Child abuse is not something most people ever want to think about.
But the of St. Germaine Children’s Charity — along with the generations of who came before them — think about it regularly and how they can help.
The La Jolla-based St. Germaine is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Its mission since its founding is to provide financial and other to San Diego County’s abused and neglected children through grants to local agencies that serve them.
In that time, St. Germaine has raised $5 million in cash and in-kind donations and ed 50 local agencies that provide countless services that have reached 10,000 children and young adults.
The organization raises funds through hips, donations and three annual events to give money to 10 to 15 agencies each year to everything from pilot projects to continuing efforts that align with its mission.
“Child abuse is not a fun topic, and it’s hard to imagine and hard to think about,” said St. Germaine board President Janice Farnow, who has served on the board for years in various positions. “But the energy you receive when you know you’re helping and ing those with boots on the ground … you feel the reward from that. The mission for the board is to do important work, make it fun and build friendships along the way.”
St. Germaine will award grants at a luncheon beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 4, at a La Jolla location that will be disclosed upon purchase of a ticket. San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan will be the keynote speaker.
Origins of the organization
St. Germaine Children’s Charity was founded in 1984 by now-late La Jolla resident Barbara Christensen, who came up with the idea at her kitchen table.
“She was reading the newspaper and had read one too many articles about child abuse survivors,” Farnow said. “She said ‘Why doesn’t anyone do something about this?’ and then realized she is somebody.”
Christensen assembled nine like-minded friends and had a meeting to figure out how they could make a difference to local child abuse-related agencies. Soon, the number of grew to 40 and grew even more from there.
The concept was to have annual hip fees — $45 for people younger than 36 and $65 for everyone else — to cover operating costs so that when someone makes a donation, all of it can go to grants. Board are asked to commit to two-year , but many stay longer.
Potential beneficiaries are visited, interviewed and vetted before they are chosen to receive a grant.
“When someone gives to St. Germaine, they are touching multiple organizations,” Farnow said. “If someone gives $500, that gets put in a pool of grant money, which gets redistributed to every [beneficiary].”
Event evolution
St. Germaine’s signature fundraising event became its winter Silver Tea, which is held in a La Jolla home every year “for us and 300 of our closest friends,” Farnow joked.
The organization also holds its Cocktails & Conversation fundraiser in the fall.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, had to get creative in their fundraising.
As an alternative to a live event, the organization created a cookbook featuring more than 50 recipes donated by chefs from over 40 La Jolla restaurants.
Proceeds from sales of “Dining In: Recipes from La Jolla’s Finest Restaurants” were used to fund grants for St. Germaine’s beneficiaries.
Pilot projects and beyond
One of the things Farnow said makes St. Germaine unique is that it funds projects big and small by agencies of varying sizes.
The organization recently received a grant request for a pilot program through Rady Children’s Hospital to help children who are in the midst of legal disputes related to abuse.
“Sometimes children are abused so badly that they end up hospitalized and charges are filed against their ab,” Farnow said. “But can you imagine asking an 8-year-old to testify in court with the perpetrator in the room? So Rady is working on creating a mock courtroom situation so children can practice and understand the process. The beauty of that is, once they prove that these programs are effective, they can seek other funding.”
Looking to the future, St. Germaine is exploring the cyber world.
“Our core mission has remained focused and strong, but the challenge is that the need is still there so greatly,” Farnow said. “The next area we are looking at is working with police in their cyber department. People don’t always understand that their child could be sitting next to them on a smartphone and playing a game with a predator trying to them. The police are working to provide information to students about how to safely navigate online.”
Looking ahead
“For some children, having been abused becomes a part of their identity,” Farnow said. “So a key goal for us is to break that cycle. By helping the children of today, we are helping those children’s children. If we can stop that culture, that helps the children of the future.”
St. Germaine has two more events this year in addition to the June grant ceremony.
Cocktails & Conversation will be held in October, with a date and location to be determined.
The 40th-anniversary Silver Tea will begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, at a La Jolla location that will be given upon ticket purchase.
Learn more at stgermainechildrenscharity.org. ◆
