Left to right: Christina Klave and Hope Baker of Hearts Across the Bridge
It is the quintessential Coronado morning; a gloriously sunny, mild winter’s day. Hope Baker and Christina Klave are sipping coffee while enjoying the sun at a local coffee house. As customers stream in for a warm beverage, Baker recognizes many of them as community members who have volunteered or donated goods to their recently formed non-profit organization, Hearts Across the Bridge– an organization devoted to helping people serve the community by linking them with local charitable organizations. Both ladies remark that they have never seen a community quite like Coronado with such an outpouring of generosity, kindness, and the desire to help.
It all began in August of this year when Baker reached out to the Coronado community for assistance with a charity project. What started as a simple charitable act, has snowballed into a burgeoning non-profit organization, “It started when I heard about a charity called Project Night Night,” says Baker, “They are an organization that supports children in transitional facilities. You get the Night Night bags [canvas totes] from the organization and you fill them with an age-appropriate book, a stuffed animal and a security blanket”. Every year Project Night Night delivers 25,000 Night Night packages to homeless children across the country in an effort to help them feel safe, secure and ready to learn. Baker, already a seasoned volunteer, donor and fundraiser, felt a desire to help her community on a larger scale and set herself the target to fill fifty bags. She reached out to people in Coronado—via the Facebook Coronado Online Yard Sale page- asking for books to put in the Night Night bags. “It was unbelievable how many people responded,” says Baker, “I literally got hundreds of books.” This is how Klave came into the picture, “I met Christina because she was one of the original donors.” After donating books, Klave made contact with Baker and expressed a desire to help her with Project Night Night. Klave helped by reaching out to the community for stuffed animals, “We got over one hundred fifty animals. People were really kind.” Baker, Klave, a few community members and the local brownie troop eventually stuffed fifty Night Night bags which then went to children in local emergency shelters.
Volunteers baking pies for Thanksgiving meal baskets. Image Credit: Hearts Across the Bridge
Baker and Klave were blown away by the generosity of locals. After completing Project Night Night, community members continued to contact them, “Both of our inboxes were full with people saying, we want to help, and asking what can we do?” says Klave. A local lady, representing 50 families from her church, also made contact expressing a desire to help. It was clear there is a strong desire within the local community to serve those in need. Baker and Klave decided to partner up to create Hearts Across the Bridge, a sort of match making service, connecting local charitable agencies with community members willing to help. “People want to give locally but they don’t know how to make it happen in a way that their donations will go directly to a family and that’s something a lot of people really want to do,” says Klave.
Since establishing Hearts Across the Bridge, Baker and Klave, through a connection with a local women and children’s shelter, have facilitated local volunteers and donors assist families in need during Thanksgiving, and plan to do the same thing for Christmas. Baker explains, “We put a plea out online to support families in need at Thanksgiving and Christmas with [meal] baskets.There are 11 families, so we needed 26 baskets. Within an hour everyone of those meals was taken.” Klave recounts the story of a local business woman generously donating 11 necklaces for the Christmas baskets, intended to be given as a gift to the mothers, “In the shelters, a lot of times the mothers get forgotten because the focus is on the children. This is a lovely way for the children in the shelter to be able to give a present to their mother on Christmas day.”
Right: Thanksgiving meal baskets prepared by volunteers for a local shelter. Image Credit: Hearts Across the Bridge.
Baker and Klave are currently trying to facilitate haircuts for children at the Interfaith Shelter, “We are working on connecting hairstylists with the shelter so the kids can get haircuts,” says Klave.
Baker, the National Vice President for Arbonne, a botanically based cosmetic company, was born and raised in Wisconsin. “I moved here [Coronado] when my son was going to high school. I wanted to move somewhere that had those midwestern values.” Baker is devoted to the upbringing of her son, and has observed the positive effect creating Hands Across the Bridge has had on her family, “It’s had a trickle down effect which is affecting our children in a positive way, which I love. My son, his girlfriend and another friend started a charity at the high school called Helping Hands and I think this Hearts Across the Bridge has had an impact.” Baker also started a group last year called San Diego Women Who Wine, “We meet once a month, and each month we pick a charity to support. The last fundraiser we raised $500 and were able to supply children at the El Nido shelter with new shoes”. Klave hails from Albuquerque, New Mexico, ” We are a Navy family and we’ve been here for three years. I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and a K-12 school counsellor, but since I have moved here [Coronado] I have been home with the family. I have three kids and I want to be involved with them.” Klave’s 13 year-old son, Luke Vasquez, designed the organization’s logo.
Left: Preparing Night Night Bags. Image Credit: Hearts Across the Bridge.
It is early days for Hearts Across the Bridge, but it is evident Baker and Klave have tapped into community need, “We see this as growing into something that could be huge,” says Klave. The ladies plan to partner up with numerous charitable agencies, “Right now we are working with one particular agency and we want to expand and find out what agencies are out there and what they need.”
Baker and Klave wish to thank the following members for their service: Janine Madouse, Gail Gormican and family, and Rachel Melnick.
If readers have a desire to serve or are from a charitable agency with a need, Hope and Christina would be thrilled to hear from you. The best way to contact them is through their Facebook page here.
Image Credit: Hearts Across the Bridge
Siobhan Bailie
Staff Writer
