Sacred Heart Community Service

I used to donate everything to Goodwill until my mom told me about how Sacred Heart donates to the needy. Every since then, I have been making donations here. They make it easy by just pulling up in your car and taking your items. God bless you guys.

I just returned from Sacred Heart to donate 4 turkeys at this facility.
I just had the WORST experience today with a volunteer that literally cussed out my daughter and I because we turned into the 2 lane driveway without her permission. The lane we were turning into was open and there was no oncoming traffic.
This young woman came walking up to the passenger side window where my daughter was sitting and said, «What the F$%# are you doing? I am directing traffic and I didn’t give you permission to turn in.» We were both on our lunch hour, heard the need for over 1000 turkeys for tomorrow and thought we should bring them down in time for the people signed up to get turkeys tomorrow.
It was stunning to be spoken to by this woman in that fashion. When we told her we were coming to donate turkeys, she thrust a Donor paper at my daughter. It became pretty clear to us that she thought we were one of the needy, coming to «get something» rather than to donate.
I have to wonder if the needy are treated differently from the donors…
We drove to the back and my daughter told the volunteers accepting the donations what had happened. One of the guys, who took it upon himself to apologize to my daughter, said we should go report this to a woman inside that coordinated the volunteers. My daughter went in to speak with her.
Now the next question is, how will Sacred Heart address this? We realize that Sacred Heart cannot be blamed for the actions of their volunteers and this woman was clearly obnoxious and rude… but why? Did she think we were poor and she had the «right» to treat us so badly? or worse yet… to use the «F» word?
My daughters have been volunteers at several local charities and my daughter that was with me regularly donates her clothes and time to the Clothes Closet.
Next year, I will find another charity to donate my turkeys too…
At least 4 families will get a turkey, in spite of the horribly rude and obnoxious volunteer. I hope she isn’t paid staff…

Sacred Heart is still my primary charity. I like their ethics of giving to people in need. I encourage people not to discard items but to donate them. Their volunteers are dedicated and hard working.
I had one problem which may be a state law, I do not know. We bought stuffed animals for children. My husband removed the price tags thinking this was the correct thing to do. They were rejected. The stuffed animals are new and they can be washed. So, do not bring toys without price tags attached to this organization. I saw another man with some sort of building blocks and they were going to deny his donation as well. No building blocks for children? Huh? That is rather strange. Children sit on floors to play. Are the floors inspected before toys are provided? Geez…
I understand they do not want clothing with holes or that is a disaster formally assigned to the rubbish bin. However, people donate clothing that either no long fits, children have outgrown it or they simply no longer wear it. No price tags required here but it isn’t going to be new.

first of all want to thank god for secret heart food and clothes. thank you secret heart. for the food and clothes you give me. not everybody is the same… I’m slow but not slow enough for disability or ssi. I’m not old enough, but I’m too old to work, mild authuritis in my right hand. I’m 51 yrs old. people wud rather hire someone younger. so I’m a housewife… my husband works but gives me 20 a week to buy food and clothes and hygenes bus money. I ask him for orange juice he says buy your own. but the girl he takes care of is mentally I’ll because she has a check he buys her drinks monsters. she pays him back. unfortunately I can’t.but I buy stuff and sell it for more in my fleamarket on craigslist to help me buy my own food if I want a cheese burger or buy fish. secret heart was giving fish for awhile and meat hamburger and steak and chicken. bring it back. people are tired of rice and beans. sacret heart has helped me for more then 15yrs. we can’t afford vegetables or fruit food. savers and goodwill charge you 5 for a nice blouse sweater pants don’t always have money. I don’t get help like most people on ssi SSA get everything for free. but no food stamps. my husband works he buys the food I can’t get food stamps he makes too much money. but he won’t let me pick the food fish and fresh meat. more like hotdogs chili beans beer… ty sacret heart. too bad people take too much clothes they don’t need. maybe put a drawing room so after you can try it on if it don’t fit bring it back. sometimes I get clothes don’t fit.

nice helpful, kind and compassionate

Hi I was in about a month ago to apply for pg&e Assistence i was also back at sacred heart asking them to please call pg&e and tell them I am making a payment thru laHeap and asked the people working there if they would call pg&e ahead of time. They told me my pledge had not come in yet and there really wasn’t anything they could do. but they did it anyway I was able to make a payment plan and they save the day for me! thank you thank you Sacred Heart. The people working in the PG&E assistance we’re very helpful and I appreciate that. This is a kind place! L. Lake

This review is based solely on my experience as a donor.
This organization does a great job at making donating fast and easy. They have a drive up donation drop off station that is staffed with friendly volunteers who will help unload the items from your car and carry them inside. Sacred Heart makes donation efficient and easy and the staff and volunteers are all so nice.

Sacred Heart is always my first choice when it comes to donating any items such as clothes, towels, blankets etc. What I love the most is that these items /​or time I spend volunteering are going directly into the local community for families and individuals who truly are in need and it is at no cost to them, a direct impact in the community I live in, you can’t beat that. I’ve volunteered my time at Sacred Heart many times throughout the years, on both personal time and also with my company. They staff at Sacred Heart make it very easy for volunteers at any level to come in and help any way they can. Each time I’ve volunteer or donated items I always walk away with knowing that I am giving someone a piece of confidence that I carry in myself, and it truly is grounding and humbling experience.

