We strive for all Orinda students to contribute as engaged, compassionate citizens to local, national, and global communities. That is why we have launched #OrindaCares, a partnership program between Mindful Littles, Orinda Schools, Miramonte High School and The City of Orinda to inspire all Orinda students through meaningful service learning opportunities.

Our First Project: Helping Hands for Houston

Our first project, Helping Hands for Houston (HHH), is focused on supporting the student victims of Hurricane Harvey. According to the Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, “Children will be dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster, working to overcome fears of recurrence, loss, and other issues causing anxiety… many of our students have lost everything, including basic school supplies. Providing them with quality backpacks and the tools to do their work in school will help them feel loved, cared for, and prepared.”

For our HHH initiative, we are partnering with Sydney Paige Inc., a local backpack company dedicated topromoting the importance of education and enriching the lives of children in need.

Our goals with this community initiative are to:

• Raise funds to provide 1,000 backpacks filled with necessary school supplies
• Educate and inspire our children to be compassionate global citizens
• Engage our students in hands-on service learning projects to help Houston kids

During the HHH project, we will launch service learning initiatives at all OUSD sites and at Miramonte High School. These initiatives will culminate in a Backpack “Assembly Party” on Sunday, October 15th, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Orinda Community Center where students and community members will come together to fill each purchased backpack with supplies and student-created messages of hope and compassion.

Please join our community effort today and support #OrindaCares. Together with open hearts, we hope to make a significant impact on the lives of many Hurricane Harvey victims.

More details about HHH:

WHO WE ARE SERVING

• There are >165,000 students within HISD in poverty. We are supporting the highest need first — the homeless children.
• HISD’s Department for Homeless Students (staff of 12) serves 6,000 – 7,000 homeless students per year. That number has tripled with the floods. The need is devastating.
• Our backpacks and supplies will go directly to their offices, with opportunities to adopt a school or underserved homeless shelter, depending on the number of bags and supplies we are able to deliver

LATEST UPDATES

• 9/12 — HISD’s Dept for Homeless Students is completely out of backpacks & supplies.
• 9/12 — They have held 8 Give Events across all of the school district regions so far with more to come. Families are standing in line for hours to receive a uniform and a bottle of water for their child(ren). At the last event, there were 4,000 people.

THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE!

VISIT OUR ORINDACARES PAGE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR INITIATIVES.