Bringing People Together image

Bringing People Together

Embracing the transformative power of community. Please select your tax-deductible gift amount below.

$15,765 raised

$35,000 goal

We are no longer accepting donations on this campaign, but there are other ways for you to support us today!
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This Giving Tuesday, make a MATCHED gift to support the Italian community in the Bay Area.

We are excited to share that up to $10,000 of your tax-deductible donations will be matched by Alida Morzenti, an amazing community member of ours who we cannot thank enough for her support over the years.

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In the last year, our team at Italian Community Services (ICS) has been navigating the new normal as our world and community begin to slowly re-open and re-gather. During this transitional period, ICS remains dedicated to the mission of preserving our culture and serving our community. For us, this means listening to our community to guide us on how to best do so.

Among our array of programs and services, Italian Community Services currently provides the following:

  • grants to Italian language programs via the John C. Riccio Grant for children and adult learners to ensure the preservation of our beautiful language and culture
  • weekly community events including Wednesday luncheons and Thursday activities including movies, games, and field trips to museums for our senior clients
  • financial assistance to struggling families and individuals to ensure their basic needs are met
  • care coordination ensuring our community are able to receive proper medical support, homebound care, counseling services and more.
  • referrals and connections when we are not able to meet community needs directly such as for citizenship, legal, real estate affairs, etc...
  • care packages during special holidays celebrating our history and heritage
  • our space at Casa Fugazi to support a wide variety of Italian organizations and events bringing our community together

ICS is dedicated to our community’s needs, and we continue to evolve and adapt to ensure we are supporting the needs of our community.

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Our Focus for the Future

As we approach the new year, we continue to listen to our community to determine how to best support and serve. We plan to continue the above initiatives and create new opportunities to provide support, which includes the following:

Transportation
Each week, we are excited to welcome our community to Casa Fugazi for Wednesday luncheons and other activities. For many of our seniors, these events are the only community engagement and in-person social interaction they have on a regular basis, but it can be challenging. Many struggle to get around due to many factors including health, mobility, financial situation, or a combination.

We are looking to make connecting with the community in-person easier for seniors by assisting with transportation needs, not only to help them join us for our weekly events, but to run errands, visit the doctor, and more. We aim to combine volunteer, ride-share, and shared van options to meet this community need.

Training and Connections
Technology is both an opportunity and a challenge for many in our community. Learning from past experiences and based on a recent tech survey conducted within our community-specific tutorials, including in-home assistance will be offered leveraging partner organizations and volunteers.

To further combat isolation, ICS is re-launching the FriendLine phone call program to ensure our community members have a friendly and regular point of contact. On a weekly to bi-weekly basis, ICS clients are matched with Italian-speaking volunteers so that they have a companion to chat with in their native language. If they do not speak Italian, then the volunteer is still able to check in with them, assess their needs, and remind them of upcoming ICS events. FriendLine is the most effective way to combat isolation and loneliness for many of our seniors. Volunteers are also able to give feedback directly to ICS staff after every call, allowing ICS to expand its reach to many clients, ensuring their needs or concerns are being properly managed and met.

In addition we are hearing more and more requests for job opportunities within our community and we’d like to be able to harness the connections within our community and beyond to do more. Stay tuned for more ways you can help in 2023!

Youth Engagement
Preserving Italian culture is a foundational value of ICS and in 2023 we will place more emphasis on better engaging our youth. We’d like to encourage our Italian and Italian American young people to remember the accomplishments of those who came before them, while also inspiring them to make their own marks.

We will expand our Riccio grant program to provide more opportunities for schools and students to volunteer at ICS events (like our weekly luncheons, Italian Heritage Day float, care package drives etc...

We will also collaborate with other organizations who have similar missions and leverage our spaces at Casa Fugazi to provide more opportunities for youth to learn, to contribute and to engage. They are our collective future, so it is important we best equip them to grow into responsible, confident, compassionate adults.

Expanded Direct Community Support
As we prioritize the requests of our community, we work to ensure our community’s basic needs are met. We do this through targeted financial support which includes rent, utilities, and grocery assistance for those who most need it within our community. As costs continue to rise we see more need in this area.


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We acknowledge your own needs are priority before considering a charitable gift, but would be humbled and grateful for any donations you would consider giving. For those who can, we send a heartfelt Grazie Mille!

A friendly reminder: If you work for a corporation, please check with your employer to see if they participate in donation matching, volunteering programs, and other non-profit support opportunities.