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Holiday Baskets -

Breaking Barriers is doing holiday food baskets again this year, and again we are asking for your help. Our number of families that have requested baskets has more than quadrupled this year. This means we have almost 400 clients and their families who are in need this year.

You can help by making a donation at the link above to help pay for the costs associated with this program by clicking the Network for the Good logo above, or by clicking here. Each basket costs us around $25.00 between buying the food and delivering it to the clients. You can also bring in canned goods to our offices at 2200 21st st, Sacramento CA 95818.

Lets make sure that everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

About Us

Breaking Barriers Community Services Center is a volunteer supported, service oriented non-profit organization. We have been serving clients in the Greater Sacramento Area since 1995. We established ourselves as an independent agency in January 2001.

Our programs are volunteer supported and provide a wide range of services from transportation to and from appointments, food delivery and household help, to educational outreach, workshops, and case finding. Our clients come from all walks of life, from the homeless living on the streets to people who are housed but in need.

The Mission of Breaking Barriers Community Services Center is to coordinate a community response to assist in the early diagnosis and prevention of and provide care for people living with catastrophic illnesses.
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For more information our programs please click on the outreach tab at the top of the page.

Our motto is "Together we can make a difference One Person At A Time."

Our Staff

Breaking Barriers Community Services Center wouldn't be possible without the hard work and dedication of its volunteers and staff.

Craig Spatola	Executive Director. Craig has been with the agency for over 12 years in various capacities. He was selected by the Board of Directors to lead the agency November 2005. Craig originally came on board way back when the agency was only about six months old and he has been a fixture ever since. He managed Client Services prior to creating the Outreach Programs department. As a person living with AIDS, he brings a personal understanding of living with a catastrophic illness to the leadership of Breaking Barriers. Craig is a past Co-Chair of the Sacramento Valley AIDS Run/Walk, and a founding Crew Member of the NorCal AIDS Challenge bike ride Now that he has shamelessly plugged his two favorite fundraisers, why don't you go visit their websites and make a donation?
Steven Purcell	Deputy Director. Steve supervises both Client Services and Outreach Programs as well as performs many tasks that Craig finds distastful. He has been in many staff positions at Breaking Barriers, increasing his skills and responsibilities over the last seven years. Steve's biggest accomplishment with Breaking Barriers is his ability to put up with Craig for so long and he doesn't even grumble about it very often.
Cavan Tornga	HIV Testing and Prevention Programs Coordinator. Mister Tornga is a relatively recent addition to the Breaking Barriers. Creative, detailed, ambidextrous. Those are his words - here are ours - Cavan is very nice and really does pay attention to detail. He also has a habit of being so soft spoken that we have been known to interrupt him with encouraging sounds like "SPEAK UP" and "I CAN'T HEAR YOU YET!"...
Rachel Pearman	Client Services Program Coordinator. Rachel brings amazing organizational skills to our agency, which takes our work to a whole new level. She has a lot of experience hellping coordinate volunteers and large community events like Sac Pride. Steven says she is going to grow up to become leader of the known world....Rachel has done a lot to revamp the volunteer orientation program and has a true passion for support services.
Marilyn Perkins-Byrd	Outreach Staff. Marilyn has helped us open a new chapter here at Breaking Barriers. Our People Of Color HIV Prevention programs have been running on a shoe string budget for several years for lack of grant support. Starting July 2007, we were awarded funds to renew this program with a special emphasis on high risk African American women. Marilyn brings passion, energy and truckloads of enthusiasm to creating new programs and services to high risk women in Sacramento.
Devin Clardy	Outreach Staff Devin has been with us for ages and ages. Sometimes we joke that we have stolen his youth....but seriously, he is dedicated to HIV prevention and works diligently in the LGBTQ community providing outreach, testing and workshops to high risk Gay/Bi/MSM. You can often find him out and about at FACES and the Depot.
Megan Matheny	Breast Cancer/SNAP Staff Megan will amaze and surprise you. We have seen her sad a couple of times and frown maybe once but on the main, she is one of the most "up" people we have ever had working at Breaking Barriers. Her energy seems boundless and she is always looking for new ways to help our clients. Additionally, she is coordinating the Breaking Barriers Team for the Race For the Cure. Both of these great events are in May, so click on a link and support them!
This could be you!	Are you a volunteer with one of our projects? Why not have a pic of yourself and a bio of your good deeds placed here for posterity?

