Santa Clara County families and advocates in the court system had a recent opportunity to enjoy time together over a Thanksgiving meal at a local park and zoo.
Families in the Dependency Wellness Court and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) programs shared in a “Friendsgiving” Nov. 15 at Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose. The event — hosted by Happy Hollow Foundation through a Healthy Living grant from Kaiser Permanente — aimed to give positive experiences to people participating in the dependency wellness court and their families. The voluntary wellness program helps people through recovery, enabling them to reconnect with their loved ones, while the CASA program provides advocates to speak for foster youth in court.
The Friendsgiving feast provided struggling children and families a supportive environment ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Hollow Foundation Executive Director Rhonda Nourse said such uplifting childhood experiences are critical to recovering from trauma. Nearly 200 people attended the event this year, double the amount from 2024. Nourse said she was humbled by attendees sharing what they were thankful for, from clothing and food to sobriety and a roof over their heads.
Children and their families play together at Happy Hollow in San Jose. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.
“It showed that the foundation has a very meaningful role in these people’s lives — just providing this one simple meal … and a positive experience around a holiday,” Nourse told San José Spotlight. “These families have a choice between putting food on the table or a day spent at Happy Hollow. (Through the foundation), kids have an opportunity to create more memories, have access to nature and a day of play in the park and zoo with each other.”
In addition to Friendsgiving, the foundation offers free Senior Safari and Title I events targeting historically underserved communities. Within a 5-mile radius of Happy Hollow are more than 50 Title I schools, Nourse said, but most of the children have never been to the park and zoo.
Shadia Amador, who has four children, appreciated sharing the meal with her family and spending quality time together.
“They went on their first roller coaster,” she told San José Spotlight. “It’s an amazing opportunity. We were gifted and blessed to have this meal, and to be able to do this, because it would have been a huge financial burden. We’ll have the pictures, the memories, and when they get older, they can remember we did fun family outings.”
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Erica Yew presides over the dependency drug treatment court. She said being in a setting where children can run free and parents can play with them is special.
“This is a human story of survival, strength and the love of the community,” Yew told San José Spotlight. “That is the recipe for healing.”
In addition to the families and children invited to the event, a support network of people who went through the wellness program and mentor parents such as Krystal Joye attended. Joye, 43, grew up in the foster care system and said she struggled with addiction for 35 years.
“Anything that could happen to a girl happened to me before I was four years old,” she told San José Spotlight. “I’ve been institutionalized. I grew up in juvenile hall.”
She said going through the court wellness program changed her life. She’s applying to San Jose City College to take classes in alcohol and drug studies and social work to help others.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Erica Yew (left) said being in a setting where children can run free and parents can play with them is special. Photo by Lorraine Gabbert.
Yew said there’s a correlation between childhood trauma and depression, incarceration, mental health issues and addiction.
“We can intervene in a court setting and help families heal,” she said. “We had one mom who had … her rights terminated to the children. She came into family wellness court and was healed. She got her kids back. Then she started to have relationships with her relatives who had adopted some of her kids. Then she could have a relationship with those kids and the family. That healing really does counteract the pain, the damage and the trauma.”
Melissa Elias, another mentor parent who attended the Friendsgiving event, uses her lived experience to uplift others and encourage them to seek help.
Elias said she had five of her children taken away due to her substance abuse, and it took her nine months to get sober.
“I was broken, I was lost. I just couldn’t get clean,” she told San José Spotlight. “I didn’t want to face the pain. I didn’t want to do the work, and I didn’t know how. I was pregnant with my sixth baby, and when I had delivered him, I had two and a half days sober. I knew they were going to call my social worker and take this baby.”
Elias stayed in the hospital for about two weeks due to pre-eclampsia and got clean. After being released, she checked into rehab and said she “fought like hell” to get her kids back.
“I was scared out of my mind, but I did it because I wanted my babies,” she said. “Now I have a daughter in college. My daddy just passed away from cancer, but I got to take care of him. That’s the beauty of recovery. We learn from it and we become stronger.”
Contact Lorraine Gabbert at [email protected].