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Nvidia’s Project Inspire Set to Transform San Jose Urban Farm

December 4, 2012 By
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The largest employee service event in Silicon Valley, Nvidia’s Project Inspire, is set totally transform the urban farm Veggielution this coming Project-Inspire-Nvidia-largest-employee-holiday-service-project-Full-Circle-Farm-Sunnyvale-featured-in-Good-Neighbor-Stories-2013-Datebookweekend, Dec. 7-8, similar to a major urban farm project the group undertook last year at Full Circle Farm in Sunnyvale in lieu of a company holiday party.

Project Inspire’s 2011 event at Full Circle Farm is featured in the Good Neighbor Stories 2013 Datebook.

This year approximately 1,500 employees, their families and friends, and other community workers, are expected to descend upon Veggielution, located at Emma Prusch Farm Park in San Jose. In just two days the group is planning on expanding the farm from two acres to six. Projects include building a permanent farm stand, a teaching kitchen, and a produce washing and packing shed. Project Inspire’s volunteers will also install new irrigation, plant native hedgerows, and complete many other tasks.

Veggielution’s Executive Director Amie Frisch called the massive influx of employees along with an investment of $300,000 from Project Inspire a “game changer” for the farm.

The mission of Veggielution is to create “a more sustainable food system in San Jose. We empower people to change the way they think about food by getting their hands in the soil, connecting with the land, and tasting the fruits of their labor.”

Be inspired every day in 2013! Get your limited edition Good Neighbor Stories 2013 Datebook today!

Filed Under: Holidays, Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Beautiful Day “Mini-Me” Open to Volunteers on Nov. 17

November 12, 2012 By
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The nonprofit group Beautiful Day is looking for volunteers on Saturday, Nov. 17, for the autumn “mini” version of its massive springtime service event in San Jose.

The group organized six volunteer projects for the upcoming weekend; two are already full to capacity with volunteers. At the two full projects volunteers are making over a local elementary school and caring for the roses at San Jose’s beloved Municipal Rose Garden.

The remaining open projects include:

  • Painting big, colorful playground maps of the United States at four area elementary schools, two in Sunnyvale and two in Santa Clara. There are two shifts available , 8 a.m. to 12 noon, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The project is open to all ages.
  • Cleaning up and helping out neighbors in the immediate area of Westgate Church in San Jose; there are two shifts, 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The project is open to ages 13 and up.
  • Picking up trash on the area’s freeways on Saturday morning. This is for ages 18 and up only.
  • Adopting families for Christmas. Rather than a specific project this weekend, Beautiful Day is looking for people to help sponsor needy families in the area for the holidays.

For more information on the projects and how to sign up, see the Beautiful Day website. And check out the Good Neighbor Stories Beautiful Day Page, with links to all of our past stories about the group.

 

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Got Weekend Chores? We All Do on Coastal Cleanup Day

September 12, 2012 By
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The weekend chores around our homes can wait. The sea is calling. And the bays, creeks, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. The collective “we” left our trash behind in our waterways, and it needs to get cleaned up on Coastal Cleanup Day, Saturday, Sept. 15, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

The great thing about this chore? We get to do it amidst the natural beauty of our shorelines, side-by-side with thousands of neighbors.

Around the world on more than 20,000 miles of coastline, a half a million people are expected to pick up millions of pounds of trash on Coastal Cleanup Day, always held on the third Saturday in September. Last year volunteers recovered more than 9 million pounds, including 2 million pounds of cigarette butts, 1.1 million pounds of caps and lids, just over a million pounds of plastic beverage bottles, and just under a million pounds of plastic bags, according to the Ocean Conservancy.

In California we’re celebrating the 28th anniversary of Coastal Cleanup Day, billed as the largest single volunteer event in the state. According to state officials, more than 82,000 residents took part in 2010, picking up more than a million pounds of debris.

