February 23, 2007

Evergreen Curves members give back to those in need

Women make holidays happy for domestic violence victims

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

The members of Evergreen Curves are always doing something for their community. So this past holiday season, the members contributed their dedication and energy to Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence.

Curves in Evergreen, located at San Felipe and Yerba Buena, basically adopted the Santa Clara County group that works with people who have lived in abusive relationships. Most of these victims are women and their children. Next Door Solutions has been working for 35 years to end domestic violence.

So in the spirit of giving, Curves members decided to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas for the victims under the care of Next Door Solutions, and they did it in a unique way.

For Thanksgiving, the women worked out a full dinner menu and made shopping lists for each of the 35 families at Next Door Solutions. These dinners included everything from ham to dessert to sparkling cider with all the ingredients to make the dinner, including sugar, spices and whipped topping.

The participating members bought all the ingredients and Curves manager Missy Jakubes, along with her husband and a few members, boxed all the items for the 35 separate dinners and took it to one of Next Door’s safe houses. Each parent has an apartment-home where they can begin their new lives with their children.

“All of these women came out and helped unload the truck. It took us 30 minutes to load it and about five minutes for them to unload it. They were so grateful and happy to receive everything, and it was amazing to watch them work together,” said Jakubes.

In addition, those at the safe house talked to Jakubes about Next Door’s programs.

“They were all out there, and they had so much love and respect for each other and for us. It was phenomenal,” Jakubes added.

That event was so successful that Curves members decided to work with Next Door for Christmas too. Every year, Next Door officials put together a holiday boutique so that people in the program can choose their own gifts for their families, including children. The children can also choose pick a gift for their parent. All of the merchandise is donated. Next Door volunteers and staff members then decorate the boutique to look like a store so that the parents and children actually feel as if they are in a shopping environment.

Curves members brought gifts for boys, girls and their moms, including items such as purses, placemats, clothing, household needs and toiletry items for a bit of primping. They also bought wrapping paper, ribbons and bows and Christmas decorations. Their contributions provided gifts for more than 200 families, Jakubes said.

“The ladies in this [Curves] community are phenomenal,” said Jakubes. “One woman had been collecting Beanie Babies for her granddaughter. She decided to sell them and we raised several hundred dollars to donate as cash so that Next Door could decorate its boutique for Christmas.”

Two members, Suzanne Haar and Sylvia McKinnon, joined Jakubes and her husband, Ron, to help deliver all the presents.

The members at Curves enjoy helping people out, said Jakubes. For example, one of their community efforts had them buying and collecting Teddy Bears for Teddy Bear Caring with Happy Hollow Zoo.

“We donated hundreds of bears,” said Jakubes. “This Curves has some of the most generous women.”

The decision to help Next Door Solutions came last fall. October is breast cancer month, said Jakubes, but it’s also domestic violence month.

“Too often people just don’t want to talk about domestic violence because it’s easier to talk about breast cancer. I brought it up on the [exercise] circuit and got an overwhelmingly positive response. Everyone was excited about being able to help,” she said.

Other activities at the facility include prom nights.

“On certain Friday nights we invite our husbands for the evening and they do the entire work out with their wives. Then we dance and have fun,” Jakubes said.

Once Jakubes had a member who wore a T-shirt that said she was searching for a wife for her dad. Jakubes decided to hold a contest, put up a poster of the man—who was a widower—and had women submit entries. Sixteen women participated and on the last day of the contest, the daughter drew a name out of a hat. The woman, who was a widow, and the widower have now been dating for three years.

Next Door Solutions offers a number of programs and services designed to break up the cycle of violence. It provides relief to families that require proactive services and help people move their lives in a healthy direction. Among its programs are a 24-hour, 7-days per week hotline—(408) 279-2962—with volunteers speaking English and Spanish; a 24/7 emergency shelter for short term, emergency protection, counseling and on-site services for women and children; individual counseling and support groups; legal services; as well as services for senior and older women, youth, teens and children; and transitional housing.

Anyone interested in volunteering at Next Door, can visit the Web site, www.nextdoor.org/ or call (408) 501-7550.
The Evergreen Curves is located at 4878 San Felipe Road, #110, San Jose, 95135, phone (408) 532-8844.