{"id":401536,"date":"2025-11-24T15:09:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401536\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:09:18","slug":"cardiff-seniors-turn-compassion-into-action-supporting-just-in-time-for-foster-youth-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/401536\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff seniors turn compassion into action, supporting Just in Time for Foster Youth \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At Cardiff by the Sea\u2019s Belmont Village Senior Living residents have embraced philanthropy as a way to help enrich the lives of others, and their own.<\/p>\n<p>Belmont Village residents have spent this past year supporting their selected cause Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT), a local nonprofit that helps former foster youth who have aged out of foster care to build self-sufficient futures once they are out on their own.\u00a0 Seniors have put their talents to work and tuned their compassion into action, logging over 1,200 volunteer hours, knitting clothes, purses, blankets and beanies to sell at craft fairs and farmers markets. Through a variety of fundraisers they have so far raised $6,000 for JIT with a goal to hit $10,000 by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Belmont Village's Just in Time booth at a recent event. (Clare Hollerback)\" width=\"4032\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ENA-L-CARDIFFSENIORS-02.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"9530698\" \/>Belmont Village\u2019s Just in Time booth at a recent event. (Clare Hollerback)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur residents thrive on making a difference in other\u2019s lives,\u201d said Clare Hollerback, activity program coordinator at Belmont Village Senior Living. \u201cTheir resilience to face whatever comes their way is most probably based on their generous hearts \u2026collectively!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a heart for seniors, Hollerback has been at Belmont Village for 10 years and has served in many roles including bus driver, concierge, teacher and now is in charge of all activities. Every year she gets the residents involved in a philanthropic effort, with a beneficiary selected every January by a resident council. In the past they have supported Shriners Children\u2019s and the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and last year they were proud to raise $10,000 for St. Jude Children\u2019s Research Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>This year they decided to help JIT and the young adults ages 18 to 26 who are transitioning out of the foster care system without essential family support. JIT provides help so the young adults can become \u201cconfident, capable and connected,\u201d assisting with basic needs and furniture, education, reliable transportation, meaningful employment, financial literacy and overall wellness.<\/p>\n<p>In March, 12 JIT youth came to Belmont Village to meet the residents and share about themselves.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Belmont Village\u2019s Just in Time booth at a recent event....\" class=\"size-article_inline\"  \/>\n<p>Belmont Village\u2019s Just in Time booth at a recent event. (Clare Hollerback)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Belmont Village Senior Living Cardiff resident Elizabeth spends four to...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ENA-L-CARDIFFSENIORS-05.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Belmont Village Senior Living Cardiff resident Elizabeth spends four to six hours a day knitting items to support Just in Time. (Clare Hollerback)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Cardiff residents won the award for Most Philanthropic at a...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ENA-L-CARDIFFSENIORS-04.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Cardiff residents won the award for Most Philanthropic at a recent Belmont Village Senior Living Met Gala for their efforts supporting Just in Time for foster youth. (Clare Hollerback)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 3<\/p>\n<p>Belmont Village\u2019s Just in Time booth at a recent event. (Clare Hollerback)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter the meeting here with some of the JIT youth, it broke my heart to hear their stories to just get by each day on their own,\u201d said resident Zabel Petrosian. \u201cI am here to help these youth and will knit and crochet and donate whatever I can to help raise money for their future. I just finished two large blankets to sell for our next fundraiser!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese JIT youth have been thrust into society with very little means and necessities,\u201d said resident Jack Summers. \u201cOur Belmont Village Community rallied around them, with not just funds, but love and support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hollerback calls her \u201cKnit and Sip\u201d group, a collection of knitters and crocheters, her \u201cinstigators\u201d as they sit and chat and knit and think of ways to make more money\u2014she helps facilitate whatever they want to happen. The group spent hours making items to sell at the craft fair and the Cardiff Farmers Market held next door.<\/p>\n<p>Of Belmont Village\u2019s 146 residents, between independent living, assisted living and memory care, everybody gets involved in whatever way they can. The memory care unit made beads and candles to sell at the craft fair.<\/p>\n<p>Belmont Village also had a jewelry sale, bake sale and a Fall Reclaimed Market last month, where residents donated gently used items for an estate\/garage sale that brought in $1,000 for JIT.<\/p>\n<p>Resident Len Smith even pitched in $1,000 on his own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my life, when I had an opportunity to help out someone, I didn\u2019t for some reason or another. I\u2019m not perfect,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI wanted to make up for that now. I want to help these youth strive and be the best they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Cardiff by the Sea\u2019s Belmont Village Senior Living residents have embraced philanthropy as a way to help&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":401537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,7352,17792,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-401536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-encinitas-advocate","12":"tag-encinitas-advocate-news","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115605312435749368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}