Preschool Director Lenora “Ponie” Mojado said the past two summers this event has been held led to successful student enrollment and she expects the same this year. To be eligible to attend the preschool, children must be potty-trained and at least 3 years old by September 1.

She welcomed all the little learners and their families to the event where all the teachers and staff introduced themselves. Mojado also made sure each attendee received a raffle ticket for their choice of some great prizes, from toys donated by Santa Claus Inc., a children’s potty chair donated by teacher Julissa Garcia and other great items donated by Soboba TANF.

Kids at the event were all at different stages of potty training and as the Parent Partners pointed out, each had their own cues and development timeline. There is no “right” age as to when a child should be or could be ready. Nogales said the range is typically from 18 months to 4 years with age two being the most common age that children show an interest and understanding of the subject. The Parent Partners like to refer to the process as toilet learning.

There were fun games set up around the multipurpose room that revolved around the theme. The preschool teachers and staff helped young ones “Pin the Poo” in the toilet, fish for underpants and diapers and toss diaper “balls” into a make-believe toilet. They then treated the participants with fun trinkets from treasure boxes filled with stickers, whistles, hand-held games and more.

One of the most interactive games gave kids a chance to show off their wiping abilities. Two balloons attached to a chair’s rear were filled with shaving cream in the crack between them. Children were given toilet paper to practice reaching behind them to wipe the balloons clean. They each received a reward for their efforts.

Posters decorated the walls of the room with encouraging messages, such as “Potty like a Rockstar” featuring Hello Kitty and Spiderman figures. Most were created by the student workers that are assisting at the preschool this summer as part of the TANF WE LEAD internship program. Kimani Resvaloso-Sanchez and Carolyn Hurtado will be assisting through the end of July, helping staff prepare classrooms for the upcoming school year.

The summery beach theme was evident throughout the room. A long table was set up with coloring pages and Tribal Family Partners offered a table full of helpful handouts. The whole event was geared toward engagement and teamwork.

Nogales and Sayers applauded Mojado for hosting this event that brings in the parents to demonstrate the teamwork and partnership that exists. “It’s a big help when the parents are involved,” said Nogales, who was a preschool teacher for seven years and did not see these types of events held. Sayers said this program is just one of many offered by Tribal Family Partners that is strengths based. “We are all about listening to parents and meeting them where they’re at rather than dictating where they should be,” she said.

Assessing when the child is ready to begin potty training depends on several factors. A child should have sufficient muscle control and the ability to pull their pants up and down. The maturity of the bladder is also important. A good way to gauge this is if they have a dry diaper after napping and a steady flow rather than many episodes of a few dribbles. A child needs to be able to communicate when they need to use the toilet, whether through words, sounds, facial expressions or some other cue. A child will need to be able to follow instructions before successful toilet training should be attempted. Desire to learn how to use the toilet will speed up the learning process greatly.

Before beginning to teach the child how to use the toilet, it is suggested to help them pick words to indicate they need to go and whether it’s pee or poo. Role modeling by letting the child see an older sibling or parent using the toilet and explaining what they are doing can also be helpful.

Nogales and Sayers emphasized the importance of discussing with their child’s teacher what the classroom routine is so they can better prepare them for using the toilet when they are at school and not in the familiar environment of their own home.

“Teach them proper hygiene habits and praise them for all they do,” Nogales said. “Encourage them to keep trying and praise any attempts for washing their hands and other little things they do.”

Daniel Briones’ daughter Qaasimal, 5, is starting kindergarten next month and his son Too, also 4, will be headed to the Pre-K classroom. Both attended summer school there and enjoyed it. “I like how they include culture in things they do here,” Briones said. “This event was a good learning experience.”

Felix Ortiz brought three of his children to the event but was interested in finding some helpful tips as his three-year-old daughter Moyla is transitioning into being 100% toilet trained. He is looking forward to having her and his son Iswut, 4, both attending the preschool. His 10-year-old son Hunwut came along to support his siblings.

Stephanie Falcon said she was learning a lot at the event where her daughters Azaria, 3, and Aria, 2, were enjoying the games. “I’ve learned some tips that will be helpful,” she said.

Preschool classroom teacher Julissa Garcia was also there as the parent of a three-year-old that she hopes will be attending the school next year. Tuukumit Herrera made his way around the room playing the different games and earning some great prizes while Garcia found the event to be very helpful.

As a teacher of the youngest students, she realizes that many are just getting potty trained. “I like that we get to team up with parents and families to work together to learn cues and patterns,” she said. “It always benefits the children.”

Sunnie Razon’s three-year-old daughter Millie is doing really well with her toilet training and has successfully completed the preschool’s summer session. Mom said doing the training with her older sister Khloe made things a lot easier for Milie. Razon said the event offered some interesting tips and tricks and good insight into the issue.

