2012 | Good Neighbor Stories

Five Ways to Be a Good Neighbor in May

May 1, 2012 By Pam Marino

Every month we give you five ways to be a good neighbor. Consider them little nudges to break out of your routine and think and act positively outward toward the community around you. We love to hear your suggestions of how you’re being a good neighbor, so please leave a comment or contact us.

Here are five suggestions for May, 2012.

1. Ride a Bike!: May is National Bike Month; to celebrate there are events around the Bay Area and nationally to get more people out of their cars. Nationally, Bike to Work Week is happening May 14-18, culminating with National Bike to Work Day on the 18th. The inaugural National Bike to School Day is May 9, according to The League of American Cyclists. In San Francisco and other Bay Area communities the 18th annual Bike to Work Day is Thursday, May 10. Bicyclist organizations all over the region are planning events that day, like special energizer stations along commuting routes. Consider joining in on the fun that day as a way to improve your health, the planet’s health, and interact with others in the community. You can also form a team of up to five people for the Team Bike Challenge or Company Bike Challenge, and rack up miles all month to earn points and potentially win prizes.

2. Be Kind to Animals: May 6-12 is Be Kind to Animals Week. The East Bay SPCA is sponsoring a photo contest for photos of “Kind Kids” posing with animals. The Humane Society of Silicon Valley is conducting a class on how to raise orphan kittens on Monday, May 7 (reservations required). They also have a class on Thursday, May 10, “Helping Homeless Cats and Your Community”, for people who want to find out more about how to help homeless kitties. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Good Neighbor Tagged With: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Be Kind to Animals Week, Bike to Work Day, community, East Bay SPCA, Five Ways to be a Good Neighbor, Golden Gate Bridge, Humane Society Silicon Valley, National Bike Month, National River Cleanup Day

Another ‘Beautiful’ Weekend in the South Bay Thanks to Volunteers

April 30, 2012 By Pam Marino

After a weekend of painting, sawing, hammering, raking, weeding, cleaning, and much, much more, the South Bay is shining just a little brighter this week, thanks to the work of an estimated 3,500 volunteers working through the nonprofit group, Beautiful Day.

Many volunteers worked multiple shifts from Friday to Saturday, helping to fill up to 4,600 positions at 26 sites from Milpitas to Morgan Hill, with most of the work centered in San Jose. Last year the event attracted approximately 2,400 volunteers.

Beautiful Day is a faith-based nonprofit that came out of Westgate Church in San Jose in 2004. The group partners with the City of San Jose, secular nonprofits, businesses and other churches to organize a massive regional service event each spring, as well as a smaller event in the fall, along with other projects.

This spring’s event actually got started a week earlier, when volunteers helped prepare some sites for the larger number of volunteers to come. One shift of volunteers worked Wednesday at Full Circle Farm in Sunnyvale.

From work that required a lot of elbow grease, to more personal jobs working with senior citizens, disabled youth and homeless people, Beautiful Day volunteers of all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs, gave of themselves all week. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Beautiful Day, Gardener Neighborhood, Jacob Palomares-Mason, Jaime Bello, Maggie Anderson, Pomeroy Elementary School, Rosemary Steenhausen, Rudy Martinez, Tricia Ringel, Westgate Church, Yacachitoltic

Still Time to Volunteer For Valley’s Largest Service Event

April 26, 2012 By Pam Marino

Sign ups are strong for this weekend’s Beautiful Day service event, but there are still openings for last minute volunteers who want to join in on all the community beautifying action.

At 26 sites around Santa Clara County, project leaders are busy with last-minute preparations before more between 4,000 and 6,000 volunteers show up for various shifts through Sunday.

Project leaders Jim Buchanan and Bob Froese on Thursday were hard at work constructing scaffolding on the back of a handball court at Biebrach Park in the Gardner Neighborhood, where volunteers will repaint an older mural of an Aztec calendar that is much beloved by residents.

The two men are overseeing refurbishing projects all over the Gardener and Burbank neighborhoods on Saturday and Sunday. They said sign ups are strong so far, and they’re expecting last-minute sign ups, as well as people who simply show up.

Other Beautiful Day projects in need of volunteers include a school beautification event at Britton Middle School in Morgan Hill, sprucing up different elementary schools in San Jose, and many others dotted around San Jose. Complete information and registration forms are available on the Beautiful Day website. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Beautiful Day, Bob Froese, Jim Buchanan, service events, volunteers

Thousands of Volunteers Converging in Silicon Valley This Weekend

April 25, 2012 By Pam Marino

Roll up your sleeves, Silicon Valley. This weekend, April 27-29, is possibly the biggest weekend for volunteer service projects, with an estimated 7,000 people expected to donate their time talents for local nonprofit organizations.