Click on a staff name below to view more information about them

Craig Spatola

Steven Purcell

Rachel Pearman

Cavan Tornga

Devin Clardy

Claudia McKinney

Megan Matheny

Lisa Medina

Travis Tanner

Craig Spatola

Executive Director. Craig has been with the agency for over 12 years in various capacities. He was selected by the Board of Directors to lead the agency November 2005. Craig originally came on board way back when the agency was only about six months old and he has been a fixture ever since. He managed Client Services prior to creating the Outreach Programs department. As a person living with AIDS, he brings a personal understanding of living with a catastrophic illness to the leadership of Breaking Barriers. Craig is a past Co-Chair of the Sacramento Valley AIDS Run/Walk, and a founding Crew Member of the NorCal AIDS Challenge bike ride
Now that he has shamelessly plugged his two favorite fundraisers, why don't you go visit their websites and make a donation?

Craig@bbcsc.org

Steven Purcell

Deputy Director. Steve supervises both Client Services and Outreach Programs as well as performs many tasks that Craig finds distastful. He has been in many staff positions at Breaking Barriers, increasing his skills and responsibilities over the last seven years. Steve's biggest accomplishment with Breaking Barriers is his ability to put up with Craig for so long and he doesn't even grumble about it very often.

Steve@bbcsc.org

Picture of a cat
Rachel Pearman

Client Services Program Coordinator. Rachel brings amazing organizational skills to our agency, which takes our work to a whole new level. She has a lot of experience hellping coordinate volunteers and large community events like Sac Pride. Steven says she is going to grow up to become leader of the known world....Rachel has done a lot to revamp the volunteer orientation program and has a true passion for support services.

Rachel@bbcsc.org

Cavan Tornga

HIV Testing and Prevention Programs Coordinator. Mister Tornga is a relatively recent addition to the Breaking Barriers. Creative, detailed, ambidextrous. Those are his words - here are ours - Cavan is very nice and really does pay attention to detail. He also has a habit of being so soft spoken that we have been known to interrupt him with encouraging sounds like "SPEAK UP" and "I CAN'T HEAR YOU YET!"...

Cavan@bbcsc.org

Picture of a cat
Devin Clardy

Outreach Staff Devin has been with us for ages and ages. Sometimes we joke that we have stolen his youth....but seriously, he is dedicated to HIV prevention and works diligently in the LGBTQ community providing outreach, testing and workshops to high risk Gay/Bi/MSM. You can often find him out and about at FACES and the Depot.

Devin@bbcsc.org

Picture of a cat
Claudia McKinney

Outreach Staff. Claudia has been helping those in need in Sacramento for many years and has been a great addition to our team here. Claudia works in our People of Color Program. Our People Of Color HIV Prevention programs have been running on a shoe string budget for several years for lack of grant support. Starting July 2007, we were awarded funds to renew this program with a special emphasis on high risk African American women.

Claudia@bbcsc.org

Picture of a cat
Megan Matheny

Breast Cancer/SNAP Staff Megan will amaze and surprise you. We have seen her sad a couple of times and frown maybe once but on the main, she is one of the most "up" people we have ever had working at Breaking Barriers. Her energy seems boundless and she is always looking for new ways to help our clients. Additionally, she is coordinating the Breaking Barriers Team for the Race For the Cure. This great event is in May, so click on a link and support them!

Megan@bbcsc.org

Lisa Medina

Direct Services Staff. Lisa has been with Breaking Barriers a very long time, she recently took some time off to spend more time with her family and has returned to us until the her baby is born sometime soon. Lisa is around mid afternoons to round up and organize our drivers!

Lisa@bbcsc.org

We love to hear from you! Good, bad or indifferent. Drop us a line in any of these ways...

Address
2200 21st St
Sacramento, Ca 95819

Phone Number
(916) 447-2437

Fax
(916) 457-2060

E-mail

General
Admin@bbcsc.org

Outreach Programs
Outreach@bbcsc.org

Client Services
clientservices@bbcsc.org

Picture of a cat

Travis Tanner

Outreach Staff. Travis is our newest team member working under our Education and Prevention department. Although he is just starting out with us we are excited to have him as a part of the team and he has a lot to offer. Travis started out with Breaking Barriers as many of our staff do, volunteering with our programs and decided to take the step to come on board.

Travis@bbcsc.org