After finishing lunch, playing games and taking photos in front of the “Potty Time” backdrop filled with colorful balloons, families were invited to tour the classrooms and take home an enrollment packet if they didn’t already have one.

Tribal Family Partners is a grant-funded program that is free for all Native families with children prenatal to kindergarten entry. They offer one-on-one home visits, parent/child activities, cultural events, development screenings, social emotional assessments, stress management and more to keep Native families motivated, healthy and strong. Their goal is to help parents help kids get school ready. For more information, 951-849-4761, ext. 1136.

The 2026-2027 school year begins Aug. 4. If you are interested in learning more about the Soboba Tribal Preschool, please visit https://preschool.soboba-nsn.gov/ or call 951-487-8732.

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    The Inland Empire-based organization focuses on supporting childcare professionals while strengthening the communities they serve. A recent grant awarded through the Inland Empire Community Foundation’s CIELO Fund is helping expand those efforts by increasing access to quality childcare services in underserved and minority communities throughout the region.

    “Considering the decrease in funding to nonprofits over the last year, this grant is a miracle, and we are more than grateful,” said Yvonne Choyce, founder and CEO of Providers Need Care.

    According to Choyce, the funding has allowed the nonprofit to reach more participants and broaden opportunities for childcare providers, particularly within Latino communities.

    “This funding represents an opportunity to continue investing in our children, families and communities,” she said. “The support has allowed us to grow participation in our programs over the last year, leading to a successful increase in Latino providers and business owners.”

    She said the impact extends beyond the providers themselves. As childcare businesses become more sustainable and successful, they are better positioned to serve families and meet growing childcare needs within their neighborhoods.

    “That, in turn, strengthens their sustainability and ability to expand access to much-needed childcare services within their own communities,” Choyce said. “That’s an important impact, especially right now.”

    The grant arrives at a critical time for many Spanish-speaking families and childcare providers who continue to face financial and structural barriers. Choyce believes investments like this can create lasting change.

    “This is a major investment in childcare, and it changes lives,” she said.

    Reliable childcare plays a vital role in helping parents remain in the workforce while ensuring children receive quality care and early learning opportunities. Programs supported through grants such as those distributed by the Inland Empire Community Foundation also help address ongoing childcare shortages across the region.

    Providers Need Care was founded three years ago, but the inspiration behind the organization began much earlier.

    Before launching the nonprofit, Choyce operated a home-based childcare business for more than two decades. Several years ago, she was recruited by a Women’s Business Center to train aspiring childcare providers who were looking to start their own businesses.

    As she worked with those entrepreneurs, she began noticing something troubling.

    “They asked me to train providers based on a grant they had, and these were startups,” Choyce recalled. “In the middle of that second cohort, I started hearing a lot and seeing a lot of red flags.”

    Many of the women she encountered were struggling with the aftermath of the pandemic, including job losses, family hardships and financial instability.

    “A lot of them were starting a business because they needed a fresh start,” Choyce said. “I didn’t feel right training them to take care of children when they themselves were carrying so much.”

    She said that realization sparked an idea that eventually became the organization’s name and mission.

    “I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to do more than just train them on how to get licensed,” she said. “It just came to me that providers need care.”

    Soon afterward, Providers Need Care was established and has continued to expand its reach across the Inland Empire.

    One of the organization’s strongest areas of focus is self-care. Choyce believes childcare providers often spend so much time caring for others that they neglect their own well-being.

    “We do a lot of self-care training because of all the challenges providers face,” she said. “Every year we hold a retreat where they can take a step back and allow us to care for them for a day. That’s really important to me.”

    Choyce credits much of the nonprofit’s success to the professionals who believed in the mission from the beginning. In the early days, financial resources were limited, but many facilitators agreed to participate because they believed in the organization’s purpose.

    “I started recruiting facilitators from within the industry,” she said. “I told them there wasn’t going to be much money, but I needed them to believe in the dream. They did.”

    Looking ahead, Providers Need Care plans to continue expanding its services, including business counseling, professional development training, compliance support, resource sharing and wellness programs designed specifically for childcare professionals.

    “We want to equip providers with all the right tools and knowledge they need for success,” Choyce said.

    More information about the organization can be found at providersneedcare.org.

    The Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen communities throughout Inland Southern California through philanthropic partnerships and community investment. Its CIELO Fund, established in 2022, supports initiatives that empower Latino communities through education, leadership development, capacity building and community-based programs. Additional information is available at iegives.org.

Source: Information provided by Providers Need Care and the Inland Empire Community Foundation.

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Mothers and other female relatives were treated to finger sandwiches and sweet pastries to go with their iced tea. They joined their children in decorating pretty hats, using a paper plate as the base with colorful markers, ribbons and sequins added as desired. They also used a fabric flower making machine to craft the perfect blend of their favorite petal colors and lots of leaves for a keepsake flower.

One wall poster created by the preschool class had students answer what they love most about their moms. Orion MacDonald said, “I love my mom because she plays with me and reads books to me.” Daiya Muhammad said, “I love that my mom is beautiful and she loves me.” Another poster was titled “Mommy’s favorite cup of tea” and featured photos of the children on the teacups.

Pre-K students were asked to complete the sentence “I love my mom because…” The poster featured a huge heart in the center decorated with pink handprints of each student. Paulina Aguirre said she loves her mom because she is always happy, Mavii Ortega said it’s because she’s nice, and Neqpikat Arroyo-Modesto said it is because, “I’m growing up.”

Kindergartners got to design and color teacups that were attached to a poster letting their mothers know they are one “tea-rific” mom. There were handmade projects the children did in their classrooms put into gift bags for their mothers to enjoy.

Fathers and father figures got their special day two weeks later seated at long tables covered with red checkered tablecloths. Some of their gifts were in bags designed to look like traditional ribbon shirts. Others had grill master apron shaped cards attached. Gifts included a can coozie and a cutting board, both decorated with their child’s handprints on them. A fun craft they got to do together was to design a Shrinky Dink keychain.

Posters around the multipurpose room walls showed expressions of love from the children for the men in their lives. Pre-K students were asked to complete the sentence “I grill-y love my dad because…” and the heartfelt answers were written in the “smoke” that came from the grill. Ellie Calderon said, “He always lets me help him” and Natalia Girard said, “He goes to work.” When students in the preschool class were asked what they loved about their dads, ‘Eshash Shuullaw said, “I love my dad because he calls me pretty all the time, every day” and Talla Grant said, “I love my dad because he’s so special and he always helps me get ready for somebody’s practice.”

Kindergarten students got to share their favorite thing about their fathers, and their comments were very sincere. Marcie Brane likes that her dad is strong and helps her, Kut Vega-Castello said he likes that his dad helps him learn new things, and Nu$uun Valdez said, “My favorite thing is he makes me cereal.” The youngsters also got to assemble construction paper hamburgers and hot dogs that were displayed around a colorful poster that claimed, “You are a grill-y awesome dad.”

The lunch featured grilled chicken, ribs, and hot dogs with sides of corn on the cob, baked beans and potato chips, all followed by a sundae bar. Many of the men were happy to share that they love to barbecue at home. So kudos went to the kitchen staff who prepared the food that met with the approval of the experienced guests.

Keith Escalante said grilling is something he enjoys doing. “You can’t just put the meat on the heat and expect it to turn out good; there’s an art to it,” he said. He was enjoying hanging out with his grandson, kindergartner Kyler Escalante. “We’re having a good time.”

Junior Medina’s five-year-old son Kavikvish is in the Pre-K class and he thought the event was very nice. “I like spending time with my son and talking with everyone else,” he said. “It’s nice to see the kids with all their friends.”

Both events featured performances by the kids who learned special songs about how much they loved their moms and dads. There were also raffles for lucky ticket holders and coloring pages for the families to enjoy together.

For more information on the preschool, please visit https://preschool.soboba-nsn.gov.

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Residents from across the San Jacinto Valley gathered over Memorial Day weekend for a unique outdoor experience hosted by Hemet Mom’s Adventure Club (HMA), a growing local nonprofit dedicated to connecting families through nature-based activities.

The group organized a family-friendly campout at Golden Era Golf Course, where dozens of families came together for a weekend centered on community, outdoor fun, and shared experiences. Unlike traditional clubs, HMA operates without membership fees, offering free or low-cost events that are open to families from Hemet, San Jacinto, and surrounding areas.

While its Facebook group is reserved for female caregivers, HMA’s in-person events are designed for the entire family. The Memorial Day gathering reflected the group’s inclusive spirit, with attendees enjoying camping, socializing, and outdoor recreation in an environment defined by generosity and connection.

Hemet Mom’s Adventure Club focuses on encouraging children and families to embrace the outdoors. Through activities such as fishing trips, campfires, trail exploration, Jeep rides, and river outings, the organization promotes values like curiosity, resilience, and confidence while strengthening family bonds.

The nonprofit operates under the sponsorship of the San Jacinto Lions Club and has become a valued community resource. Organizers emphasize their mission to “trade screens for sunrises” and create meaningful, lasting memories through shared outdoor experiences.

Golden Era Golf Course has served as a long-time partner, helping make events like the recent campout possible. Organizers say the collaboration allows more local families to access safe, welcoming outdoor spaces.

Participants described the weekend as a standout experience, with some noting it rivaled even major theme park outings in terms of enjoyment. For many families, the event offered a rare opportunity to unplug, connect, and create lasting memories close to home.

One mother had the following to say, “My grandkids and I had a blast.  We felt so safe and comfortable surrounded by friends. We had a great adventure and appreciate Golden Era letting us share your beautiful space.”

Hemet Mom’s Adventure Club continues to host events throughout the year and welcomes new participants. Those interested in joining or learning more can find the group on Facebook by searching “Hemet Mom’s Adventure Club” or contact organizers directly at

hemetmomsadventureclub@gmail.com.

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California’s “failure to protect” law holds parents responsible for “willful or negligent failure” to safeguard their children from harm or the risk of harm. Under the law, children with significant risk of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, as well as neglect, can become dependents of the court and placed under the supervision of child protection services (CPS). 

More than half of open cases in Los Angeles County’s Department of Children and Family Services involve domestic violence, according to a 2021 report from the UCLA Pritzker Center. Often this meant the mother, who suffered intimate partner violence, lost custody of her children for “failure to protect” — presumably for not keeping the kids safe during her abuse. 

Such family separation can be devastating for the children, and can pose real harm to their health and development. In contrast, a secure relationship with a caring adult, typically a parent, can build resiliency for a child with a history of trauma, such as exposure to violence.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services generally advises against the use of the “failure to protect” policies in domestic violence cases, as it can put the blame on survivors and even prevent them from seeking help, due to fear of losing their children. But, use of the statute continues. Notably, California doesn’t issue statewide guidance for “failure to protect” policies in cases of domestic violence. Responsibility for enforcement of the law appears to fall to individual county child welfare agencies.

I am a pediatrician and former director of the foster care clinic at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. I’ve cared for so many kids trapped in violent households. I thought CPS’s “failure to protect” policies were needed to get kids out of dangerous situations, and sometimes they are. However, I didn’t appreciate the difficult choices mothers – it’s usually women – must make to find safety when they’re entangled in violence.

I’ll be drawing on those decades of experience for a new, multimedia reporting series with CalMatters, supported by a grant from the 2023 Domestic Violence Impact Reporting Fund. I plan to interview women, who are current residents or “graduates” of a south Los Angeles shelter for domestic violence survivors, and their children. Their lived experiences will add the missing human dimension to the “failure to protect” policy dilemma. Many of these women survivors have lost and subsequently regained custody of their kids from child protective services. Some of the women also have completed journeys to recovery from substance dependency, intertwined with their history of violence. 

Some of the women want to tell their own stories, which I’ll record for audio or video stories. The women call themselves “victors not victims,” as they have carved pathways to safety. A few of their older children and teens also want to tell their stories, including a 10-year-old boy who says he wants to grow up to run a shelter to help other kids like him. 

To understand the limitations of California’s failure to protect law, I plan to speak with domestic violence advocates, as well as legal authorities, for their take on the statutes. I plan to interview Los Angeles County CPS representatives about the challenges in interpreting and applying “failure to protect” policies in individual cases. I’ll also talk with CPS representatives from select California counties, as well as a few other states, to see how they handle “failure to protect” policies. In addition, I’ll talk with experts on child health and development about the impacts of exposure to domestic violence and parental separation. 

Ideally, a better understanding of how these policies are playing out in the real word will also help identify solutions that could keep families safely together.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

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More than five years after his son was gunned down in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, Richard Berger still asks why.

Why Stephen Berger was killed the day after celebrating his 44th birthday. Why the gunman rained bullets over the Las Vegas Strip in 2017, turning a country music festival into a bloodbath. Why the massacre’s death toll didn’t shock U.S. leaders into doing more to prevent that kind of violence from happening again and again.

Why?

“It’s just a hole in our hearts,” Berger said. “We just don’t know, and we just don’t know what to say.”

For the Bergers, the families of the other 59 victims in Vegas — and relatives and friends of countless others slain in mass killings across the country in the years since — the questions loom just as large now as when the crimes happened. Yet the carnage continues.

Over the first four months and six days of this year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week. That includes the bloodshed Saturday at a Dallas-area mall where eight people were fatally shot.

The total represents the highest number of mass-killing deaths this early in the year since at least 2006, an Associated Press data analysis shows, and the deaths were already happening at a record pace before the horror unfolded in Texas.

Experts point to a few contributing factors: a general increase in all types of gun violence in recent years; the proliferation of firearms amid lax gun laws; the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, including the stress of long months in quarantine; a political climate unable or unwilling to change the status quo in meaningful ways; and an increased emphasis on violence in U.S. culture.

Such explanations are little comfort not only to the families ripped apart by the killings but to Americans everywhere who are reeling from the cascading, collective trauma of mass violence.

This year’s killings have happened in different ways, from family and neighborhood disputes to school and workplace shootings to explosions of gunfire in public spaces. They’ve taken place in rural as well as urban settings. Sometimes people knew their killers; sometimes they did not.

The bloodbaths are defined by the FBI as mass killings when the events involve four or more fatalities within 24 hours, not including the perpetrator. The Associated Press and USA Today have tracked and compiled extensive data on these violent attacks in partnership with Northeastern University.

The Las Vegas shooter’s motive remains unknown, even now. The high-stakes gambler was apparently angry over how the casinos were treating him despite his high-roller status, but the FBI has never uncovered a definitive reason for the slaughter, which ended with more lives lost than in any single mass killing in decades.

Contributing to 2023′s steady drumbeat of death: the grisly murder-suicide in Utah that left five children, their parents and their grandmother dead just days into the new year; the fatal shooting of six people, including three 9-year-old children, at an elementary school in Nashville; back-to-back rampages in California at dance studios and mushroom farms; and the mall shooting in Allen, Texas, on Saturday, when authorities say a gunman stepped out of a car and immediately started firing at people.

Yet while these tragic events garner an outsize amount of attention in the news media and the public’s mind, they represent only a tiny fraction of overall gun deaths.

Far more frequent are fatal shootings involving fewer than four people and deaths from domestic violence. And then there are the suicides, which make up more than half of the 14,000 gun deaths so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which monitors news media and police reports to compile data.

Still, mass killings spark the deepest fear in most people’s hearts.

“People around the country all send their kids to schools — and they worry about if they send their kid to school, are they going to get shot?” said Daniel Webster, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

The fact is, though they are less common than other gun deaths, the mass killings keep happening — 20 years after Columbine, 10 years after Sandy Hook, five years after Las Vegas, and less than one year after massacres at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Which leads back to the same haunting question: Why?

People who study such violence are also perplexed by the sustained pace of the brutality.

“We have plenty of examples of things that seem to be at the breaking point in this country,” said Katherine Schweit, a former FBI executive who created the agency’s active shooter protocol after Sandy Hook. “When I was asked to work on this in 2013, I didn’t ever imagine 10 years later I’d still be working on the same thing.”

It will take years — if it’s even possible — for researchers to pinpoint what’s behind the drastic increase in gun violence. Advocates say there are measures that could perhaps avert such crimes — firearms reform and weapons bans among them — but note there is little appetite on Capitol Hill to implement them.

“I think the United States has a relationship with guns unlike any other country in the world,” said Kelly Drane, research director for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “These events are a consequence of our failure to put in place prevention measures.”

President Joe Biden, an ardent advocate of stronger gun control, is frustrated with Congress’ unwillingness to pass a ban on some semi-automatic rifles in the face of the powerful gun lobby led by the National Rifle Association. The NRA did not return an online request for comment.

Lawmakers did pass what, for them, marked a milestone gun violence bill that toughens background checks for the youngest buyers, keeps firearms from more domestic violence offenders and helps states use red-flag laws that enable police to ask courts to take deadly weapons away from people who show signs they could turn violent. Biden signed the bill into law last year.

The legislation and other measures have done little to slow the pace of violence or alleviate the nation’s pain, which has been further exacerbated by the pandemic, climate change and the racial reckoning after George Floyd’s murder by police.

“These tragedies compounded one after the other, making it almost too much to bear,” said Roxanne Cohen Silver, a psychology professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies coping with traumatic life events.

The mass killings, Silver noted, “are just another tragedy on top of all of these other psychological and emotional challenges.”

Stephen Berger ’s father, Richard, is now 80. He spends his days with his grandchildren — one is a soccer goalie who reminds him of Steve, who had a passion for basketball. Their family awards annual athletic scholarships at Stephen’s high school.

Berger watches the teenagers as they approach the next phase of their young lives, flush with promise and full of life. But his own son is dead, and five years later he’s still left wondering:

Why?

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

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The new mission statement is inclusive of all those who have served in our nation’s military — including women Veterans — as well as Veteran families, caregivers, and survivors. VA currently serves more than 600,000 women Veterans, the fastest growing cohort of Veterans. VA also serves more than 50,000 Veteran caregivers, more than 600,000 Veteran survivors, and millions of Veterans who did not serve in combat.

In crafting the new mission statement, VA surveyed roughly 30,000 Veterans. Among Veterans surveyed, the new version of VA’s mission statement was chosen over the current version by every age group; by men and by women; by LGBTQ+ Veterans; and by white, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and American Indian/Alaska Native Veterans.

“Whenever any Veteran, family member, caregiver, or survivor walks by a VA facility, we want them to see themselves in the mission statement on the outside of the building,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “We are here to serve all Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors — and now, our mission statement reflects exactly that.”

