Mission: The Valley Women’s Club is dedicated to community action, awareness and leadership in environmental, educational, social, and political concerns that affect the health and welfare of the San Lorenzo Valley and our community.
Mission: The Valley Women’s Club is dedicated to community action, awareness and leadership in environmental, educational, social, and political concerns that affect the health and welfare of the San Lorenzo Valley and our community.
Community Connection CommitteeThe Community Connection Committee sponsors and participates in selected community events and provides liaison with other SLV organizations and with government officials. Events Redwood Mountain Faire, June 5, 11am–7pm, Roaring Camp Railroad, Felton. Benefits local nonprofits. Volunteers needed! Email or 338-6570 CERT Disaster Preparedness Training, Contact Liz Taylor-Selling (Mountain Community Resources) 335-6606 Candidate's Forums: before elections - contact Sherry Skold or 336-5700 Hammer-Marcum awards: bi-annually in spring - contact Nancy Macy or 338-7107 Halloween pedestrian safety, October 31, Boulder Creek. Contact Hilary Stanley, 338-2247 Liaisons Education/Cabrillo: Donna Ziel End of Life Coalition: Emmi Schambeck Event: Advance Directives Workshop Felton Library Friends: Michele Mosher, Nancy Gerdt; Sherry Skold MCR Disaster Preparedness: Mary Hammer; Sherry Skold Political Connections (Electeds and County and State Agencies): Beth Benjamin and delegates as needed Reproductive Rights, Women’s Commission: Sheila De Lany Community Connections news Fall 2010 Camp Joy Wreath Sale & Calendar On Sunday, Nov. 21st, from 11:00 am–3:00pm, Camp Joy Gardens in Boulder Creek will host their 34th Annual Wreath Show. In addition to beautiful wreaths made with dried flowers from their gardens, jams, garlic and onion braids, beeswax candles, honey, pickles, herbal products, seeds and more will be available at the show. For those who have never been to Camp Joy, please come by and sample some delicious garden refreshments, enjoy the Harvest Open House and wander through the vibrant fall gardens. Camp Joy Gardens is a small, organic family farm that has operated as an educational non-profit organization since 1971. New for 2011! In honor of the farm’s 40th year, Camp Joy has produced a beautiful 12 month calendar with farm photos, monthly gardening tips and simple, delicious recipes. The price is $20 – a perfect holiday gift for your friends or yourself. To reserve your calendar for timely Wreath Sale pickup, call or email us and we’ll reserve your copies for you. (It will be helpful for us to get an idea of how many to print.) Camp Joy Gardens is located at 131 Camp Joy Rd., Boulder Creek, CA 95006 831- 338-3651 www.campjoygardens.org, email: info@campjoygardens.org. Transition SLV Applauded You are encouraged to explore the fascinating website of Transition San Lorenzo Valley, www.transitionslv.org, and to join in the group focused on increasing our community’s resilience and self-reliance, and helping to strengthen our local economy—in preparation for the effects of climate change, dwindling fossil fuels, and the resulting economic instability. The Transition Network concept started as a Permaculture class in Ireland about five years ago, and has spread rapidly. Emphasizing local action through a Community Resilience Plan, the movement has spread into 16 countries, 24 States and over 300 communities. The feeling that we cannot wait for governments to act, and that individual action isn’t enough, provides the momentum to bring communities together to become independent and self-sufficient. Locally the group is creative in ideas, and inspired to take action. They have a quarterly Potlach and are building on the strengths of the individuals involved. Join in!
Imagine eight doctors and dentists landing in Boulder Creek and setting up a clinic for those who don’t have health care. That’s exactly what long-time local pilot Bill Rush and marketing executive Tom Hogan do in Mexico: they fly doctors and dentists in their private planes to small towns on the other side of the border, set up a clinic, and treat indigenous people who have no access to medical treatment. Sometimes these clinics consist of a lawn chair for the patient with a volunteer holding a flashlight so the dentist can see into the back of the mouth, but the patients don’t mind. There might be as many as 200 people waiting all day long for a chance to see one of the volunteer doctors and dentists, who come around ten times a year. They’re just happy that their neighbors to the north are sharing some of the wealth. Not all of the work requires wealth, however. According to Tom, they call Bill “McGyver”, because he can fix just about anything with very few tools, once repairing a dental suction unit with an empty two-liter bottle of soda and duct tape. Inspired by their work with “Los Medico Voladores,” or Flying Doctors, ten years ago, Bill and Tom founded ‘Comunidad Para Baja California’ to help people in remote areas of Mexico not covered by other organizations. As Bill put it, “We used to take monthly trips with our friends to Mexico. They had families and they all grew up, but I didn’t.” He figures that if you’re going to take a vacation in Mexico and pay for hotels anyway, you might as well do some good at the same time, especially when the need is so great. The doctors and dentists not only donate their time, they pay for the flying expenses -- but not the maintenance of the plane -- out of their own pockets. Each of the four people in the plane, including the pilot, pays around $250 for the four-day “vacation”. The medical necessities are paid for through donations, one hundred percent of which are used on one of three types of projects: medical, educational, or infrastructural. For example, Comunidad has built bathrooms and installed electricity, fans and septic systems in schools. In addition. they’ve constructed dental clinics that benefit the whole community. Bill said that in the future, they hope to have videos people can watch while waiting in line to teach them how to brush their teeth properly and other health tips. When asked why he spends so much time, money and effort with Comunidad, he replied, “It’s not like I have to do it; I get to do it. I do it for me. It fills me up.” He also said that some people have asked him why he goes so far away when we have homeless people with no medical care right here in California, and he said that for the same amount of money they can help many more people in Mexico, and don’t have to get permits and licenses and pay fees like they would in America. At the current time, Comunidad is funding approximately 140 children to go to school through a program called Beca. Because the government only funds tribal children through the sixth grade, Comunidad uses $200 a school year to help students pay their tuition for the higher levels and buy school supplies, uniforms, books and transportation to the new town, since all higher-level schools are away from the tribal communities. On the average, Comunidad Para Baja California receives $10,000 per year in outside funding, with the rest of the operating fees donated by the organization’s Board of Directors. If you’d like to donate, contact Tom Hogan at 408-355-0108. To volunteer, contact Bill Rush at 408-499-5088. Or visit their website at www.bajacomunidad.org. SLV Library News The Felton Library was the place to be on Tuesday afternoons this summer. Felton Library Friends sponsored a series of children’s programs that were hugely popular with local kids and their parents. The series included an appearance by a magician named The Great Blindini and puppets who performed The Ugly Duckling. In late August, the Boulder Creek Library celebrated the 25th anniversary of the building that currently houses the library. The anniversary festivities included a Memory Circle, a Literature Open Mic for the reading of favorite stories and poems and a remembrance about the role the late Anne Gulliver played in the library’s history. On hand to take part in the celebration were 5th District Supervisor Mark Stone and Santa Cruz County Public Libraries Director Teresa Landers. Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries are embarking on a million dollar campaign to augment the funding that Santa Cruz County libraries receive from other sources. The group has already given the library system more than $100,000 to buy self check machines for all the branches, a CD cleaner, and games for seniors and teens. Friends of the Library are hoping to buy an Integrated Library System which will reduce staffing requirements, possibly allowing the library to increase hours at some of its 10 branches. Also on the Friends’ wish list is an automated check-in service at least for the Central Library and the purchase of books and other library materials, an area of the current library budget that has been cut drastically.
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