I am a frequent donation giver because they actually give to people in need. I’m constantly «spring cleaning» my closet and every chance I get, I give back to the women and children of Sacred Heart off Alma Avenue in San Jose. Places like Goodwill turn around and sell your items. It’s either dropping off at Sacred Heart or physically handing out items on the street yourself and I don’t have time for that! Thanks Sacred Heart!

If I could give it a negative star I would. I’ve been there twice now. It’s crowded by illegals who stand in line together saving places for each other. Then they pull as much clothing off the racks as they can without even looking at sizes. I asked another woman there what that was about. She told me they grab bags full of clothes to sell at the flea markets. So your donations are going to illegals who sell the items to put money in their pockets instead of for personal use because they need clothes for themselves. Everybody else who is there because they really need the clothes ends up going without or getting what’s left over.
Today I had a woman who spoke no English actually come running from across the room and shove me out of the way grabbing as many clothes as she could, tearing them off the hangers just as soon as they were hung on the rack. Disgusting!
And the website said they were giving out holiday food packages which consisted of either a Chicken, Turkey or honey glazed ham. I received a generic canned ham that is mostly fat and a regular box of food staples. There was absolutely nothing holiday about it. The volunteers are rude and condescending. They were very disorganized and it was really crowded.
Maybe it was free but not really worth the gas money to drive down there.
I work when I can get it and hopefully next year I will be working more hours so I can go buy real holiday food for Christmas. If not I will find another organization to go to instead of this one.
So this year, no holiday dinner, just a fatty canned ham that is barely a step up from spam and canned corn. Yummy! (Sarcasm)

Appreciate what this organization does for the community. In all aspects this organization is helping low-​income families and families in need of support by providing food, education, paper work, and jobs in order to live a better life. I’ll be back to volunteer very soon in the near future.

Give back to the community, donate food and clothing when you can!
Sacred Heart is a GREAT non-​profit organization to support!
Several time thought out the year, my family & I donate food & toys around the holidays and clothing too!
So load up you car or truck and head on over. The grounds has a 1-​way entrance and exit, so pay attention. Park at the drop off and there will be several volunteers to help you unload.
Thank You Come Again–

What a remarkable facility doing GREAT work. Way too many positives to cover quickly so I will pick two elements that stand out. Number 1 has to be the conscientious, hardworking, caring and fun staff. Where do they find such a great group of people? The second is how clean, organized and scalable they have the place. Every organization could learn from how well run this place it.

Great local and neighborhood non-​profit organization to support!
For community service, they are very convenient with shifts (morning, midday, and afternoon) and Saturday mornings. You can also schedule online and schedule multiple shifts in advance at the Volunteer Office. The only requirement is that you attend a 1 hour orientation where you learn about Sacred Heart and it’s foundations and goals.
All the employees here are very friendly and they have many regular volunteers. It’s very humbling to witness, and Sacred Heart is truly a one of a kind experience.
I love donating my goods here because I know that my donations will go straight to those community members who need it. Sacred Heart has it’s Clothes Closet program where they set-​up a clothing store for community members to «shop in». It’s very touching to see my goods go to straight back into the community.
They are very busy during the holiday season and there are tons of ways to get involved. Add them on Facebook for up to date details about what it is going on at their facility! :)

Now it’s not often or in this case, just straight up rare that I review a place that I’ve done community service for. But this place deserves a good review that it should get!
My political science teacher required every student in his class to do 12 hours of community service. Being a last minute person, I found out about this place from another fellow student a couple weeks before class came to an end.
Unlike most places that I’ve volunteered at, Sacred Heart is a very organized organization in what they do and how they run the place. Most of the technical stuff like signing up to volunteer on certain days or checking your hours are done online. A 1 hour orientation is needed in order for you to actually start signing up to volunteer though.
If you just want to get hours quick without a long term commitment, I recommend the warehouse where you work with either food or the clothes. Since I just planned on working only 12 hours, I worked in the warehouse. The clothing area is where customers come in to get a certain amount of clothing under a certain amount of time depending on the family size. You are either assigned to put clothes on hangers, pick up hangers, work behind the booth to count the clothing or check people in before they get their clothes. It’s pretty simple in my opinion. The pantry is where all the food is at and is right next to the clothing area. A good amount of the food here seems to be donated from various grocery stores. Duties are a kind of unclear to me since I only worked here once. From what I know and saw though was that duties can include organizing food into crates, packing food bags and handing them out. Slightly better and a bit more fun that the clothing area but it DOES require a good amount of muscle and strength to do this job. Two skills that I lack of in my twig like figure. D: Nearly broke my back lifting all those bread crates! #firstworldproblems
Though I was never a fan of having to do community service in the first place for class, the last couple hours that I did here were kind of bittersweet. I met some great people here who come to volunteer on their spare time out of the goodness of their heart, the staff here are soooooo darn friendly and the atmosphere of this place was full of positive energy!
My experience here was so pleasant that I made it my goal to volunteer here at least once a year. AND SO SHOULD YOU!
PS: parking is extremely limited here so don’t even bother entering into the small lot. There’s plenty of parking on the street and in the Denny’s lot… even though you’re not suppose to park there… :P

What a Great Organization. I volunteered with a group of Elite Unilocalers. Unilocal Cm’s Abby and Courtney arranged it. We went through a brief orientation then we were assigned to different jobs through out the facility. They provide Food, Clothes and Education to the Needy.
Its a great feeling to help out someone less fortunate than you.
Give It A Try.

