St. John's Shelter Celebrates Mothers at Annual Tea Party
Five Sacramento Area Activist Moms to be Honored

Sacramento - Five “Super Moms” will be honored by St. John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children on Friday, May 8th, announced Michele Steeb, Executive Director of St. John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children. These five honorees will be recognized for their contributions to both their families and the Sacramento community at the third annual “Celebrating Mothers 2009, A St. John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children Tea Party” benefit set for 1:30 p.m., Friday, May 8, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento. Eight hundred guests are expected to attend the Mother’s Day-themed event.

St. John’s is the only shelter program in Sacramento County focused exclusively on homeless women with children - the most vulnerable of the homeless population. Its mission is to support families to advance from a point of crisis to a position of self-sufficiency. Since 1985, the Program has served more than 24,000 displaced women and children. The country’s economic downturn has brought increased attention to the problem of homelessness in Sacramento and the work that organizations such as St. John’s are doing to assist these families in returning to our community as productive and empowered contributors to the community versus a continued drain on our increasingly scarce resources. St. John’s Shelter was featured recently on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has received additional local, national and international coverage for its innovative and successful program.

This year’s five Super Moms are as follows: Julie Steinberg— Mother, community activist and wife of Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, Congresswoman Doris Matsui—Mother and Member of Congress, Terry Halleck—Mother and President, Golden One Credit Union, Dr. Thelma Scott-Skillman—Mother and President, Folsom Lake College, Michelle Upchurch—St. John’s Alumna Mother of the Year.

“These women are ‘role model mothers’ in every sense of the phrase said Steeb. “They are not only extraordinary mothers to their families they are extraordinarily giving mothers to our community. We thank them for who they are and what they do as they make our community a much better place in which to live.” The Tea Party is being co-chaired by Mayor Kevin Johnson, Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta McGlashan and Kathy McKim, Vice President-External Affairs, North/Central AT&T California. Its major sponsors include AT&T, Chevron and the Sacramento Business Journal.

Last year’s event wildly exceeded our expectations,” said Steeb. “And this, despite the very challenging economy, we are expecting 800 attendees! It’s so gratifying to see the Sacramento community respond to the needs of this rapidly growing population. Though we have 100 beds, our average daily capacity this year is 112 women and children, and yet, we are still turning away more than 280 women and children each day,” said Steeb.

St. John’s mission is to support homeless women with children to advance from a point of crisis to a position of self-sufficiency. St. John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children is the ONLY shelter program in Sacramento County focused exclusively on women with children - the most vulnerable of the homeless population. Since 1985, the program has served more than 24,000 displaced women and children. In 2008 the lives of more than 1,300 women and children were transformed at St. John’s. Tickets are $ 75.00 each and are available through www.stjohnsshelter.org or by calling Debbie Uhrenholt at either 916-207-6361 or at debbieuhrenholt@comcast.net.