Pictured at Lynwood Elementary School distributing backpacks (above, left to right) are Laura Houser, school resources officer, Monroe Tradelius, Maddie Mangino, Sparkle Junior board member Bardot Tradelius, founder Samantha Tradelius, Thalia Morales and Talos Morales.
Sparkle Foundation founder Samantha Tradelius started her effort to make a difference in the community by assembling a team of family and friends to sort, wrap and deliver holiday gifts to people in need. She turned her ongoing work into the Sparkle Foundation Inc., a registered nonprofit organization, in 2016. The operation continues to be 100% run by volunteers and 100% of the funds and goods go to where they are needed.
The Sparkle Foundation’s mission is to help women and children by providing items like school supplies and clothing, aid for enrichment programs, holiday gifts, microloans for single moms who want to start businesses, and a number of other necessary products and services.
Sparkle Foundation received a $5,000 Giving Marin Community Partnership grant in February that the organization used toward operations in 2021, including costs for the website, software and a storage unit for holiday gift wrapping supplies. Without the grant, it would have been a challenge to pay for these necessary things, the nonprofit’s leaders said.
In June, the organization funded its first SPARKLE business loan to a single mother wanting to grow her existing business and are now mentoring her. In July, Sparkle’s fourth location opened, expanding the reach to now include Sparkle Bay Area, Sparkle Los Angeles, Sparkle Sacramento and Sparkle Inland Empire.
During August, Sparkle completed its 2021 backpack gift drive, serving 3,500 school children. Working with local school districts and law enforcement agencies, Sparkle volunteers stuffed and distributed bags all over California. Approximately 2,100 bags went to Marin and San Francisco students. Each backpack was filled with more than 20 items to get kids ready for the school year.
The holiday gift drive is coming soon with nominations for deserving single moms open from Oct. 15-31 at sparklenow.org. The annual wrap-a-thon will be taking place on Dec. 11 in various locations.
Giving Marin awarded a record $75,000 in grants to 12 nonprofit organizations that serve Marin County this year. The grant recipients, selected after an application and vetting process, were Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy Foundation – Arts Plus, Canal Alliance, Ceres Community Project, Community Action Marin, Community Institute for Psychotherapy, Family & Children’s Law Center, Gilead House, Marin Foster Care Association, NovatoSpirit, Project Avary, Sparkle Foundation and WildCare.
The initiative’s Partners are College of Marin, CPi Developers, Ghilotti Bros. Inc., Kaiser Permanente, Marin Independent Journal, Nugget Markets, Price Simms Automotive Group, Redwood Credit Union and Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical. Sponsors are Northern Pacific Roofing and PRANDI Property Management.
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tured (above, top) are Bardot and Monroe Tradelius, (above, middle) Novato volunteer backpack stuffers, and (above, bottom) representatives from Novato Police Department, San Rafael Police Department, Marin County Sheriff’s Office and team Sparkle. -All photos courtesy of Sparkle Foundation
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