Dana Point Women's Club Inc.
PROGRAMS
Project Foster
Project Foster provides dignity, comfort and hope to kids experiencing chaotic living conditions, poverty and possible abuse or neglect. This underserved population often leave their homes for shelters or foster care with a few random belongings hastily stuffed into a trash bag. Our goal is to give each child the dignity of his or her own suitcase, filled with clothing and hygiene items and heartfelt comfort items curated to their gender and clothing size. Each of our donated rolling suitcases and duffle bag is filled with basic clothing (underwear, socks, shirts, pants, pajamas, a hand knitted hat and a warm hoodie), hygiene essentials, a handmade pillow case, sheet, a hand embroidered throw, school supplies, books/toys, and a handwritten note of encouragement. We work closely with Orange County Social Services, and other agencies, schools and nonprofits to aid vulnerable children refereed by social workers domestic abuse shelters homeless advocates, counselors and other child welfare workers. With the exception of gently used books, each case and content are new items with an estimated retail value of $225 to $250 per case. We rely heavily on in-kind donations from businesses, non profits and the general public, plus vital cash donations which allow us to fill “holes” in our inventory which serves ages 3 to 21 and 24 unique sizes- 12 for each gender. Project Foster has received accolades from social workers, foster parents adults who are former foster kids, and family court judges who see the positive impact on vulnerable kids who need to know they matter.
Project Foster has delivered over 3,200 filled cases to Orange County foster kids since its inception in early 2023. It is now expanding to serve youth in domestic abuse shelters, congregate care, and the most needy McKinney-Vento children referred by school counselors and social workers. Each case has a retail value of $200 (kids) -$250 (teens) but the “magic” of the program is conveyed by our many comfort items, carefully selected by caring volunteers to suit each child’s age, gender and size - handmade items including quilts, hats and pillow cases and handwritten notes and throws embroidered with notes of encouragement. Our goal is to provide basic necessities, but also comfort an hope to children experiencing poverty, family upheaval and trauma.
Project Scholarship/Project Literacy
DPWC supports education and literacy by providing scholarships to local female high school graduates pursuing higher education in trade schools, colleges or universities. In addition, it holds annual book drives to support literacy and supports summer reading programs for kids and adult literacy programs.
Scholarships to teens recognize academic, athletic and extra-curricular excellence while considering financial need. Annual book drives support local schools and cash donations support programs promoting literacy for children and adults. In FY 24/25 DPWC awarded six $1500 scholarships to local graduating females, and held book drives providing $3,927 in kind donations of books to a local elementary school library and to a school destroyed in the Altadena wildfires. Plans for FY 25/26 include increasing scholarship amounts to $2,000.
Project SparkPoint
Project SparkPoint benefits Orange County United Way’s SparkPoint Program in South OC, a financial literacy program aimed at preventing homelessness by empowering our most vulnerable families and survivors of exploitation. Direct fundraising allows DPWC to support this worthy program which helps vulnerable families and individuals. One on one 12 week programs help each family reduce debt, improve credit scores increase savings, enhance revenue and reduce expenses in order to prevent homelessness and empower them with tools that will allow them to not just survive but thrive.
DPWC has held annual fundraisers to support Project SparkPoint. In fiscal 2025, it donated $32,000 to this worthy program.
Other Projects
DPWC supports other worthy causes including Project Nourish (support of food banks), Project Angel Tree (providing grocery vouchers and Christmas gifts to vulnerable local families, ensuring that all family members under 18 receive gifts), Handbags for Hearts (donating gently used handbags stuffed with toiletries and essentials to approximately 100 local women annually), Project Military (hosting drives for military families and donating funds to local military support groups) and other one time causes.
In fiscal 2025, DPWC provided cash and in-kind donations totalling $30,342 to these other projects.
CONTACT
Dana Point Women's Club Inc.
P O Box 205
Dana Point, California 92629
Toni Nelson
Phone: 949-284-6415