory Group Theatre & National Council of Negro Women Invite you to a Benefit Performance My Sister, My Twin A play about a Jewish American teenager who discovers she has a twin sister in Israel. by Saundrah Grevious April 14th at 2 p.m. 3201 Adeline Street, Berkeley tickets $12      for Parental Stress Service, Inc. dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect since 1972 For tickets please call the theater at 510-652-2120 Join us for refreshments and we'll also be giving out Blue Ribbons. We encourage donors to purchase groups of tickets to donate back so we may provide them to our intereted clients.

Ways To Help Families In Need
Donate Your Vehicle - Consider donating your used car to PSS. Through Car Program LLC we receive 70% of the proceeds and it's fast and easy for you.
Planned Giving - Are you revising your will or trust, or making it for the first time? Consider a charitable gift to PSS. PSS staff is available to help you leave a legacy to strengthen families.
Call Development 510-893-9230 x242
Don't forget how painless payroll deductions can be - PSS is a United Way Member # 37658. Please contact United Way or PSS to begin your payroll contributions to PSS.

The East Bay Community Foundation recently awarded a grant in support of our Parent Education program, which will provide parent education, case-management and outreach to an underserved community. "We know how important PSS services are to vulnerable families and we are thrilled to support bringing those services to the Castro Valley and San Leandro areas." East Bay Community Foundation's Christina Sutherland, Director of Programs & Community Philanthropy http://www.eastbaycf.org/

PSS is Proud to Acknowledge These Honorees: