Tri-Valley Haven is celebrating the success of its holiday shopping program this year, with the event marking a return to an in-person format for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic amid an increase in need for the organization’s services over the years.

More than 3,000 people signed up for Tri-Valley Haven’s holiday program this year, which concluded last Saturday with an in-person holiday shopping experience following a holiday food distribution event and the organization’s ninth annual Mony Nop Turkey Drop last month.

“We have been doing a holiday program for about 30 years, and we started out doing it just for the residents and our clients, and then we realized there was this greater need,” Executive Director Christine Dillman told the Weekly.

The holiday shopping program had initially offered 30-minute shopping experiences for up to 20 people for each time slot, with the event scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 12 and Dec. 14. The cap was expanded to 25 people per time slot, and the end of the second day of the event on Saturday was extended through 7 p.m. in order to accommodate the outpouring of need that was demonstrated by the 3,000-plus registrants this year.

“I was a little astounded because we had never had to do that – we had never had to make additional time slots,” Dillman said. “The need just kind of astounded me and it saddened me, even though I’m very glad they know to come to Tri-Valley Haven.”

The holiday program has been a key fixture in the organization’s services for a majority of its 47-year history, with recent years seeing an uptick not just in demand for that program, but for the whole range of resources offered by the organization.

“With the food pantry especially, we’ve seen a 20% increase year over year,” Dillman said, adding that the food pantry and holiday shopping program offer the “same kind of empowerment model where people get to come in and pick the food that is right for them.”

“We’re seeing the need for shelter, for housing, for food in the Tri-Valley,” Dillman continued. “We do have people with a lot of money in this area, and we do have incredibly generous, amazing people both rich and poor, but we really do have this hidden poverty and it’s absolutely increasing.”

Dillman noted that the No. 1 cause of homelessness for women is domestic violence, an issue that knows no class or regional boundaries, and whose presence is evident in this region based on both the demand for Tri-Valley Haven’s services and in calls to local police departments.

“We have to really look at those core drivers, and unfortunately we have those core drivers here in the Tri-Valley,” Dillman said.

While Tri-Valley Haven serves all of Alameda County, Dillman said that a majority of the 3,000-plus calls the organization’s crisis line receives annually are from Tri-Valley residents.

Despite that, Dillman said the region is fortunate in its saturation with nonprofit organizations and generous donors who often work with one another to address community needs – including the Weekly’s parent organization, Embarcadero Media Foundation. Tri-Valley Haven has been named one of the 10 nonprofit beneficiaries of the Weekly’s Holiday Fund this year.

“We couldn’t do it without our wonderful funders, and we really appreciate the Pleasanton Weekly and all of your readers,” Dillman said.

Donations for the Holiday Fund are being accepted now through mid-January, which can be made by visiting pleasantonweekly.com/holiday_fund. More information on Tri-Valley Haven is available at trivalleyhaven.org.