Events and Awards

Harmony At Home awarded $200,000 as part of Chick-Fil-A’s True Inspiration Award

Harmony At Home Selected to Receive $200,000 from Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Harmony At Home, a Monterey County area nonprofit, has been named the recipient of a $200,000 grant through the annual Chick-fil-A® True Inspiration Awards® program. This grant will help further Harmony At Home’s efforts in the community. More than 2,700 applicants participated.

“We received the #1 award for the Western region of the United States and look forward to furthering our mission to end the cycles of violence and abuse by empowering children and young adults with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead healthy and productive lives,” said President/CEO, Julianne Leavy.

Harmony At Home is one of 46 True Inspiration Awards grant recipients in 2023 that are receiving a collective $5 million. To be selected for a grant, organizations must work to address key issues that align with Chick-fil-A’s corporate social responsibility priorities: Caring for People, Caring for Others through Food, Caring for our Communities, and Caring for our Planet, a new category added to this year.

The True Inspiration Awards were established in 2015 to carry on Chick-fil-A Founder S. Truett Cathy’s legacy of generosity and community service. Since that time, 250 grants have been distributed to organizations located across 36 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada, impacting more than 3.5 million people. Individual grants range from $30,000 to $350,000.

“Through our True Inspiration Awards grant program, Chick-fil-A helps empower local nonprofits that are leading positive change and creating tangible impact throughout the communities they serve,” said Brent Fielder, senior director of corporate social responsibility for Chick-fil-A, Inc. “This year, we added a new grant category – Caring for our Planet – to help support additional nonprofits that act as good stewards of the planet we share. It is our pleasure to invest in the growth and legacy of all our 2023 recipient organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada.”

To learn more about the Chick-fil-A True Inspiration Awards program, visit chickfila.com/true-inspiration-awards.

Open House @ Sugar Farms Marketplace

RSVPs sent to info@sugarfarmsmp.com with party size and last name.

Find out more details here!

Local Artisans, Local Wine, Local Food, Local Non-Profits… Let’s get together and show some love for our locals!

Join us in celebrating the talented local artisans that make up Sugar Farms Marketplace with an Open House Celebration. But wait, there’s not going to be just ONE Open House Celebration at Sugar Farms Marketplace… There’s going to be THREE!

Sugar Farms is an artisanal marketplace that offers primarily locally sourced gifts that are handmade and/or one-of-a-kind. They offer products for the keen buyer wanting something that is not only unique but also of high-quality. The marketplace, located in the courtyard of Carmel Plaza, features various vendor stalls focusing on each artisan’s creation telling a small story about not just the product but also the creator of the product. This unique shopping experience allows buyers see exactly how the product came to be and by whose hands it was created.

On Friday, February 11th, February 25th and March 11th, from 5PM – 8PM we invite you to meet the artisans, see their creations up close, ask questions, experience the wonder and enjoy yourself while supporting local artisans, sipping local wine from Hahn Family Winery and enjoying tasty small bites from various locations including local favorite, The Cheese Shop. There will also be opportunities to enter fun raffles and giveaways as well as to learn more about a few local non-profits

In this beautifully crafted video, you are provided with an insider look into the impact of our Harmony At Home programs through first-hand experiences shared by youth, parents, staff, and school partners. Thank you to Mag One Media, Producer Esmeralda Montenegro Owen, Chualar School, and our many program and staff participants for your participation!

This year, for our 11th annual Harmony At Home Luncheon, we celebrate our biggest turnout to date! We had an incredible series of speakers from Walter Colton Middle School, King City Union School District and our teen programs! Thanks to Mag One Media and their production team, we also shared a video highlighting our Teen Success program, Chualar School students who participated in our Student-Led Assembly, and our Teen Camp!  Our luncheon wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful sponsors including: Leach & Walker, Harden Ranch Plaza, PGI Management, Integris, Carmel Realty Company – Elizabeth Dini, Ocean Mist, Foxy Couture, Pacific Valley Bank, Hayashi Wayland, Goldsmith Real Estate,  Noland, Hamerly, Etienne & Hoss, and Vanderbilt CPAs. We would also like to thank our in-kind sponsors: YOSAL, Mag One Media, Carmel High School Art Class, Sur at the Barnyard-Carmel, Gilroy Gardens, Carmel Youth Center, Corral de Tierra Country Club, Fleurs du Soleil, Monterey Zoo, Bokay Nursery,  Cristo Rey Imports, Star Market, Beauty Counter, and Matsui Nursery. THANK YOU!

Julianne Leavy, Harmony At Home’s Executive Director, wins the KCBA Fox 35 High Five award! Julianne was nominated by Patricia Escobar for making a positive impact on her life and throughout Monterey County! 

