Angels in Our Community - The Spectrum Magazine
Angels in Our Community - The Spectrum Magazine
Angels in Our Community - The Spectrum Magazine
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<strong>Community</strong> Interest<br />
PAL Plans Woodside Plaza Kick-Off for the Holidays:<br />
Pancake Breakfast (and Neighborhood Meet<strong>in</strong>g)<br />
Support PAL at this great pancake breakfast for just $5, then head downtown<br />
to enjoy the fun, festive Hometown Holidays the rest of the day!<br />
Saturday, Dec. 3, 8–10 a.m. (neighborhood association meet<strong>in</strong>g 10–11 a.m.)<br />
Kennedy Middle School, 2521 Goodw<strong>in</strong> Ave.<br />
Get a full breakfast for $5: pancakes (with or without chocolate chips),<br />
sausages, hot chocolate and Tang. All proceeds go to Redwood City PAL.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re will also be short movies for the little ones (like Rudolph and Frosty),<br />
a great time to chat with your neighbors and make new friends, then a<br />
Woodside Plaza neighborhood meet<strong>in</strong>g. While you’re there, you can sign up<br />
for Nextdoor, the neighbor-to-neighbor social network <strong>in</strong> partnership with<br />
Redwood City. For more <strong>in</strong>formation call John Nelson, Woodside Plaza<br />
Neighborhood Association chair, at 650-888-4408.<br />
Support the Redwood City Education Foundation<br />
Need a Christmas tree for your office, shop or store? Honey Bear Trees<br />
<strong>in</strong> Redwood City, a local family-owned bus<strong>in</strong>ess and Redwood City–San<br />
Mateo County Chamber of Commerce member, has a special all-<strong>in</strong>clusive<br />
commercial deal that <strong>in</strong>cludes delivery and pickup after Christmas, a stand<br />
and a CA-required fire-proof<strong>in</strong>g tag. Or you can get only the tree at their lot<br />
at 955 Woodside Road <strong>in</strong> Redwood City. Trees are beautiful noble, grand or<br />
Fraser firs and are susta<strong>in</strong>ably grown <strong>in</strong> Oregon and freshly cut!<br />
Be sure to mention the Redwood City Education Foundation and Honey<br />
Bear Trees will donate 15 percent to the RCEF to help send fifth-graders<br />
<strong>in</strong> the Redwood City School District to Jones Gulch <strong>in</strong> La Honda for a<br />
memorable week of outdoor education.<br />
Contact Aaron Boyle for more <strong>in</strong>formation at 650-576-4711 or aaboyle@<br />
gmail.com. F<strong>in</strong>d the tree lot at www.honeybeartrees.com or 650-364-3507.<br />
Second Harvest Food Drive and Membership Special<br />
at Every Woman Health Club<br />
In conjunction with their eighth annual food drive for Second Harvest, Every<br />
Woman Health Club is offer<strong>in</strong>g a great deal for new members! Simply donate<br />
at least six cans of food (or other nonperishable food items) when you become<br />
a member, and they will waive the enrollment fee (regularly $99). This offer<br />
is good through Dec. 4.<br />
For more <strong>in</strong>formation, see their website at www.everywomanhealthclub.<br />
com, give them a call at 650-364-9194, or just stop by the club!<br />
Sequoia Alumni Donate $5,565 to Sequoia Teachers<br />
<strong>The</strong> Sequoia High School Alumni Association announced it has awarded<br />
$5,440 to teachers at Sequoia High School under its annual Cherokee Grants<br />
program as well as $125 to the Cheer Team. <strong>The</strong> Cherokee Grants program<br />
was established to fund the purchase of <strong>in</strong>structional equipment, materials<br />
or services that are not <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> the current Sequoia Union High School<br />
District budget. Grant applications are given to every Sequoia High School<br />
teacher. <strong>The</strong> Cherokee Grants Committee studies each request and makes a<br />
decision as to how money can best be spent to benefit the most students or the<br />
most worthy programs. Several thousand dollars have been awarded s<strong>in</strong>ce the<br />
program was <strong>in</strong>stituted <strong>in</strong> 1987.<br />
This year, 22 teachers have been awarded grants to fully fund or help<br />
contribute to items and programs, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g a class set and audio CD sets of a<br />
book regard<strong>in</strong>g immigration for International Baccalaureate Spanish, a field<br />
trip to Ardenwood Farm <strong>in</strong> Fremont for special education, a trip to France for<br />
the French class, art supplies for the art program, a field trip to the Aquarium<br />
of the Bay <strong>in</strong> San Francisco for special education, books for English<br />
literature, whiteboards for n<strong>in</strong>th-grade algebra support, geometric solid<br />
figures for geometry, subscriptions for the French class, motivational posters<br />
for mathematics, graph<strong>in</strong>g calculator software for mathematics, registration<br />
fee to attend the National Association of College Admissions Counsel<strong>in</strong>g for<br />
the Guidance Department, a subscription for World Language, CD players<br />
