A neighbor shares a national program to help needy children and family members join together on a 60-mile walk for a cancer cure. Read about your neighbors here. 

Pajama drive benefits needy children

Neighbor Jenni Hendricks is taking the lead to help needy children by bringing the Pajama Program to Rancho Murieta. The not- for-profit  program provides new pajamas and new books to needy children, many of whom are waiting to be adopted.

“Many of the children have been abused or abandoned, and have never had the comfort of a loving mother and father tuck them in at bedtime,” she wrote in a recent e-mail to RanchoMurieta.com.  ”Winter time is the crisis time to try and get the kids in their winter PJs.  I am heading up a drive to donate from our area.  The sizes that are needed are infant through age 17.”
 

Alysa, 3 1/2, and Kayla, 5, display some of the pajamas their mother, Jenni Hendricks, is collecting for needy children.

The drop-off sites are the Rancho Murieta Association Building and Plaza Foods.


Local recipients of the donations include the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento, St. John’s Shelter, Sacramento Children’s Home, Children’s  Crisis Nursery, Aspira, and the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center.
  The program continues through Sept. 30.

“ Let’s show these kids that we care about their well-being and comfort in their time of need,” Hendricks urged.  “As you tuck your kids in at night, think about the children that don’t have a parent or even a 
family member to simply read them a story and tuck them into their own cozy bed.  Let us 
open our hearts to all of those children who have been deprived of something so important as a true family.”


To date, the program has given away more than 85,000 pairs of pajamas and 70,000 new books.
 Monetary donations are also accepted.  Information about the program is available by  contacting Hendricks at 354-9982 or visiting the Pajama Program web site. "

Walking for the cure

Four Murietans -- a mother and daughter team and two sisters -- will be among hundreds of women taking part in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile walk to raise funds and awareness about breast cancer in the annual event for Susan G. Komen for the Cure and National Philanthropic Trust. The walk begins Friday in San Francisco.

Participants will cross the Golden Gate Bridge in a pink wave, scale the hills of Sausalito and sleep in tents before returning to San Francisco Sunday to conclude the walk of a lifetime.

Michelle Hubbell and her daughter, Chelsea Chamberlain.

“I think it’s going to be fun. They really make it a big party,” said Michelle Hubbell. She and her daughter, Chelsea Chamberlain, will be walking together. To get into the spirit of the walk, they had neon pink streaks added to their hair this week. 

Chelsea is a junior at Sac State and Michelle is one of the owners of Plaza Foods. Although this is her first 3-Day event, it isn’t Michelle’s first effort in the fight against cancer. A couple years ago she shaved her head for a childhood cancer fundraiser, inspiring customers to donate to the cause.

Participants raise a minimum of $2,200 before taking part in the walk. Donations to the mother/daughter team can be made here.

Sisters Brittany and Alyssa Pedersen.

So far, sisters Brittany and Alyssa Pedersen have raised over $9,000 as members of the Gaucho Girls. The team is named for the UC Santa Barbara mascot. Brittany is a third year student at the college, and Alyssa is a junior at Pleasant Grove High School.

They are the daughters of Chris and Kim Pedersen, owners of Murieta’s Flower Box in the Plaza.

Donations to the Gaucho Girls can be made here.