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Kindness Award For High School Seniors Catching On

March 15, 2012 By
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CUPERTINO — A third high school in the Fremont Union High School District is now looking to recognize seniors for kindness, alongside the usual awards for academic and sports achievements.

Lynbrook High School now has its own Sandlot Award, a spin-off from the Justin Perkins Sandlot Award begun at Monta Vista High School in 2009. It was named for the inspirational student who passed away from cancer in 2008, and is specifically designed to single out students who display kindness to their peers and the world.

Last month Good Neighbor Stories chronicled how that award evolved and is now offered to both Monta Vista and Cupertino High School students. A co-creator of the award and founder of the Sandlot Hero website, Steven Young, enlisted fellow Lynbrook alums Howard Doi and Debbie Luck, and Lynbrook ASB President Kevin Tu, to bring the award to Lynbrook.

“Lynbrook is one of those schools that is academically oriented. A lot of the awards are around academics or sports,” Doi said. The Lynbrook High School Sandlot Award will instead look for students who are helping others “because they want to, not because of the recognition. We want to find those kinds and honor them for what they do.” [Read more…]

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Beautiful Day Dawning: Group Calls Out to Volunteers for April Service Week

March 8, 2012 By
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Beautiful Day, San Jose’s largest annual volunteer service event, is back next month with ambitious plans to serve all 10 districts of the city, plus a nonprofit farm in Sunnyvale, and miles of the area’s freeways.

With the theme of “Serving Our Community is How We Roll”, the organization is putting out a call for thousands of volunteers to take action between April 21 and 29. Most of the projects are taking place the weekend of April 28-29. The Beautiful Day website includes information on each project and an easy online registration form for those interested.

From fixing houses, to rehabilitating school campuses, to cleaning creeks and putting on a carnival and dance for special needs students, there are numerous opportunities to serve. Many of the projects are family friendly.

The faith-based group collaborates with local governments, nonprofits, churches, and businesses to pull off the large number of projects concentrated in one week. Since 2004 the event has grown from smaller clean-up and fix-up projects to the massive operation it is today. Beautiful Day organizers estimate that approximately 2,400 volunteers participated in last spring’s one-week event—and they may double that this April. [Read more…]

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Five Ways to be a Good Neighbor in March

March 1, 2012 By
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Each month we offer up five suggestions of how to be a good neighbor, either in your neighborhood, the larger Bay Area, or the world. Here are five ideas for March. From encouraging children and teens, to being an urban farmer for a day, to celebrating Women’s History Month, you can make a difference this month. Got more ideas? Share them in the comments section.

  1. Encourage Courage: Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) invites volunteers to help “coach” young special needs athletes. Each coach is paired with a child that has disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or other developmental issues. The coach helps the child participate in sports activities, and have a good time while playing. There are two opportunities to serve in San Francisco on March 4 and 18, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sign up through handsonbayarea.org.
  2. Farmer For A Day: Full Circle Farm in Sunnyvale would love to have you come till some soil for a few hours. Or do some weeding, [Read more…]
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Send Us Your Good News!

February 23, 2012 By
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There’s a lot of good news out there in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it’s hard to cover all of it. That’s why we’re asking you to help us by sending us stories and photos that show something good happening. Maybe you or your family volunteered to help someone or an organization, or your neighborhood had a block party, or your nonprofit or church did something to help others, raise money, or just have fun. If you did good, we want to see it!

Use our Contact form or Share Your Story to send us the info about what took place. If we can use your submission, we’ll contact you about receiving photos.

Spread the word!

 

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Commentary: Why I’m Not Buying Girl Scout Cookies This Year

February 21, 2012 By
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I realize what I am about to say is pure heresy in the United States of America: I am not going to buy Girl Scout Cookies this year. Maybe forever.

As a fan of the tasty cookies, I do not relish my decision. However, over the last decade I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the practice of youth sales of unhealthy products in the face on an increasingly disturbing childhood obesity epidemic.

I am not saying I will stop supporting Girl Scouts and other youth organizations. I will continue to contribute monetary donations to the organizations I’ve supported in the past through their sales. Just this past weekend I gave money to a troop selling cookies outside my local supermarket.

