Palo Alto retiree is dedicated to donations

When Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood resident Lenore Cymes sends an email asking for clothing or toy donations to help residents in nearby East Palo Alto, her neighbors respond by the boxes and bagfuls.

For more than two years, whenever the quarterly call has gone out, Cymes finds her driveway filled with pants, hats, dresses, blouses, shoes and other clothes that residents of her neighborhood and the adjacent Crescent Park mine from their closets and garages. Cymes sorts and packs the clothing and arranges for delivery to Ecumenical Hunger Program, located at 2411 Pulgas Ave. in East Palo Alto. She used to be able to pack the stuff in her car, but now donations have grown to such proportions that the nonprofit agency comes with a delivery truck, she said.

From June 23 through 26, she spent all weekend sorting through the various piles, some left neatly and thoughtfully folded, others stuffed into bags and boxes. Folding tables, labeled according to gender or age, helped her stay organized: men, women, toddler and infant, boys, girls, shoes and blankets and throws.

“Somebody left me a clothing rack this time. I can’t believe it!” she said, pleased she can hang the better clothing used for work or job searches.

In the end, the plastic lawn bags she packed with donations weighed 60 to 70 pounds.

Ecumenical Hunger Program assists local families and individuals in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and surrounding communities who are experiencing economic and personal difficulty. The nonprofit agency provides food, clothing, furniture, household essentials, support and advocacy so that people can regain stability.

Cymes and her neighbors adopted the organization because it treats its clients with dignity and doesn’t sell the donations, they said. Cymes stepped forward more than two years ago after a neighbor asked via email where to donate used items, and another neighbor suggested the East Palo Alto nonprofit. Because Ecumenical Hunger Program is only open on weekdays, working neighbors could not get to the nonprofit with their donations. Cymes, who is retired, volunteered to collect and deliver the clothing.

“I get a big thank you for doing it,” she admitted of neighbors’ responses, but she eschews any focus on her own good deeds.

“What matters is the community involvement. Without them this wouldn’t happen. When the word goes out, the community comes forward.”

Cymes, who is a Palo Alto Community Emergency Response Team volunteer, also has initiated donation drives after catastrophic events around the world: Hurricane Katrina in 2005; the 2007 Peruvian earthquake and 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

The 2014 King Fire in Pollock Pines, California, netted two large truckloads of items.

“A little old lady in her 80s knocked on my door who was holding a blanket. She said, ‘This is my baby quilt. I’m finally willing to give it up,'” Cymes recalled. Cymes added a note with the woman’s story to the blanket, to bring comfort to the recipient.

“My sense of human nature here is there really is a very generous spirit in this community. With everybody leading really busy lives, you ask and they (still) help,” she said.

On Sunday, neighbor Holly Chamberlain helped Cymes sort and label the bags for three hours.

“I really believe everyone deserves to have enough to eat and to live in dignity, and this organization lets people do both. Palo Alto is the land of plenty and people can afford to step up to the plate,” Chamberlain said during a phone call on Wednesday.

On Monday morning, another neighbor, Vicky Evans of Crescent Park, dropped by to offer a hand. She worked in an East Palo Alto charter high school and currently mentors students in that city.

“I know how important these services are to kids in East Palo Alto,” Evans said. “I’ve been in those houses, and what you see on the outside is not what you see on the inside. It can be really tough. And yet, there is resilience there.”

Because of the high participation rate of Duveneck/St. Francis and Crescent Park residents, Cymes isn’t looking to take donations from other neighborhoods. Instead, she encourages people to start their own neighborhood drives. It is relatively easy to do, but it does take a time commitment — in her case about 30 hours per drive, she said.

She sends out an email about 10 days before announcing the collection dates, then resends it about one week prior. Finally, a last notice goes out after she has set up the tables, she said. Any inappropriate items, such as televisions and car seats, she asks people to take back. Random items, like books and toys, she’ll pass along if she can, though she prefers donations only of clothing.

Organizers should ask the receiving organization what it needs and focus the drive on those items. One also needs to make arrangements for delivering the donations.

Cymes said she is proud of her neighborhood.

“I feel really pleased that we’ve carried it through for two years.” she said.

Does she ever find anything she would like to keep for herself?

“I would die of embarrassment if I ran into someone who donated something and I was wearing it,” she said.

More information about Ecumenical Hunger Program is available at www.ehpcares.org or by calling 650-323-7781.