In addition to two rounds of surveys, VA conducted dozens of small-group engagements with Veterans to understand what was most important to them in a VA mission statement, then incorporated that feedback into quantitative research. The new mission statement reflects that VA serves all of the heroes who have served our country, regardless of their race, gender, background, sexual orientation, religion, zip code or identity.

The previous mission statement was: “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise ‘to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan’ by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans.” The previous mission statement is posted in roughly 50% of VA’s facilities. Over the coming months, VA’s new mission statement will replace the previous version.

Secretary McDonough will host an event today commemorating the new mission statement, featuring speeches from a woman Veteran, a caregiver and a survivor about what it means to feel included in VA’s mission.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

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NEW YORK (AP) — To understand the impact of surging inflation on this year’s back-to-school spending, look no further than children’s rain boots with motifs like frogs and ladybugs made by Washington Shoe Co.

Spending held steady for these evergreen items even after the Kent, Washington-based business was forced to pass along 15% price increases in January to its retail clients because of soaring transportation costs. But by May, as gas and food prices also surged, shoppers abruptly shifted away from the $35 higher-end rain boots to the no-frills versions that run $5 to $10 cheaper, its CEO Karl Moehring said.

“We are seeing consumers shift down,” said Moehring, noting dramatic 20% sales swings in opposite directions for both types of products. “Wages are not keeping up with inflation.”

This back-to-school shopping season, parents — particularly in the low to middle income bracket — are focusing on the basics while also trading down to cheaper stores amid surging inflation, which hit a new 40-year high in June.

Last week, Walmart noted higher prices on gas and food are forcing shoppers to make fewer purchases of discretionary items, particularly clothing. Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, cited that inflation has dampened consumer spending on gadgets. Both companies cut their profit forecasts as a result.

Such financial struggles amid the industry’s second-most important shopping season behind the winter holidays mark a big difference from a year ago when many low-income shoppers, flush with government stimulus and buoyed by wage increases, spent freely.

Matt Priest, CEO of trade group Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America, noted that last year, the group’s retail members saw a noticeable uptick in online sales mid-month when shoppers received their monthly child tax credit checks that amounted to a couple of hundred dollars. This season, without that bump, he expects shoppers will buy fewer shoes for their children and rely on private label brands.

Inflation has squeezed household finances for Jessica Reyes, 34, who took her daughters Jalysa, 7, and Jenesis, 5, to a “Back to School Bash” event last month in the Chicago’s northside that offered free backpacks filled with supplies for students.

“I feel like everything is going up these days,” she said at the event. ”We’re a one-income household right now … so I think it’s greatly affected us in all areas, in bills and in house necessities and school necessities.”

Out shopping, her girls were drawn to the school supplies featuring TV characters and animals they love, but she’ll focus on the plain versions.

“They want the cute ones, you know, the kitty ones. And those are always more expensive than the simple ones. And same thing with folders, or notebooks, or pencils,” Reyes said.

Earlier, Manny Colon and his daughters Jubilee, 8, and Audrey, 5, stopped by the back-to-school event to pick out backpacks.

Colon, 38, works at his daughters’ elementary school. He said his spouse has had to pick up extra work because of high prices for school supplies, groceries and gas.

“I think it’s definitely impacted us,” he said.

Multiple forecasts point to a solid back-to-school shopping season.

Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment forms including cash, forecasts back-to-school spending will be up 7.5% from July 14 through Sept. 5 compared with the year-ago period when sales rose 11%. For the 2020 back-to-school period, sales fell 0.8% as the pandemic wreaked havoc on schools’ reopening plans and back-to-school shopping.

Still, higher prices are propping up much of the numbers.

A basket of roughly a dozen supply items showed a price increase of nearly 15% on average for this back-to-school season compared with a year ago, according to retail analytics firm DataWeave. The price of backpacks are up nearly 12% to an average of $70, for example.

Back 2 School America, an Illinois-based nonprofit that distributes back-to-school kits to kids from low-income families, has seen “a significant increase in costs of supplies,” including a 10% increase from their vendor with another possible mark-up on the way, said the organization’s CEO Matthew Kurtzman. And shipping costs have also gone up.

Thanks to increased support this year, Back 2 School America will be able to cover the new costs and is on track to distribute more kits than ever before — 12,000 so far, and more than 30,000 by the end of August, Kurtzman said. But the funding isn’t guaranteed in the future as worries about a recession increase.

Retailers face big challenges to get shoppers to spend, particularly on clothing.

Walmart said last week it was taking extra discounts on clothing to clear out inventory. Analysts believe those sales will exert more pressure on other rivals to discount more to stay competitive. However, Walmart said it’s encouraged by the early signs for sales of school supplies.

Meanwhile, Gap’s low-price Old Navy division is guaranteeing a price freeze on its denim from July 29 through the end of September.

