Local Woman Gives Goodies to Those in Need
For the last 16 years, people at their most vulnerable have likely received a gift from The Goodie Bag Lady. She gives them out, to children and adults, in partnership with homeless and domestic violence shelters, transitional housing sites, and rehabilitation centers, but also near where unhoused people settle in for the night.
The Goodie Bag Lady is Diane Jesus, a San Leandro resident whose full-time day job is as a community outreach worker at a local nonprofit. There she works more on getting people’s very basic needs met and putting them on a track to a better life.
Plastic bags of various sizes filled with essentials go out throughout Alameda County, including at sites in Castro Valley and San Leandro. She says she wants to make people’s lives better when they may not be going well at all.
“I want to remind our children to continue to have hope, faith, joy, and encouragement.”
“I want to remind our children to continue to have hope, faith, joy, and encouragement,” Jesus said.
Her own nonprofit, The Goodie Bag Lady, is holding a fundraiser on Saturday, August 27 to be able to keep helping people have a good day when that’s a challenge.
She creates goodie bags for major holidays for children (Valentine’s Day, Easter, graduations, 4th of July, back to school, Halloween, and Christmas) and adults (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas). A major partner in this is the Free Church Network in Fremont.
The items placed into these bags vary depending on the age of the child, she said, or if an adult is getting it. An infant might get baby food and a small garment, with a teen getting a $5 gift card and adult hygiene items.
“Finding out the child’s age and whether it’s a boy or girl is important,” she said. “We want each child to know the bag was done just for them.”
The goodie bags can have up to 20 or 25 items in each, with bigger bags given out at Christmas and Easter. The Christmas season is also their busiest time of the year as they make 600 bags for children and 2,000 bags for adults.
Jesus realized on her regular job that the adults, but often more so their children, were lacking daily items that would make their lives easier, even if some bigger needs were being addressed.
“It’s so touching when you have a child write to thank you,” Jesus said. “Especially if they say something like nobody had even given them a comic book before.”
This year’s fundraiser is a Bingo Night at the Carpenters Hall, 1050 Mattox Rd. Hayward, between Interstate 580/Foothill Boulevard and Mission Boulevard. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and the first game starts at 6:30.