Volunteers are refurbishing, renewing and refreshing dozens of homes, neighborhoods, schools, and parks, as well as packaging food for the hungry and more, for groups like Beautiful Day, Rebuilding Together, 4Others , and Youth Community Service.

Add to those events the National MS Walk in San Jose on Saturday, as well as numerous other smaller events, and this is turning out to be a huge weekend for volunteerism in the valley. Continue reading for more information on how to get involved. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: 4others, Beautiful Day, Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley, service events, volunteers, Youth Community Service

Wow! Beautiful Day 2012 Statistics

April 20, 2012 By Pam Marino

The folks at Beautiful Day released some statistics today about next week’s service event. If you’re interested in one of the 4,624 volunteer opportunities, see the Beautiful Day website.

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Beautiful Day, service events, volunteering

San Jose Council Recognizes Beautiful Day On Eve of Volunteer Event

April 18, 2012 By Pam Marino

In recognition of next week’s large-scale Beautiful Day service event in all 10 districts of the city and neighboring communities, the San Jose City Council unanimously awarded the group a special proclamation at its meeting on Tuesday.

“I really think San Jose has the best cadre of volunteers in the whole country,” said Councilmember Rose Herrera, as she presented the proclamation to Beautiful Day Executive Director Jon Talbert and his team in honor of National Volunteer Month.

Herrera encouraged residents to sign up as volunteers for the dozens of Beautiful Day projects around San Jose and the Silicon Valley, most of which take place Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29. A few projects are available this weekend, April 21-22, and the week that follows. Thousands are expected to participate. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Beautiful Day, Jon Talbert, Rose Herrera, San Jose City Council, volunteer events, volunteering

Fourth FUHSD School Adds Kindness Award

April 16, 2012 By Pam Marino

CUPERTINO — A fourth school in the Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) is offering the Sandlot Award, a unique award that recognizes graduating seniors for their kindness and altruism.

“I personally love this award because it recognizes our students who wouldn’t normally be recognized,” said Homestead High School College Advisor Kellee Markos.

She said the Sandlot Award, “embodies a lot of what Homestead prides itself on,” things like the “kindness factor” and an “appreciation for diverse backgrounds.”

Some of the school’s high achieving students in academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities, tend to get recognized over and over again, because so many awards have similar criteria, Markos said. The Sandlot Award, however, is for the students who often go unnoticed for their acts of kindness toward their peers and the community.

Homestead now joins Monta Vista, Cupertino and Lynbrook high schools in offering the Sandlot Award. The deadline for Homestead students to apply is April 25. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Youth Tagged With: Cathy Gatley, Fremont Union High School District, high school seniors, Homestead High School, Justin Perkins Sandlot Award, Kellee Markos, kindness, Monta Vista High School, Sandlot Award

Master Organizer Puts Tools Into the Hands of Thousands of Volunteers

April 13, 2012 By Pam Marino

Get ready Silicon Valley. You’re about to get a makeover, thanks to more than 100 gallons of paint, 441 pieces of lumber, 113 pounds of nails, and a lot of sweat and elbow grease from thousands of volunteers.

It’s all a part of the large-scale April 21-29 service project called Beautiful Day, coordinated by the nonprofit group that goes by the same name. Organizers are working to recruit up to 6,000 volunteers to refurbish homes, neighborhoods, parks, creeks, freeways, an elementary school, and much more. Most of the projects will take place the final weekend, April 28 and 29.

As the recruitment effort goes on, one team within Beautiful Day is working to put the materials and tools into the hands of the volunteers. The Acquisitions Team is lead by a volunteer affectionately known as the “Master Shopper”, Wendy Laugesen.

Laugesen laughs at the reference, and adds that she likes to call herself the “Master Organizer”.

Master Organizer, indeed, as she and her team pull together more than 600 items on a master inventory list. Each line item may have multiples of each item, translating into thousands of materials and tools needed during the week.

From nametags to napkins, to tanbark and tetherballs, Laugesen has it on her list. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: Beautiful Day, donations, Pine Cone Lumber, Pomeroy Elementary School, service events, volunteers, Wendy Laugesen

Five Ways to Be a Good Neighbor in May

Another ‘Beautiful’ Weekend in the South Bay Thanks to Volunteers

Still Time to Volunteer For Valley’s Largest Service Event

Thousands of Volunteers Converging in Silicon Valley This Weekend

Wow! Beautiful Day 2012 Statistics

San Jose Council Recognizes Beautiful Day On Eve of Volunteer Event

Fourth FUHSD School Adds Kindness Award

Master Organizer Puts Tools Into the Hands of Thousands of Volunteers

Follow Us

Community Calendar

Links

Topics

Archives

Join the community!