As for Washington Shoe, Moehring said he’s shifting production away from higher priced children’s boots to more value-priced products in the months ahead. The company still sees annual sales ahead of last year, but he’s being cautious.

“I believe it is a muddy outlook, “ he said.

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ESSEX, Vt. (AP) — Before the pandemic, there was no room in the budget for Kate Murphy’s children to buy lunch at school. She and her husband would buy in bulk and make bag lunches at home. So the free school meals that were made available to students nationwide amid the crisis have brought welcome relief, especially since her husband lost his job last year at a bakery company that closed.

The free meals gave the Essex Junction, Vermont, family one less thing to worry about.

“We make just too much money (literally by just a few dollars) to qualify for free or reduced lunches and other food-related benefits, but not enough to truly ever feel financially comfortable,” Murphy, a mother of four and administrator at a trust company, said by email.

The pandemic-era federal aid that made school meals available for free to all public school students — regardless of family income levels — is ending, raising fears about the effects in the upcoming school year for families already struggling with rising food and fuel costs.

For families already strained by inflation and the end of other federal help like expanded child tax credits, advocates say cuts to the aid could mean turning more frequently to food banks.

“Families across the country are facing a very difficult reality of having to chose between feeding their kids or filling up their gas tank or purchasing medicine,” said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer for Feeding America, a nonprofit network of foodbanks.

The rules are set to revert to how they were before the coronavirus pandemic with families that are eligible based on income levels required to apply for their children to receive free or reduced-price lunch. Schools in predominantly low-income areas will be allowed to serve breakfast and lunch to everyone for free, as before.

Since waiving the eligibility requirement during the pandemic, the U.S. Agriculture Department, which oversees school meal programs, has seen the number of participating students soar.

During this past school year, about 30 million kids a day were getting free meals, compared to 20 million before the pandemic, said Cindy Long, administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.

At summer meal distributions, 1.3 billion meals and snacks were given out nationwide in fiscal year 2020 at a cost of $4.1 billion — an eightfold increase from the previous year in terms of meals and cost, according to the USDA.

A bill passed in Congress last week and signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday aims to keep the rules around summer meals programs as they have been during the pandemic so that sites can operate in any community with need, rather than just where there’s a high concentration of low-income children, and offer to-go meals. It also provides flexibility for schools to make substitutions for certain types of food without being fined if they run into supply chain problems.

Advocates say the legislation will provide relief, but the timing has caused confusion around plans for summer meal distributions.

“It’s disappointing that the extension of the summer waivers would come so late that for the most part they’re not going to be able to stem the dramatic loss in summer meal sites that are happening this summer,” said Anore Horton, executive director of Hunger Free Vermont.

For the next school year, some states have taken it upon themselves to keep school meals free for all students.

California and Maine made universal meals permanent last year and Vermont, where Murphy and her family live, is continuing the free meals for all public school students for another year using surplus state education funding. In Massachusetts, House lawmakers included $110 million in the budget to extend universal school meals for another year but the Senate version did not. Now both versions are before a conference committee. In Colorado, the Legislature passed a bill to ask voters this November whether to fund free universal breakfast and lunch at schools.

At the Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School in Vermont one recent day, eighth graders picked up freshly made pizza and Caesar salad on their trays and ate lunch with friends around round tables. Students said it was important to continue to provide free meals to all students.

“Not everybody has the same situation at home and it’s hard to learn at school when you’re super hungry so I think free lunch, it makes it easier for everybody,” student Ethan Pringle said.

Not only do the free universal meals give kids nutrition so they can learn but they also provide some reliability for kids and families during what is still a challenging time, Vermont state Rep. Karen Dolan said. It also removes the stigma of being a free or reduced-price lunch kid and the embarrassment of families who can’t pay their kids’ lunch accounts, officials said.

But some officials worry about paying for meals for children from families who could easily afford them.

Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott supports helping those in need but “will not support imposing such taxes, which would disproportionately impact the very people we are trying to help, in order to fund meals for children of affluent families,” spokesperson Jason Maulucci said.

Families and advocates say losing universal school lunch and breakfast next year would have been hardship for families.

“Our kids have so much to worry about these days, and food shouldn’t be one of them,” Murphy said.

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“It’s important for us to see the families that are receiving these meals,” Soboba Foundation President Dondi Silvas said. “It’s easy to give but to volunteer to help means so much more. We are grateful for all the help we had at both locations. I would like to give a special thanks to our sponsorship coordinator Andrew Vallejos for organizing these two events. It was great to see Tribal Executive Officer Steven Estrada along with Tribal Administration employee and Tribal member Lynn Saenz. Soboba Casino Resort’s Assistant General manager and Tribal member Jason Cozart and some of his team members were also there to volunteer their time, which was great.”