Patricia along with KCBA Fox 35 and the Monterey Credit Union recognize Julianne Leavy’s ability over the past 15 years to build a thriving non-profit that continues to support local families, schools, and children with the tools to lead healthy and productive lives!

Four years ago Harmony At Home received a $3,000 dollar donation from a group of prisoners at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad CA.

We were surprised, shocked, and grateful! We wanted to know how and why prisoners in Soledad could and would send us this generous donation. We learned that every year various groups of prisoners who will likely spend the rest of their lives in prison, participate in programs that help them give back to the community.

We met with the prisoners to thank them and learn more about their motivation for giving to Harmony At Home. They shared quite a bit with us and it became apparent that they were remorseful for their past crimes and wanted to repay the community as best they could. They acknowledged that no matter how much charity they performed, they could never make up for the pain they caused the victims of the crimes they committed. They shared with us that they wished that there had been prevention  programs like Sticks & Stones and Bullying Prevention when they were in school. They believe whole heartedly that if they had been provided this type of support they likely would have chosen a different path. After our first visit to the prison, the following year we received another check for $4,000! We decided we wanted our community to see and hear from the prisoners themselves. We went down to thank them again and after getting the prison system in CA to support this project, we went back down to Soledad to capture their generosity on film!

Harmony At Home’s 10th Annual Luncheon

This year we celebrated our 10th annual Harmony At Home luncheon at Corral De Tierra Golf Club! We had several highlights this year including a surprise award for Gail Bengard delivered by the youth she has served, an incredible MC – Patterson, a successful silent auction, and our phenomenal speakers:

  • Deneen Guss – Deputy Superintendent of MCOE
  • Chris Devers from MCOE Alternative Education Program
  • Edgar, Isaac, Iris, and Maria – Youth Speakers

Thank you also to our many sponsors this year:

  • PGI Management
  • Harden Ranch
  • Integris Wealth Management
  • Bonifacio Properties
  • JFG Realty Advisors
  • Noland, Hamerly, Etienne, & Hoss
  • Elizabeth Dini – Alain Pinel
  • Foxy Couture
  • Pacific Valley Bank
  • Law office of Barbara J. May
  • Goldsmith Real Estate
  • Leach & Walker
  • Vanderbilt CPAs
  • Fleurs du Soleil
  • Precision Nails
  • Photography by Charles Knight
Break the Cycle

Join us on August 11th at CVAC for an hour of cycling to support Harmony At Home with our Bullying Prevention efforts! As you can see from the CVAC events page each hour has a theme and we have been encouraged to “dress the part”! According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 21% of students ages 12-18 have experienced bullying. So, CVAC has challenged us to obtain 21 points to ‘break the cycle’ and be entered into their grand prize raffle.

Within the Harmony At Home Bullying Prevention program, there have been great improvements with many of their school partners.

  • Fear of bullying among 3rd through 5th grade girls and boys has decreased by 10%
  • Verbal bullying has decreased by 16%/li>
  • Exclusion has decreased by 9%<
  • Student reporting to teachers has increased by 60%

Learn more about the Harmony At Home Bullying Prevention Programs here. Thank you for your support!

In 2018 Harmony At Home was interviewed by Carmel Magazine and we asked to highlight one of our schools, Monterey Park Elementary School, in Salinas City Elementary School District. As you can see from these pictures below, we incorporated student and staff leaders to demonstrate how a partnership of all stakeholders can create a safe school framework to ensure that everyone feels  supported both emotionally and academically. Click here to read the full article.

Teen Success, Inc.

Our 9th annual Harmony At Home luncheon at Corral De Tierra Golf Club had a record breaking turnout this year thank you to our incredible table captains, supporters, sponsors, and speakers! Thank you for those that came from all corners of Monterey County and beyond! Enjoy our photo highlights!

On 4/27/17 Harmony At Home was the 2017 recipient of the Monterey County School Boards Association’s “Excellence in Education Award.”

Harmony At Home’s mission is to end the cycles of violence and abuse by empowering children and young adults with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to lead healthy and productive lives.

Pinkie Weesner receives the Dr. Eldredge Community Service Award

On April 5, 2017, Ms. Frances “Pinkie” Weesner was honored with the Dr. Gene Eldredge Community Service Award from the Child Abuse Prevention Council. Pinkie has been directly responsible for helping Harmony At Home create a more peaceful and safe school and community environment in Salinas. This morning, we had the opportunity to honor her work, dedication, passion and success in helping to stop violence in our schools. Thank you, Pinkie!

Harmony At Home receives the Salinas City Council Award of Champions on August 16, 2016.

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