Hope for San Diego

Dropping off Comfort & Joy gifts to our affiliate partners and the families they serve. So much work, and SO FUN! 🎉🌟🎁

We’re pausing our Comfort & Joy updates for a moment to introduce you to Hudson 👇

From a very young age, Hudson experienced instability no child should ever have to face—frequent moves, overwhelmed adults, and nights without knowing where he would sleep.

When Hudson was just 2 years old, he came to live with his grandmother, Marsha. At the time, Marsha was already struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over her head. Then she became seriously ill, and Hudson was just days away from being placed in county care. 💔

That’s when community stepped in.

A local church surrounded them with care.
A family opened their home while Marsha recovered.
Meals were cooked.
Groceries were delivered.
Christ’s love showed up in real, practical ways.

Today, Hudson has been adopted by Marsha—and they’re still receiving consistent support.

Sadly, Hudson’s story isn’t rare.

Too many children are caught in cycles of inconsistent care, leaving them vulnerable to long-term challenges like homelessness and trafficking.

This past year has deepened our understanding of just how critical it is to support at-risk children and the caregivers who love them. *As we close out 2025, we’re setting aside funds specifically for cases like Hudson’s.*

Right now, thanks to a few generous friends of Hope for San Diego, every gift given by December 31 is matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $35,000—doubling your impact for young children and their families.

Safe spaces.
Supported caregivers.
Strong foundations.

That’s what we’re hoping for. 💛 https://hopeforsd.org/year-end-2025/

A huge shout out to the lovely Madeline! She recently hosted a Christmas Party for her friends and invited everyone to donate toys, jackets, and blankets as a part of our Comfort & Joy for the City initiative 🥹🎄

For over a year now, Madeline has been such an integral part of our young adult community. She always rallies people to get involved in our 4 focus areas in FUN and inspiring ways. 🥰

Look at all of those gifts — thank you, Madeline & friends!

Alert, alert! Fun Christmas party announcement! 📣

Young adults — we need your help to shop for Comfort & Joy this Monday, Dec 15th from 6-7:30p

1. You'll receive a family or individual to shop for
2. You'll bring all of your unwrapped gifts to Covenant Church
3. We'll eat pizza & wrap the gifts & have a little Christmas party

We've had lots of folks sponsor gifts through financial giving, so now it's time to do the actual shopping.

We want to see you there. Bring a friend or two and sign up here on our website 👉 https://hopeforsd.org/young-adults/

It's going to be a blast!

WOW! We did it!
Because of your generosity, we ✨SURPASSED✨ our Giving Tuesday goal. That means $71,323 will be deployed to meet local needs.

It also means...
-More youth in foster care will have mentors and advocates
-More families raising siblings or grandchildren will receive wraparound support
-More teens will be given hope, dignity, and a future

To our amazing HFSD community, THANK YOU!

Today we're hoping to raise $35k (that's $70k with our matching funds!) to put toward programs for at-risk youth.

Why the focus on teens, specifically those aging out of the system?

Well, because the research is pretty alarming.
Data shows a direct pipeline from the time kids leave foster care, to a whole host of other issues they'll likely experience afterwards (making them vulnerable to trafficking, teen pregnancy, homelessness, and unemployment).

It's critically important that kids have safe communities around them as they become independent!

Double your gift here! https://hopeforsd.org/giving-tuesday-2025/

One of the young women we're introducing you to tomorrow is just 22. When her mom passed away, she suddenly became the legal guardian of her three younger siblings—including one with special needs. Overnight, she went from young adult to mom, teacher, and provider.

Sadly, this is the reality many young people in San Diego are facing. But because of caring neighbors and volunteers from local churches, her family was surrounded with meals, mentoring, and real, tangible support.

Tomorrow on Giving Tuesday your gift can help more families like hers—and it will be doubled thanks to a $35,000 match!

We're so thankful for the donors who've already committed to helping us 2x every gift. Let's get to $70k!

Giving Tuesday 2025 | Hope For San Diego Double My Gift Our Giving Tuesday match means your gift doubles — you can help twice the number of youth with one gift! Without the love and stability of family, youth in the foster system are on a…

We need your help! Bookmark these dates & share with friends you want to serve with ⬇️

📚 bring supplies to facilitate a Thanksgiving craft for San Diego Refugee Tutoring students — Nov 22nd

🛍 help us shop for gifts that have not yet been covered by C&J sign ups — all of December

🎄surprise a Solutions for Change family by decorating their apartment for Christmas — Dec 3rd

🍗 help put on a dinner party for unhoused neighbors with We See You San Diego — Dec 4th

⏰ last day to sign up to shop — Dec 4th

SIGN UP HERE: https://hopeforsd.org/comfort-joy-2025/

& if you can’t shop or serve this year, sponsorship is open all season long! Give, and we’ll do the shopping for you 🥰

Comfort & Joy is back — and you can help make Christmas happen for hundreds of local families this season.

💫 Shop: help us gift needed items for families, teens, and survivors

🎁 Sponsor: can't shop this year? no worries! help fund a family celebration

🤝 Serve: join us for holiday meals, gift distributions, and more alongside our affiliates

Get started here ➡️ https://hopeforsd.org/comfort-joy-2025/

Flash sale! 40% off today, tomorrow, and Sunday only. Get your tickets here 👉 https://hopeforsd.org/2025-young-adults-pickleball/

The holidays can be especially hard for families recovering from crisis.

Comfort & Joy is your chance to make a real impact — one gift, one family, and one story at a time. 🎁 It's our way of bringing both spiritual and practical help to our neighbors!

In the coming weeks, we'll share more details about how shopping, sponsoring, and serving brings hope to real people in San Diego.

In the meantime, check out the webpage to see all the events and sign up 🌟 https://hopeforsd.org/comfort-joy-2025/

Story time! We have to brag about our friend Cory for a second...

A few years ago, we had a problem we couldn’t solve: How do we scale a unique program (Comfort & Joy) with a complicated backend system?

We’re good at a lot of things, but coding isn’t one of them…😅

Answer: Cory.

During the holiday season, nonprofits can request gifts from various foundations. The problem is, there is no guarantee that they can provide gifts for their families or specify requests.

It’s a good effort but it doesn’t always meet the mark for having people feel cared for, seen, and valued.

So we built a program that takes it a few steps further, and we call it Comfort & Joy.

For the last 5 years, Cory has been helping us with this program, but this year, Cory—who’s a talented software engineer—saw the challenge and built us a custom system to make it all more efficient.

For 8 months, he poured hours into designing, testing, and refining a tool that will save our team countless hours and help us serve even more families.

In 2019, we served 36 families.

In 2024, 259.

This year, we have 305 requests 🤯

Now, thanks to Cory’s work, we can keep growing without the same hurdles.

What would’ve cost thousands, he gave freely.

We are SO humbled to serve alongside you all. You see the need, and you’re showing up with your talents.

✨Comfort & Joy launches Nov 2nd. Look out for more info soon!