Tribal members who joined in the giveaway for the first time were Wade Abbas and Dione Kitchen. Soboba Foundation board members, such as Secretary Antonia Briones-Venegas, readily gave their time to the cause and some brought along family members to help as well. Pitching in were Treasurer Julie Arrietta-Parcero and her husband Albert Parcero, Vice President Catherine “Cat” Modesto and her husband Ray Godinez and President Dondi Silvas with her son Joseph Burton. Also assisting, representing the Foundation and Soboba Tribal Council, were Treasurer Daniel Valdez and Chairman Isaiah Vivanco.

Modesto said she likes to help others. “It’s all about being able to bless people who don’t have much, giving back and working together for your community,” she said. “Everyone here has a smile on their face; it’s a good feeling. I’m grateful we are blessed enough to be able to bless others.”

The overwhelming message from those who were recipients of Soboba’s generosity was “thanks for giving” as 2,000 families throughout the San Jacinto Valley were treated to a turkey and all the fixings needed for a robust Thanksgiving Day feast. In addition to those with children attending schools at either of the valley’s districts, all charter schools as well as Valley Community Pantry and Noli Indian School students from non-gaming tribal families received the same abundant meal makings.

Each identified family received a 22-pound turkey, cornbread stuffing, and cans of roasted turkey gravy, whole kernel golden fancy corn, cut green beans, cut yams and jellied cranberry sauce. A large package of seasoned mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and a thaw and serve pumpkin pie completed each meal.

More than 100 volunteers started arriving at San Jacinto High School’s parking lot at least an hour before the giveaway event to prepare. Pallets of items were stacked high as helpers wheeled carts by each one in an assembly-line fashion to expedite distribution. Personnel from each site within the district set up a greeting line to welcome each vehicle and accept their voucher upon arrival. Some helpers, such as SJUSD Superintendent Dave Pyle, directed traffic throughout the afternoon.

“I don’t think the timing could be any better, this is a great sendoff for the holiday week,” Pyle said. “Soboba is an incredible partner to work with, such a powerful community partner and so giving.”

Vince Record was volunteering while wearing many hats, as a SJUSD employee, Hemet San Jacinto Chamber of Commerce chairman and a longtime resident.

“It’s awesome to have this donation from Soboba; it’s staggering how much food they give out,” he said. “Seeing people who are helping to give out the food get as much pleasure as the ones receiving it is very rewarding. A lot of families are going to have a great meal this year.”

SJUSD’s Director of Nutrition Services Tammy White oversaw the operation of about 30 workers from her department who had already worked a full day but stayed on to help distribute the food.

“We had a new employee say they had never seen a turnout of volunteers like this,” she said. “It’s something we know but it’s nice to hear someone express it. Everybody is having a good time and is thankful for each other and thankful to Soboba for all the food they provide.”

Carla Adame, Family & Community Engagement Specialist at the SJUSD Parent Center, worked closely with the schools to identify the families most in need. “First and foremost, Soboba continues to think of us and we’re super grateful for that. Look at all these families that don’t have to worry about where their Thanksgiving dinner will come from. This is such a feel-good event and so much fun after what we’ve all been through with (pandemic) closures and everything.”

At HUSD on Nov. 20, Emily Shaw was helping coordinate the drive-through giveaway. As the district’s Parent Resource Center’s director of wellness and community outreach, she was directly involved with referrals that came in for this year’s meal distribution.

“This is an amazing opportunity that Soboba offers us,” Shaw said. Along with families that picked up their meals, about 80 meals were delivered to HUSD students in outlying areas such as Idyllwild and Anza.

Parent Engagement Specialist Miriam Ortiz said there are a lot of unique situations in the community which makes her even more grateful for the Soboba sponsorship, allowing the district to use its resources in other much-needed ways. “Their support allows for us to do more with what we have and use our resources in a creative way,” she said. “I find it difficult to disconnect when I hear about some of the situations our students are in, but I find myself amazed by many of our families’ resilient attitudes.”

Organized a bit differently than the prior day, HUSD’s nutrition center had pre-packaged boxes of all non-perishable items ready for pick up. Warehouse manager Sonny Rachunok made sure helpers had full pallets of boxes to put in the trunks or back seats of vehicles as they passed through the double pick-up lines set up around canopies where volunteers assembled. Frozen items were kept inside refrigerated trucks until needed.

HUSD Public Information Officer Alexandrea Sponheim said aside from many volunteers provided by Soboba and its entities, there were about 10 from HUSD management and 10 from admin services as well as about eight from nutrition services and 15 parent liaisons from school sites. Additionally, six security workers were on traffic duty and other community members joined in throughout the three-hour event.

“We are so thankful to Soboba for the donations to make this happen,” Sponheim said. “This is not just about San Jacinto Unified or Hemet Unified, it’s about everyone wrapping their arms around our families.”

Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians | Contributed

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