Estele Hernandez leads a zumbathon fund raiser on Friday, July 10, 2015 at the Home of Neighborly Service in San Bernardino, Ca. Funds raised by the event will help sustain programs the Home offes the community.
SAN BERNARDINO >> There were only eight cars in the Home of Neighborly Service parking lot or along the narrow side street beside it, but three times that number of women sweated and smiled through a two-hour Zumba class.
Many of the people who go to the dance-based fitness class at the Westside service center, explained Angelica Rosales, a 41-year-old Zumba enthusiast who lives two blocks away, don’t have cars.
“It’s hard for a lot of the women here, because they’re homemakers, to go to a gym — they have their children with them and they can’t go far,” Rosales said. “We need it, though. Zumba has honestly been a lifesaver.
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“If I can’t take care of myself, how can I take care of my family?”
The nonprofit center at 839 N. Mount Vernon Ave. offers a variety of group exercises, food hand-outs for the needy, and classes ranging from English language to photography, and it’s been offering whatever services it thinks line up with the predominantly Latino area’s needs since 1922.
Now — as happened in 2012, when the center essentially shut down for a few weeks in a divisive time for its leadership — those services are on the chopping block.
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Money is about as tight as can be, partly as a result of those 2012 issues, said Jerry Martin, president of the Home’s board.
Without the Community Development Block Grant money they rely on for much of their expenses — federal money distributed to nonprofits and other purposes by the city of San Bernardino — and without sizable donations they used to get from organizations like United Way and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, there’s no money to speak of flowing into the budget, Martin said.
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Those organizations said they wanted one full year of complete audits after the 2012 shutdown before committing funds, Martin said. It’s been nearly three years since then, but Martin said changed deadlines and other issues had caused the short-staffed home — there’s essentially one paid employee, Director Sonia Fischer, because a second quit after not being paid — to be without income.
Monthly expenses — mostly lights, fans and other basics — reach nearly $1,500 per month, he said, and so July 14 the board will meet to make some tough decisions.
A little community help would make it less painful, he said.
“We have re-established ourselves, but right now we’re in need,” Martin said. “The Home has been here for almost 100 years helping a lot of people — the former city attorney, the current city attorney; an attorney (in private practice) came by and said ‘If it wasn’t for the Home, I would never be where I am’ — a lot of people who moved out of the Westside and have more money than a lot of this community we help does and it’s time for them to help us.”
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Members of the Zumba class led by Estela Hernandez did what they could Friday and Saturday, hosting a two-day “Dance-a-thon” that included a $10 donation by participants. (Regularly scheduled Zumba at the Home is $1 per class, although many participants said they’d be willing to pay a few dollars more.)
The first day, 18 people paid, with about the same number committed to attend Saturday, Hernandez said.
“We really want to keep the exercise program going because it’s important for health, and it’s a family, too,” she said, gesturing toward a new member who had just said how welcoming the group was. “I could teach somewhere else, but Zumba saved my life after I went through domestic violence, and I want to help (San Bernardino residents) the same way.”
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Others sent their support by email.
“Home of Neighborly Service been a pillar in our community for over a century now, providing food pantries for the communities and senior meals as well,” wrote Jonathan Godoy and Elizabeth Salazar, listing activities like Dr. Seuss Day, Public Hero Appreciation Day, book clubs and classes. “It would be a shame for the doors to be close down on such an important asset for San Bernardino. Please join us for some of our events and let’s pull together as a community to get some monetary donations in to keep the doors open. United we stand divided we fall.”