On a warm summer evening, members of the community took part in an extraordinary event that was a culmination of an 18-month comprehensive program. With the help of Saint John’s Program for Real Change, eleven graduates, who made an empowered decision to rise up and become a productive community member, took their rightful place on stage to celebrate a monumental achievement in their lives and that of their children.
Since 1985, Saint John’s Program for Real Change has provided more than 30,000 homeless women and children with the essential tools to rise above their circumstances and make REAL, transformative change in their lives. Operating the largest shelter in the Sacramento Region, Saint John’s Program is the one focused exclusively on women and children–the most vulnerable and rapidly growing segment of the homeless population in our region and nationwide. Dedicated to the eradication of homelessness, Saint John’s program includes mental health therapy, alcohol and drug counseling, parenting education, high school diploma preparation and attainment, budgeting classes, healthy relationship training, and a proprietary Employment Training Program. Accommodating over 700 clients and their children each year with three levels of increasingly independent housing, 96% of Saint John’s Employment Training Program graduates have secured unsubsidized employment, a crucial step in their journeys to self-sustainability.
“Saint John’s directly impacts the lives of women and children desperate for change, and we are excited to partner with an organization that helps the community thrive one life at a time,” said Shawn Kelly Devlin, Chairman of the Board of the Kelly Foundation and of River City Bank. “We’re confident this donation will support families in need to become self-sufficient after experiencing such challenging circumstances.”
RCB and the Kelly Foundation donated $83,000 to Saint John’s Program for Real Change to help improve the lives of women and children experiencing homelessness. The money will go towards the Bridge the Gap campaign which was developed to keep the red doors of Saint John’s open after the County of Sacramento decided not to renew its 15-year contract. Serving up to 270 women and children, Saint John’s will continue to provide a vehicle to help them permanently escape the cycle of poverty and dependence.
Kelly Broadcasting Company, established in 1955, founded the Kelly Foundation in December 1988 as a formal vehicle for structuring charitable contributions. The Kelly family sold KCRA-TV in 1999 and have continued the Kelly Foundation ever since. In 2009, the River City Bank Foundation merged with the Kelly Foundation, and some executives of the Bank currently serve on the Foundation’s Board. Jon S. Kelly founded River City Bank and continues to support the Bank. His daughter, Shawn Kelly Devlin, currently serves as President and Chairman of the Board. The Kelly Foundation is an expression of the importance the Kelly family places on being a good neighbor and citizen in regions where they do business.
