Latest News and Releases

Just in Time helps three brothers create a first home after foster care to launch annual campaign for the holidays. Launch of "My First Home for the Holidays"
Date: November 1, 2010
Contact: Don Wells, Executive Director, Just In Time
dwells@JitFosterYouth.org
760-505-6647

SAN DIEGO (November 1) - After mobilizing a team of volunteers to contribute thousands of dollars in in-kind donations that turned a foreclosed house into a home for the holidays, Just in Time for Foster Youth begins a campaign from November 1 thru December 4, 2010 to help over a hundred more transitioning foster youth have a safe, stable first home.

Former foster youth,Juan, Mario and Jose Robles, used every penny they had to purchase a home together, fulfilling a dream to reunite after growing up in separate householdsin foster care. They purchased a "fixer-upper" home to reunite their family and planned to make repairs slowly, as they could afford it. Instead, Just in Time for Foster Youthrallied volunteers and local businesses behind the young men to turn their home into a showcase just in time for the holidays, garnering local coverage and national attention from CBS Evening News with a planned pre-Thanksgiving "Assignment America" story by Steve Hartman. The list of contributing businesses can be found at www.JitFosterYouth.org.

"Operation 3 Brothers" was launchedby the local 501 (c) (3) charity as part of their mission to provide support at critical junctures for youth transitioning out of the foster care system, acting as an "extended family" of caring adults.

"We want to celebrate the Robles brothers' incredible determination and success while also turning the community's focus on the plight of the hundreds of young people who are also trying to create a home without any family support," explained Don Wells, Executive Director for Just in Time for Foster Youth.

The "Just in Time for Foster Youth My First Home for the Holidays Drive" runsfrom November 1-December 4 with volunteer-created mini-drives supplying the needed cash and in-kind donations. Items collected will be everything from gift cards, pots, pans and small kitchen appliances to desk lamps, mops, brooms and bedding. A list of items can be found at www.JitFosterYouth.org.

"We are incredibly grateful for the community's generous response to the Robles brothersand hope it extends to help other youth in need," said Diane Cox, Board President of Just in Time. "The assistance this drive will generate helps create a stable foundationfor success all year long, something that most of us relied on our family to help us create over a period of years, not months."

The drive ends with a major collection on Saturday, December 4 at a yet to be determined local retailer, followed a week later by a My First Home Celebration on December 11 that will reunite youth, volunteers and donors.

For more information, contact Don Wells at 858-663-2081 or dwells@JitFosterYouth.org.

Latest News and Releases

Governor and First Lady Schwarzeneggar Name Foster Youth Advocate Kathryn Vaughn California’s Volunteer of the Year

SAN DIEGO (May 6, 2010) – Kathryn Vaughn, San Diego resident and Founding President of the local nonprofit Just In Time For Foster Youth, has been named California’s Volunteer of the Year for 2010. Ms. Vaughn was selected by by Governor and First Lady Schwarzeneggar, and is being recognized today in Sacramento.

"As the presiding judge of the Juvenile Court in San Diego, I am all too aware of the serious troubles foster youth encounter when they age out of the juvenile dependancy system at age 18," wrote Cynthia Bashant, San Diego Juvenile Court Presiding Judge. "These youth do not have a family support system to rely on. Since 2004, Kathryn Vaughn has worked tirelessly to transform a group of dedicated volunteers into a full fledged nonprofit agency to specifically address this need."

Ms. Vaughn, one of the lead partners of the law offices of Vaughn & Vaughn, became aware of the huge problem facing San Diego’s emancipated foster youth when she answered the call of Jeanette Day, a Child Advocacy attorney to help two sisters set up their first apartment. Having “aged out” of the foster care system at 18, they were on their own and about to move in to a completely empty apartment. This experience marked her first encounter with the then small group of volunteers that would become the nonprofit group, Just In Time. She soon made a tremendous commitment to step down from her law firm and become the unpaid president, executive director and active volunteer of this group.

Under her leadership, Just in Time qualified for nonprofit status, partnered with other agencies serving foster youth, expanded programs so more youth could be served, secured grants and community donations, and forged strong relationship with businesses for in-kind donations, such as beds and tech equipment. Vaughn created new programs to give career and college bound youth crucial vocational and educational tools and resources. Under Vaughn’s focused direction and care, foster youth were able to have a first home with all of the basic home furnishings and the love and support of Just In Time volunteers.

Based upon her incalculable positive impact by launching the independent lives of thousands of foster youth, Ms. Vaughn’s nomination was endorsed by Judge Bashant and many other local influential leaders, including Hon. Susan D. Huguenor, Judge of the Superior Court of San Diego.

Vaughn graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 1980 and USD School of Law in 1984. She made Point Loma home where she raised two sons with her husband and partner, Don, and now enjoys her grandchildren.

Just In Time For Foster Youth is a 501(c)3 organization and currently the only volunteer-driven organization in San Diego that provides much needed gap services for transitioning foster youth to support their educational pursuits, vocational training, furnishing of first homes, and financial stability. Since its creation, Just in Time For Foster Youth has given more than $1 million in aid to this underserved segment of our young adult population.

Latest News & Releases

San Diego, Friday, November 5, 2009
UCSD Students and Soroptimist International Launch November “Just in Time for Foster Youth Donation Drive”
UCSD Foster Youth Workgroup organizes collection for emancipated foster youth.

Contact:
Caroline Calabrese
cacoutocala@yahoo.com
858-775-8696 San Diego, Friday, November 5, 2009 -

The Foster Youth Workgroup at the University of California San Diego has partnered with Soroptimist International of La Jolla to collect new household items and cash donations to support the Third Annual “My First Home for the Holidays” campaign. The campaign is conducted each year by Just in Time for Foster Youth, a San Diego non-profit that provides caring support, urgent guidance, and crucial resources for foster youth at the most critical point in their transition to an independent, productive life.

The “Just in Time for Foster Youth Donation Drive” will be held November 9-20, with collection points at a dozen locations across the UCSD campus. Items collected will be everything from pots, pans and small kitchen appliances to desk lamps, laundry baskets and bedding. Donations are also accepted through the UCSD Financial Office by calling 534-3802.

The “My First Home for the Holidays” drive continues with other community collections through until December 12, 2009. “We are incredibly grateful and excited about this effort by UCSD students to help other youth in need,” said Kathryn Vaughn, Board President of Just in Time. “In any given year in San Diego County, nearly 300 youth of the 6000 in foster care, turn 18. The assistance this drive will generate helps our youth overcome the serious setbacks to success that most of us relied upon from our family to help us navigate.”

Unlike most youth, for whom leaving home is a gradual process, foster teens must immediately begin to care for themselves when they turn 18 and "age out" of the foster care system. Without some kind of support, a shocking number of these young adults – as many as 50% under the age of 21 - end up on the street.

Just in Time envisions a community that turns these statistics around--youth by youth. With the help of committed donors and volunteers, Just in Time provides emancipated foster youth the assistance, resources, and personal guidance they desperately need to become functioning, self-sufficient adults.

For more information and collection locations, log onto www.JITFosterYouth.org