And here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we have a lot of cleanup to do: Save the Bay is expected to release its annual list of “trash hot spots” on Wednesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, with five waterways listed as the dirtiest in the region. Number one on the list is San Jose’s Coyote Creek, followed by the Damon Slough near Oakland, Baxter Creek in Richmond, San Tomas Aquino Creek in Santa Clara, and the Hayward Shoreline. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: , , , ,

Still Time to Observe Day of Service and Remembrance

September 11, 2012 By
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As I hung my flag outside my home this morning, it took me back to that awful day 11 years ago when, after watching the terrible events unfold on the TV, I spontaneously hung the flag outside to show solidarity with my country and the victims of the attacks.

More than a decade later, I am glad that we have more ways to honor the victims than just a symbolic flag raising. Today is officially known as a Day of Service and Remembrance, and many organizations, like HandsOn Bay Area, have designated the entire week a time to serve others.

If you’re looking for ways to make this day meaningful, there is still time to get involved. A few events are happening tonight, and there are some spots left to volunteer with a HandsOn project. Or take the commemoration into this weekend, and sign up for one of numerous service events. You can also get involved less formally by committing to do something kind for someone else today.

Read on for a list of ceremonies, multifaith events, and volunteer opportunities. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Grateful for New Journey Helping Victims

July 19, 2012 By
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A chance conversation with a complete stranger and a college assignment are propelling Lisa Blanchard on an unexpected trajectory as the leader of a fast growing all-volunteer organization that extends comfort and aid to sexual assault victims across the State of California.

Thanks to The Grateful Garment Project, started by Blanchard in March 2011 as an undergraduate student, sexual assault victims who must give up clothing as police evidence can go home fully clothed. In the past some victims left examinations with nothing more than a paper hospital gown.

“I had no idea when I started my simple class project that I was hitting a vein of need that was so immense, that basically it’s consumed my life for the past year,” said Blanchard, a San Jose resident and University of San Francisco graduate student.

The Grateful Garment Project has grown into a full-blown nonprofit with a board of directors, numerous volunteers, and Blanchard as its unpaid executive director.

To help continue its mission of aiding victims, the group’s volunteers are hosting a “Party for Panties” fundraiser at 6 p.m., on Saturday, July 21, at the Willow Den, 803 Lincoln Ave., San Jose. The event features free food, dancing and door prizes. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundraising, Nonprofits, Volunteering Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Student Travels to Kenya on a Dream of Schools for All Youth

July 13, 2012 By
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A big dream of schools for all children envisioned by UC Berkeley student Justin Li is taking him all the way to Kenya later this month, where an organization he helped found at Cupertino High School is currently helping three schools.

Justin Li holding his 2011 Sandlot Award.

Li is traveling July 29 with two other members of the student-run nonprofit called Kenya Dream, to visit the schools in Meru County, formerly known as the Eastern Province, in the country on the eastern coast of Africa.

“Words can’t really describe how I feel about this upcoming trip,” Li said. “I have spent over five years putting my heart into Kenya Dream, and I know for a fact that my life is going to be changed forever when I finally get to see the work we as a community have done. I know I will probably break down and cry when I see each school.”

Li, fellow co-founder and Berkeley student Lisa Nguyen, and current co-president of Cupertino High’s Kenya Dream Matt Workman, will spend 16 days touring the province with representatives from an organization they are partnered with, Friends of Kenya Schools and Wildlife. Kenya Dream is working with Kenya Schools to fund tuition and supplies for more than 50 students.

The team will not only visit Nthimbiri Secondary School, Nkubu Victory Acadamy, and Kachiuru School, to see how the approximately $100,000 Kenya Dream has raised since 2007 has been put to work, they will also visit other sites the group might help.

“I can’t wait to immerse myself into the culture, meet the students we have been supporting, and make new connections for future projects,” said Li. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundraising, Nonprofits, Volunteering, Youth Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Good Karma Bikes on the Move to Expanded Services

July 9, 2012 By
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Good Karma Bikes, the small San Jose nonprofit changing lives through bike repair, is expanding its reach in helping homeless and low income clients after recently moving into a cavernous corrugated steel-sided warehouse not far from downtown.