Had the distinct pleasure of volunteering at Sacred Heart this past Saturday for their busiest day of the year.
Yes, I just used the words «distinct pleasure» and «volunteering» in the same sentence!
In my many years of volunteering, I’ve not yet run across a group of such caring, organized and professional people like Sacred Heart. Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by a friendly volunteer coordinator who got us signed in quickly and we were given a short but helpful orientation. Very few short term (just a few hours here and there) volunteer programs provide an overview of their services and ask you to please be patient and kind with their «customers». And the fact that they call the community which they serve «customers» is definitely a reflection of the level of service that’s provided.
Was given the task of bagging mass quantities of food into smaller portions for families to pick up/​take home. Fellow Unilocalers Janet and Scott helped to break down giant bags of potatoes, carrots and onions with me. It wasn’t glamorous work, but we were told that this is a very important job done every single week. The sheer amount of food that Sacred Heart distributes every Monday is incredible!
A lot of our team helped to sign up families for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners as well as Christmas toys for the little ones. Even though customers had to wait in line for a long time (sometimes an hour or more!), they were incredibly friendly and thanked the Sacred Heart staff/​volunteers more than once. It was incredibly heartwarming to say the least!
If you are looking for a community service organization where you could donate your time and feel like it’s worth it, definitely look up Sacred Heart. Although we were there on their busiest day, they can ALWAYS use an extra set of hands for different projects! OR if you’d rather do a donation drive for food or clothing, they can help you organize one. Our Unilocal group is already in the process of planning a warm coat drive in December. Feel free to ask me about it!

Helped out here today (thanks to Unilocal for introducing me!). I hadn’t heard about it before, but since it was in my neighborhood I really wanted to check it out.
The people are super nice and the services they offer are not only compassionate but empowering. As a service, they’re friendly and non-​judgmental. Not only do they help people with immediate needs to make their lives better, but they help them by giving them access to services and education that can help them have a better life.
I think they originally were a religious organization, but they’re not pushy about it and it seems like there are a lot of different types of people who work and volunteer there who share a common hope and goal. As a not really religious person, I did not feel uncomfortable there and could focus on the original reason I was there– which was to serve others. They also seem very well organized.
They always need volunteers (unlike some other organizations that are often overwhelmed with volunteers), and they need all sorts of volunteers with all different skills. If you want to volunteer with them, you should contact their volunteer office via the form on their webpage or their phone number.
If you don’t have time to volunteer, they also always are in need of donations and during the holidays they have an even greater need for toys and food.

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Another organization that needs donations and volunteers more than ever during this economic down turn, Sacred Heart Community Service provides food, clothes for more than 40,000 people last year. Their vision is a community united to ensure that every child and adult is free from poverty in the South Bay Area.
I’ve been taking my older niece to come here since she was only 7 years old. Now she becomes a regular with me. We help to sort food to bag and it’s a lot of fun. We got to meet so many great individuals with big hearts here through the year.
Seeing the less fortunate smile when they receive a bag of food, it’s priceless feeling. They alway need volunteer and donation, so please lend a hand when you can.
It’s a great organization, and people that work there are really nice and genuine.
My mom always said «honey, you got 2 hands, 1 to feed yourself and 1 to feed others!» So true, so true!

There is nothing better than giving back to your community. San Jose, like any other city, is always happy to accept help. Sacred Heart is one of those awesome organizations looking for volunteers, whether it be individuals or groups. I feel very blessed to have doubled our numbers from last year, and can only hope to increase the amount of volunteers.
We were assigned to the same area as before, and with 29 fresh faces, we had plenty of muscle and enthusiasm to get the job done. Our group was mainly focused on packing grocery bags, however, some of us got pulled to do office work and other type of tasks. For the most part, everyone was focused. We had some hiccups in the beginning, with having extra volunteers, but no one was turned away.
If you want to volunteer at SH, here are some helpful hints:
*Email them, don’t call.
*Make sure you confirm the correct amount of volunteers. If not, some of you may be turned away.
*Wear comfy clothes and comfy shoes.
*Don’t bring purses or anything that can interfere with you working.
*A break room is available on premises, and yes you have access to water.
*Parking is limited and you might be able to park in their gated area but it all depends on the day. To be safe, you can park around the neighborhood to allow for people who are bringing donations easier access.
*If you have back issues, make sure to indicate that to the coordinator. Some of the jobs require heavy lifting.
*If you truly want to volunteer, GO. IF not, don’t waste anybody’s time.
Last but not least, remember the overall goal. You are there to help, so if it means you sweeping or doing something you normally don’t do, just remember that the city of San Jose appreciates you!