Families with Children From China, Northern California

Mailing address:
FCC - N. California, P. O. Box 6688, Albany, CA 94706

You may attend an event in any region of our chapter.  Most of the Mandarin School programs throughout the Chapter are enrolling for the fall season in August, so be sure to check in the Regional Contacts to see if there is one in your region. Also, information will be posted to the FCC Northern California email list on these Mandarin programs, so be sure to subscribe.  To subscribe, please send a blank e-mail to fcc-ncalif-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Your help is welcome in planning FCC events.

For details on any event below, click on the event name. To see future events, simply click on the arrow to progress to the next month.

Please check the calendar above for possible date and/or venue changes for any of the ongoing events listed below.

12th Annual FCC - N. California Campout

Friday, June 18, 2010 at noon to Sunday, June 20, 2010 at noon

Olema Ranch Campground, Highway 1, Olema, CA (West Marin County)

Ongoing

**1st Sunday of the month, 10am – noon, East Bay Playgroup     East Bay
The East Bay Playgroup meets first Sunday of the month, from 10 A.M. to noon, Memorial Park, 1331 Portland Avenue, Albany 94706.  For information or suggestions, e-mail Alison Seevak (aseevak@earthlink.net) or Tom Howell (thowelljr@earthlink.net).

**2nd Saturday of the month, 10am – 1pm, Central Contra Costa Playgroup       Central Contra Costa
A regular monthly event, please join families with kids from 1 to 10 years old at the Hap Magee Park in Alamo/Danville from 9:30 AM to noon or so.  There is a large playground, fort, train structure, and water play which may be turned off in winter.  Contact Elaine Hannah (ehan5@sbcglobal.net)

**2nd Sunday of the month, 10am – 1pm, San Francisco Playgroup     San Francisco
A regular monthly event for  toddlers, preschoolers (younger and older siblings are welcome), playground to be announced.  Contact: Elizabeth Huey (elizabeth_huey@yahoo.com).

**3rd Saturday of the month, 11am - 1pm, North Bay Playgroup      Marin County
A monthly event for kids of all ages, the North Bay play group usually meets at the Town Park in Corte Madera (Pixley Avenue at Redwood Avenue) or Millenium Playground at Memorial Park in San Anselmo from 11am to 1pm on the third Saturday of every month. Contact: Milinda Lommer (mjlommer@yahoo.com). See calendar above for dates and locations.

**Mid-Peninsula Playgroup      Mid-Peninsula
Mid-Peninsula Adoptive Families Playgroup, locations to be announced. For all ages and any families built by adoption. This group has been meeting on the second & fourth Saturdays from 10AM - 12Noon. If there is enough interest, we can also add a weekday time. Contact: Cathy Chang (gnahc3@aol.com).

**Last Sunday of the month, 11am  – 1pm, South Bay Playgroup     South Bay
For:  Toddlers, Preschoolers (Younger and Older Siblings Welcome)
Place:   Portal Park at 10299 North Portal Avenue  (Be sure to take North), Cupertino  (west of Vallco Shopping Mall, north of Stevens Creek Blvd.) There are designated play structures and areas for 3 different age groups and a large sandbox.  Bring your own snack and/or lunch. Contact Pearl (goginosprint21@earthlink.net)

Parents Place
Parent support groups, classes, workshops, counseling, drop-in play room and resources such as a parenting library and child care and community bulletin board matching families and caregivers are only some of the services offered by the nationally-recognized Parents Place of the Jewish Family and Children's Services.  Bay Area locations include San Francisco, Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma.  For more information, visit the Parents Place web site or call. San Francisco: 415- 359-2454; Peninsula 650-688-3040; Marin 415- 491-7559; Sonoma 707-571-8131.

Pact Teen Club - Separate groups for teens and pre-teens (teenclub@pactadopt.org)
Teens only! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a
chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. There will be
teen / tween only activities. Parents can participate in a concurrent peer
support group during which childcare will be available for younger siblings.

FAIR calendar and Pact calendar: On-going education by non-profit or volunteer organizations for adoptive families and children.

First Week Fiesta: Attention all single moms and people who know single moms returning from China: We FCC (single) moms and dads and SF Bay SAPS (Single Adoptive Parents) would like to welcome single moms home with our First Week Fiesta. We have been in their shoes and understand how overwhelming that first week back can be (even the second or third time around!). We are here to provide a week’s worth of home-cooked meals or groceries and a friendly visit or two. Just email Julia Schulman, Julschul@aol.com, and we will set up a “fiesta” for any single mom in the Bay Area. Welcome to our community!

Asian American Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drives Various locations
Visit the Asian American Donor Program at www.aadp.org for more info. As many of you know, Asians and other ethnic minorities in the U.S. are seriously underrepresented in the national bone marrow donor pool. We may not be able to locate our children’s birth families, but we can work with the Asian American community to boost the numbers of Asian donors in the pool, and by so doing increase our children’s chances of survival. The AADP, based in Oakland, administers the drives and covers the cost of donor screening and typing. General info about bone marrow donation can be found at www.marrow.org (includes pages in Chinese and other languages). For help organizing a drive, contact Nancy Humphrey, nancy.humphrey@comcast.net
 

Planning and Reporting Events?

Please submit event listings to Milinda Lommer, mjlommer@yahoo.com

Please include the following information when submitting events for the calendar:

1. Name of Region
2. Anticipated Date (as close as you can get)
3. Description of Event (Who should come, and why would it be good to attend?)
4. Time
5. Location (with directions if needed) 
6. Contact Name, with telephone number and email address if available.  In general, we don't post phone numbers on the website, but we do post e-mail addresses so people can contact you with questions.
7. Suggested donation of food/money, or anticipated fees.
 

Forms provided to help you plan events:

• Event Planning Form
• Checks Received Form

If you have idea about an article you want to write, please send it to Allison Branscombe, Newsletter Editor at jiangxigirls@yahoo.com. The newsletter comes out two to three times a year, covering a wide range of articles and topics of interest to our families. It is a benefit of chapter membership only for current, paid members.

 

updated January 7, 2010