Aaronique is living proof that children placed in kinship care with extended family members or close family friends thrive in stable, permanent homes with loving guardians. When she was 5 years old, child welfare workers removed Aaronique from the care of her biological mother who suffered from substance addiction. The little girl went directly into…
Enthusiastic students are returning to Wayfinder’s Special Education School! Among the happy students is Danielle, age 13, who is excited to return for her second year. Danielle is blind and has developmental delays. Her mother, Corinna, transferred Danielle to Wayfinder’s school because she needs more specialized services for visual impairment than she was receiving in…
Doctors told Mateo’s family he would not survive, but he proved them wrong Mateo is a blessing,” says his mother Karinna. Doctors had predicted that Mateo had no future. But in Wayfinder’s Early Intervention Program, the little boy’s progress has inspired his close-knit family. On one fateful day when she was seven months pregnant, Karinna…
Jason Russell has known about Wayfinder his whole life, beginning when the organization was called Foundation for the Junior Blind. “My grandparents were founding members of the Guiders, a fundraising arm of Junior Blind,” Jason recalls. “My grandparents, uncles, aunts and all of their friends were involved throughout my childhood. My mother was a volunteer in…
“Anissa and Emma are growing up with Wayfinder. This year, they got great news. Camp Bloomfield will be an overnight camp once again this summer! “I am beyond words,” says Anissa, age 17. Her 13-year-old sister, Emma, chimes in, “I am really excited!” Anissa and Emma are partially sighted and legally blind. Anissa has central…
Did you know? Many of the children, youth and families in our programs were hit the hardest by the pandemic? Please consider making a gift today. A Gift from Santa Just two days before Christmas, 5-year-old Sharon was removed from her home due to extreme neglect and placed in The Cottage, our temporary shelter care…
Create a better world for children and families in need… continue a legacy of giving beyond our lifetimes… make a difference in the lives of people we will never know. These thoughts motivated Glenn and Andrea Sonnenberg to include Wayfinder in their estate plans. By making a planned gift, the Sonnenbergs joined the roughly 140…
Two years ago, Camilla volunteered at Wayfinder’s Paralympic Games. “It opened my eyes,” Camilla says. “It’s humbling to see these kids who have vision loss playing sports and smiling.” Camilla says the experience put her day-to-day challenges into perspective. She had initially learned about Wayfinder from Brent Williams, chair of Wayfinder’s Board of Directors and…
“Tianna wanted to be a mother, but a private adoption agency told her that prospects were not good for a single person. Cycles of in vitro fertilization did not work. But when she moved from Illinois to California to become a professor at UC Berkeley, she learned about Wayfinder. “Wayfinder was very accepting,” Tianna recalls….
Jai’el is a wonderful, funny, silly character. He makes me laugh and brings everyone around him joy,” says Margie, a Wayfinder early intervention specialist. Margie has been providing services to the 2-year-old and his mother, LaTosha for about a year. As an infant, Jai’el was diagnosed with a build-up of fluid in the brain, which…