Why I Won’t Buy The Cookies and Why Cookie Sales Need to Stop

With near epidemic proportions of childhood obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and other dangerous diseases in the U.S., youth organizations need to take a leadership role in advocating for healthy eating and lifestyles. That means taking sugar and fat-laden products out of kids’ hands, [Read more…]

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Award Honors High School Seniors Doing Good for Others

February 20, 2012 By
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CUPERTINO — The old truism that “you get what you measure” holds in this high-pressure academic community, where high school students are often measured most often by their grades. Yet one local group of people is seeking to measure something different: kindness.

Since 2009 the family and friends of Albert Perkins have recognized high school seniors from Cupertino making a difference in the world with the Justin Perkins Sandlot Award. It’s named for Albert Perkins’ son Justin, a Monta Vista student and football player who died of cancer in 2008.

“The award is in honor of Justin Perkins and what he stood for in terms of helping others,” said Cathy Gatley, chairperson of the 2012 awards committee. The honor comes with a scholarship and a unique trophy created by a sculptor.

Justin Perkins was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2003 during his junior year at Monta Vista, just after the last football game of the season. [Read more…]

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Got a Story to Share? Passionate About an Issue? Guest Blog With Us

February 17, 2012 By
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Are you passionate about an issue of social importance to the Silicon Valley? Do you care deeply about your neighborhood? Belong to a group that’s making a difference? We want to hear from you.

Good Neighbor Stories is looking for guest bloggers to post on our site. Our goal is to feature voices from around the valley, and from a wide array of communities of interest. Our site is here to highlight stories about Silicon Valley people making a difference in the world. But we can’t do it alone.

Blog posts need not be long or eloquent. They will be proofread and approved before being posted for public view. They just have to be about people or organizations helping others. It’s a fantastic way to get the word out about your community or organization.

If you are interested, or have any questions, contact editor Pam Marino. Or submit a brief story to our Share Your Story page for consideration.

 

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Peace Cranes for Japan Update

February 17, 2012 By
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One of our more popular posts last year told the story of people folding thousands of paper origami cranes to raise money in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011.

More than 700,000 cranes were received from all over the U.S. and other parts of the world in just six weeks. In honor of those efforts, a foundation donated $400,000 toward rebuilding efforts.

We’re happy to report that money is going to good use today through the organization Students Rebuild. Read all about what they are doing in Japan on the organization’s website.

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Random Acts of Kindness Day: What Kindness Will You Show Someone?

February 17, 2012 By
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“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.” — Fred Rogers

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day, the culmination of Random Acts of Kindness Week. My hope is that our world was a little nicer this week, as people reached out to one another in kindness. I think of it as that well known ripple effect, when you toss a pebble into a pool of water, and the circles reach out far and wide. Hopefully the random acts performed here and there are rippling all over our neighborhoods and world.

Did you perform an act of kindness? Did someone do something nice for you? Share with us in the comments.

If you haven’t tried showing kindness to someone this week, there’s still today (and tomorrow, and the next day….). Below are several suggestions. Check out our entries on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for more.

  • If someone you know lost a loved one in the past year, send then a note or some flowers to let them know you are thinking about him or her as they mourn the loss
  • Take a container of homemade soup to a sick friend (see my easy recipe below)
  • Plant a few flowers where others can enjoy them
  • Shop at a locally-owned business and find something encouraging to say to the owner
  • Write a few inspirational sayings on cards and leave them in public places for others to find [Read more…]
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Random Acts of Kindness Week: Day 4

February 16, 2012 By
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Each day during Random Acts of Kindness Week we’re listing several kindness suggestions. We hope this week has felt just a little nicer to you, either because someone showed you some kindness, or because you spread a little kindness to others. Got a story of kindness from this week? Please tell us!

In the meantime, here are today’s ideas:

  • Offer to do some yard work for a neighbor
  • Look someone straight in the eye, ask them how they are, and then really listen
  • Organize a mini-food drive for the local food bank on your block or in your building
  • Set a goal to compliment at least five people today
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