The popular weekly Saturday morning free bike repair clinics that previously were held near Diridon Station are now being offered at the new location at 345 Sunol St. Now instead of waiting in the sometimes harsh elements either standing or sitting on parking lot curbs while their bikes are repaired at no charge, clients wait sitting inside or under shade structures.

Good Karma founder Jim Gardner said he is pleased with the new setup, since the warehouse gives volunteers easy access to dozens of bins holding donated bike parts and tools; at the mobile clinic access was limited to what fit into an old white service van. The large space is also allowing the nonprofit to store donated bikes and equipment, and expand its services to homeless and low-income clients with job skills training and transitional employment opportunities. [Read more…]

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Guest Post: Refugee Transitions Providing Summer Fun and Learning

July 3, 2012 By
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Editor’s Note: We welcome Refugee Transitions as a contributor to the Good Neighbor Stories site. Check out the GNS article about this wonderful San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit. If you have a group that would like to contribute posts to our site, contact us.

Summer is finally here, and with it sunshine, a break from school, and family trips and vacations. However, for many refugee and immigrant youth, summer can be the most difficult and dreary time of the year. Many of these youth are low-income and unable to join in on the summer activities that their peers may be able to enjoy – even the resources that are available are often difficult to access, as students need a means of transportation to and from various summer camps and enriching activities.

Refugee Transitions, a nonprofit social service and education organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area, provides invaluable support to these newcomer students during their first years in their new communities, providing safe, supportive and engaging learning environments. As part of their programming, the agency organizes annual summer camps for refugee youth, which help to relieve students from frequently home-bound days. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nonprofits, Volunteering, Youth Tagged With: , , , ,

Sandlot Awards: Monta Vista Senior Lauded for Community Spirit

June 12, 2012 By
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CUPERTINO—Monta Vista High School senior Raelle Alfaro was awarded the Justin Perkins Sandlot Award recently for her outstanding community service and team player attitude.

Alfaro volunteered with numerous organizations throughout high school, such as Cake4Kids, which provides decorated birthday cakes for disadvantaged children, the Peninsula Humane Society, and Hope’s Corner, a free breakfast program for the homeless.

This is the fourth year for the Justin Perkins Sandlot Award,  named for the inspirational student who passed away from cancer in 2008 by Justin’s father, Albert Perkins, and two friends, Steven Young and John Loiacano, a Monta Vista alumnus. It was specifically designed to single out students who display kindness to their peers and the world. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Volunteering, Youth Tagged With: , , ,

Repairing Bikes and Lives

June 8, 2012 By
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Jim Gardner

“What goes around, comes around,” is one western interpretation of Karma, and there’s probably no better illustration of the concept than Good Karma Bikes of San Jose, where those who once sought free help for their broken down bicycles are now helping others—while repairing their own lives in the process.

Under the motto, “Transportation for transformation,” the two-year-old nonprofit has grown from one laid off engineer fixing bikes for homeless people in St. James Park, to a team of volunteers that not only fix thousands of bikes each year for homeless and low-income clients, but also provide job training, as well as a friendly place to belong.

Every Saturday in a makeshift bicycle repair shop covered by bright red canopies near the Diridon Station (the clinic has since moved to a warehouse at 345 Sunol St., San Jose), loud cheers of welcome greet returning volunteers who come from all over the South Bay Area and Peninsula. As people line up with their bikes to be fixed between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.—between 30 and 40 every week—each person is greeted with friendly smiles and treated with great care and respect.

There is no charge for the repairs. The clients are considered the same as paying customers, and the volunteer mechanics strive to perform the same quality work as a professional bike shop.

While it may look like Good Karma Bikes is one more nonprofit providing free services to the community, founder and Executive Director Jim Gardner insists it’s something more. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nonprofits, Volunteering Tagged With: , , ,
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