Dana Point Women's Club
PROGRAMS
Project Foster
Project Foster is a hands on, in-house charity providing new rolling suitcases and duffle bags filled with clothing, bedding, hygiene essentials, school supplies, toys, books and HOPE to children in Orange County’s Foster Care system. The program is currently expanding to serve children referred by school guidance counselors, social workers and homeless advocates in South Orange County. Each rolling duffle bag or suitcase contains basic clothing (several sets of underwear, socks, tops, pants, sweatshirt, hat), twin sheet set, a soft throw blanket, full size hygiene items, books, school supplies, a toy or two and a hand-written note of encouragement. Project Foster has received accolades from social workers and family court judges who see the positive impact on vulnerable kids who often move from home to home with their meager belongings stuffed into a trash bag.
Project Foster has delivered over 2,700 filled bags to Orange County foster kids since its inception in early 2023. Each bag has a retail value of $200-$250 (teens). Most funding is provided through cash and in-kind donations from generous nonprofits, corporations, churches and individuals who often join us for packing events. The budget for fiscal 25/26 excludes outside donations but does include our hope for shared warehouse or commercial space at an estimated annual rental cost of $35,000. This would allow Project Foster to manage and store inventory, handle deliveries and host packing events under one roof.
Project Scholarship/Project Literacy
DPWC supports education and literacy by providing scholarships to local female high school graduates pursuing higher education in trade schools, colleges or universities. In addition, it holds annual book drives to support literacy and supports summer reading programs for kids and adult literacy programs.
Scholarships to teens recognize academic, athletic and extra-curricular excellence while considering financial need. Annual book drives support local schools and cash donations support programs promoting literacy for children and adults. In FY 24/25 DPWC awarded six $1500 scholarships to local graduating females, and held book drives providing $3,927 in kind donations of books to a local elementary school library and to a school destroyed in the Altadena wildfires.
Project SparkPoint
Project SparkPoint benefits Orange County United Way’s SparkPoint Program in South OC, a financial literacy program aimed at preventing homelessness by empowering our most vulnerable families and survivors of exploitation. Direct fundraising allows DPWC to support this worthy program which helps vulnerable families and individuals. One on one 12 week programs help each family reduce debt, improve credit scores increase savings, enhance revenue and reduce expenses in order to prevent homelessness and empower them with tools that will allow them to not just survive but thrive.
DPWC has held annual fundraisers to support Project SparkPoint. In fiscal 2025, it donated $32,000 to this worthy program.
Other Projects
DPWC supports other worthy causes including Project Nourish (support of food banks), Project Angel Tree (providing Christmas gifts to vulnerable local families, ensuring that all family members under 18 receive gifts), Handbags for Hearts (donating gently used handbags stuffed with toiletries and essentials to approximately 100 local women annually), Project Military (hosting drives for military families and donating funds to local military support groups) and other one time causes.
In fiscal 2025, DPWC provided cash and in-kind donations totalling $30,342 to these other projects.
CONTACT
Dana Point Women's Club
P O Box 205
Dana Point, California 92629
Toni Nelson
Phone: 714-654-2345