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Community Corner

Patch Picks: Top 5 Temecula Non-Profits

We're well into the new decade now. How will it be different than the last one? What role will we play in it? These non-profits ask those questions constantly.

We’re well into the new decade now. How will it be different than the last one? What role will we play in it? As global events like the political change in Egypt show, we’re in an era where the need to be conscious and involved in the improvement of the world is at a generational high.

We at Patch want to highlight those altruistic groups, clubs and movements which aim to make our communities better places to live and accomplish that all the time. Here are some organizations of note in the Temecula area:

30141 Antelope Rd D-103,

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Menifee, CA 92584

951-677-9661

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Murrieta-based Project TOUCH is the benefactor of Temecula’s newest homeless shelter, located in a vacant church building off Rancho California Road. The volunteer group shelters homeless people from around southwest Riverside County during cold, rainy weather. Project TOUCH stands for “Together Our Unity Conquers Homelessness.”

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28870 Pujol Street

Temecula, CA 92590

951-676-8022

Director Margie Hammersly and her staff at the food pantry feed and clothe impoverished families. They also supply toys and gifts for children and showers for the homeless. The pantry’s services increase in local demand as the recession deepens.

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Temecula Valley Slow Food

27636 Ynez Road #298

Temecula, CA 92591-5600

951-296-7427

Slow Food’s mission is to sure Temecula of “fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions, encourage knowing where food is grown, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.” They host many community events. They sponsored recent organic gardens in several local schools.

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Safe Alternatives For Everyone (S.A.F.E.)

28910 Pujol Street,

Temecula, CA 92590

951-587-3900

S.A.F.E. provides charitable services for youth and families who are around or have already been exposed to physical and emotional abuse. They host many charity-based community events, including the upcoming 9th Annual S.A.F.E. Denim & Diamonds annual fundraiser on May 14.

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29141 Vallejo Ave,

Temecula, CA 92592

951-676-6262

Temecula’s Hope Lutheran Church is credited with dishing an invaluable assist to the city by allowing Project TOUCH to set up its new homeless shelter on one of their properties, the former Mountain View Community Church building. TOUCH will run the shelter there until at least April, but the organizers hope to buy the building, which currently has a $3.1 million asking price tag.

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