A former first lady of California is its namesake. At the decades-old site that houses its current headquarters, workers during the Great Depression laid the concrete foundation.

Run by the Sisters of Social of Service, the Stanford Settlement Neighborhood Center is an established part of Sacramento’s safety net for the less fortunate. However the 72-year-old hub of youth and senior activities is in danger of losing some long-running programs because of financial reasons.

With expired grants and the state’s budget crunch mostly to blame, executive director Sister Jeanne Felion says her organization must raise $300,000 by June to save its badly-needed teen and children’s programs. Youths from ages six to 17 — nearby residents from the city’s low-income Gardenland district — stand to lose the most.

“We are facing some of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make,” Sister Felion said. “There are a lot of negative influences around here. The kids will tell you that. Our kids need social experiences to avoid those negative patterns, and that’s what we provide.”

At stake are both the after-school program — which currently serves 45 kids between the ages of six and 12 — and teen activities center. Housed on the grounds of a former elementary school in Sacramento’s gritty north end, the two separate buildings are a refuge of pool tables, arts, crafts and video games. The staff also conducts regular conflict management exercises, teaching an alternative to the neighborhood norms.

The existence of nearby crime was all too apparent the day the center handed out Christmas food baskets to neighborhood residents. A late December morning saw Stanford Settlement continue its longstanding “Operation Cratchit” tradition, named after the character Bob Cratchit from Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol.” A shooting took place at a house up the street on West El Camino Avenue early that morning. Local television crews scrambled to the scene.

Sister Felion said the incident was drug-related. “And the kids who come through here aren’t angels,” she added.

Prime targets for donations for the teen and children’s programs include local corporations, and generous individuals such as one local prominent politician. Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson — who represents the area — has pledged $5,000 to the cause.

Taking cost of living into account, California is the country’s third-worst state in regards to the percentage of citizens who live in poverty, according to Catholic Charities of California.

It was such a need to serve less-fortunate children that motivated Jean Stanford to act at the turn of the 20th century. While she and husband Leland Stanford Sr. established a university to bear her late son’s name in 1891 in Palo Alto, she began the Stanford Home for Children nine years later in Sacramento. The Sisters of Mercy operated the orphanage, which moved from the former governor’s one-time mansion to nearby North Highlands in the 1980s.

Stanford Settlement began as an offshoot in 1936 to serve both young people and the elderly. It moved to its current location in the Gardenland area in 1963. The area’s residents are mostly poor and mainly Hispanic, just as they were when the center relocated.

“It’s fun to be in here with your friends, instead of doing bad stuff in the streets,” said 14-year-old Juan Creciado, a nearby resident and one of eight children in his family. “I have friends in gangs. Those are the kinds of kids who’ve made bad choices for their future.”

Art Morales first came to Stanford Settlement as a third-grader. “It’s fun to hang out with your friends and just chill,” he said, “because we have nothing to do.”

The cause-at-hand is of special significance to Sister Felion, now in her fifth decade of service at Stanford Settlement. She grew up in Sacramento and graduated from Grant High School, where Creciado and Morales are both students. Assignments with the Sisters of Social Service in Kansas City, Mo., and San Diego preceded her arrival here in 1966.

“I’ll have a good idea by the end of January if we can keep the programs going. There’s a lot wrong with the neighborhood here,” she said. “We like to think of ourselves as something right.”

She’s passed along her legacy to the current staff. Kristina Lemmons — who graduated recently from UC Davis with a degree in social work — is one of two full-time staff who serve the teen center. One staff member and two volunteers mind the young ones in the after-school program.

Lemmons knows the stakes are high.

“A lot,” she said when asked what the neighborhood would be missing without Stanford Settlement. “I don’t see myself working anywhere else. I’d absolutely miss it.”

Individuals interested in making contributions can send them to Stanford Settlement, 450 W. El Camino Ave., Sacramento, CA 95833. Inquiries can be directed to (916) 927-1303.

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