Community

“Second Chance” Team from Vericool to Support Over 150 Richmond Single-Parent Families Affected by Incarceration, Drugs or Abuse for Christmas

Published

5 years ago

December 15, 2018

Environment Friendly Start-up Launched by Richmond Native to Host First Annual Vericool Holiday Event, Providing Meals and Gifts

The holidays can prove challenging to any family. But for those single-parent families affected by incarceration, drug abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse, meeting the social and financial expectations set by this time of year can be very stressful, if not nearly impossible.
Growing up in a household impacted by drugs, physical and sexual abuse, Darrell Jobe, the founder and CEO of Vericool knows this struggle firsthand. As part of his personal commitment to his home community of Richmond, his company, which includes many formerly incarcerated individuals, is hosting its first annual Vericool Christmas event there.

Darrell Jobe, Vericool President and CEO (Photo: Business Wire) Multimedia Gallery URL.

The Vericool Christmas will support more than 150 local, single-parent families overcoming the challenges of incarceration, drugs, physical/sexual abuse or just hard times, with a complete family Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and the choice of a ham or turkey, and last, but not least, a present valued up to $25 per child from their Christmas list.
“Holidays don’t bring joy for all families; in fact they bring stress to families and children already dealing with some of the worst situations imaginable,” said Jobe, the inventor of the first fully recyclable and compostable coolers – Vericoolers® who was raised with his sisters by a single mother. “My family struggled when I was young – Back-to-School and Christmas were those two times of the year I dreaded knowing we had very little and my mother struggled to make do.
“The entire Vericool team is committed to creating good opportunities for each other at work and for members of our extended community,” said Jobe. “We are very excited to work with Antwon Cloird and Soulful Softball Sundays to provide dinners and gifts for the families.”
Livermore-based Vericool is partnering with Cloird and Soulful Softball Sunday, a local organization that works with the Richmond community. The families have been identified by the organization and will receive the complete dinners and presents at Independent Community Church, 605 S. 16th St, Richmond, Ca., 94804 on Dec. 23, 2018.
“It is heartening to see Richmond natives find success and continue to give back to their community” said Cloird, founder and director of Men and Women of Purpose. “We are pleased to partner with Vericool to put on this Christmas event, providing families and children with a Christmas meal and gifts, providing some much-needed holiday cheer.”
As a company, Vericool has worked to ease prison recidivism in the surrounding community by fostering a second-chance program to offer former inmates well-paid jobs, by leveraging networks that share a similar vision such as Defy Ventures, and by working with prisons to reach individuals prior to release.
As creators of sustainable Vericoolers®, Vericool also provides a second chance to the environment by preventing the landfill, ocean and waterway waste that comes with use of EPS (commonly referred to as Styrofoam®) coolers, which are difficult to recycle and take at least five centuries to decompose, according to experts.

OAKLAND POST

Posts by OAKLAND POST

Related Topics:community Darrell Jobe Vericool

Up Next

Raiders Johnathan Hankins and Swords to Plowshares Host Lunch for 100 Homeless Veterans in Oakland

Don't Miss

Visiting Raw Food Chef Makes Healthy Food Delicious

OAKLAND POST

Click to comment

Activism

WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

19 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

Vivian Coit, 98

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

Published

19 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Vivian Coit

Celebrating A Life Well Lived

Sept. 15, 1925 ~ March 30, 2024

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

In her 98 years, she had various jobs – San Francisco Naval Shipyard, elevator operator, housekeeping, a salesclerk, and supervisor for the United States Postal Service. After 27 years of service with the United States Postal Service, she retired with numerous commendations. She was a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women. and a devoted member of the Washington/Lincoln Alumni Association of Dallas, Texas.

On April 20 at 10:00 a.m., a life well-lived will be celebrated at Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA under the leadership of Rev. Antoine Shyne.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

19 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!