and batteries and battery chargers and carry<strong>in</strong>g cases for books on CD for<br />
English Read<strong>in</strong>g Special Day Class, tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g and support for <strong>in</strong>terdiscipl<strong>in</strong>ary<br />
work for English language development/mathematics/art, stutter<strong>in</strong>g severity<br />
<strong>in</strong>strument for special education, newspaper staff attendance at the National<br />
High School Journalism Convention <strong>in</strong> Seattle, sew<strong>in</strong>g mach<strong>in</strong>es for the<br />
cloth<strong>in</strong>g class, a 50-<strong>in</strong>ch plasma HDTV for dance and P.E. dance classes<br />
and a trip for first-generation college students to tour colleges <strong>in</strong> Northern<br />
California and Oregon for the Advanced Via Individual Determ<strong>in</strong>ation class.<br />
Members of the public who wish to donate to this worthwhile program<br />
can do so by mak<strong>in</strong>g a check payable to the Sequoia High School Alumni<br />
Association, P.O. Box 2534, Redwood City, CA 94064, stipulat<strong>in</strong>g that the<br />
funds are to be used for the Cherokee Grants program, or via Paypal on the<br />
association’s website: www.sequoiahsalumniassoc.org.<br />
Redwood City Toy and Book Drive Kicks Off<br />
What makes this program different?<br />
<strong>The</strong> Redwood City Toy Program is a cooperative effort that is orchestrated by<br />
members of the Redwood City Police and Fire Departments, Police Activities<br />
League and the Fair Oaks <strong>Community</strong> Center. While all of these entities share<br />
equal parts <strong>in</strong> provid<strong>in</strong>g the muscle to direct the program’s efforts, the Redwood<br />
City community is truly the backbone to its success. It is the empowerment<br />
and strong leadership of city department heads and city officials that enables<br />
great community giv<strong>in</strong>g campaigns like the Redwood City Toy Program.<br />
A unique approach (operations)<br />
It beg<strong>in</strong>s with social services, where struggl<strong>in</strong>g families must meet qualifications<br />
through a f<strong>in</strong>ancial background check and <strong>in</strong>terview. <strong>The</strong> family is then assigned<br />
a number that represents their address, number of children, age and gender.<br />
At that po<strong>in</strong>t, the number and <strong>in</strong>formation attached to it are passed to the Fire/<br />
PD team, which organizes multiple events that lead to the ultimate distribution of<br />
the toys.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first events are a series of pre-bagg<strong>in</strong>g parties, where a predeterm<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
number of toys, games and books is distributed to each family. <strong>The</strong> toys are<br />
then relayed from the warehouse to the Red Morton <strong>Community</strong> Center for<br />
the annual wrapp<strong>in</strong>g party. All of these events are driven by volunteers from<br />
throughout the community.<br />
<strong>The</strong> toys are distributed over the course of three delivery nights. <strong>The</strong> teams<br />
are led by Santa, who is accompanied by volunteers from police, fire and<br />
their families. At this po<strong>in</strong>t, the teams set out to distribute the toys and an<br />
unforgettable holiday experience to the assigned families. This has become<br />
a very popular event and it’s not uncommon to f<strong>in</strong>d department heads, City<br />
Council members or other community champions rid<strong>in</strong>g shotgun as St. Nick’s<br />
helpers on the deliveries.<br />
Toy donations<br />
<strong>The</strong> toys that support the program are donated by community members to the<br />
follow<strong>in</strong>g four sources: bus<strong>in</strong>esses around the community (listed on the program’s<br />
website) that sponsor toy barrel drop-offs, fire station and police department<br />
drop-offs, holiday parties with a “toy theme” hosted by <strong>in</strong>dividuals or bus<strong>in</strong>esses<br />
<strong>in</strong> the community, monetary donations that contribute to the purchase of new toys.<br />
After the fire<br />
In addition to the qualified families who receive toys, the program is also<br />
used to touch those families whose lives have been impacted by adverse<br />
situations. Typically, when firefighters and police officers are <strong>in</strong>terfac<strong>in</strong>g with<br />
the community on emergency responses, it’s because someone is hav<strong>in</strong>g a<br />
bad day, maybe even the worst day they’ve ever experienced. City leaders<br />
have helped shape our culture <strong>in</strong>to one that affords us the ability to help make<br />
positive impacts on these people’s lives — and the program does that through<br />
the giv<strong>in</strong>g of toys. Whether it is a fire around the holidays, a child with cancer<br />
or a parent taken from their children, this program is empowered to give aid<br />
to these families without a bunch of red tape.<br />
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