PV Magazine | December | Issue 20

community
PVPLC Launches Another Creative Way for the Community to Get
Involved Offering an Opportunity to Give the Gift of Conservation…
ADOPT-A-GOAT!
Written by Sara Atashi
Photos provided by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy
Critical Legal Documents
for College Students
Important Paperwork That Can Make A Huge Difference
Contributed by Gregory Becker | Written by Melani Morose Edelstein
resident expert
Every day, we benefit from the beauty of our
natural landscape on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Since 1988, residents have helped protect 1,600
acres of natural open land through the Palos
Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. Without the
community’s support for the Conservancy, the
beauty of Palos Verdes could have been lost.
With the goal of restoring the land to achieve
greater health for our plants and for the future
survival of rare wildlife, the Conservancy hires goats
to remove invasive weeds prior to planting new,
healthy native plants. The goats eat tumbleweed
and fennel among other weeds and then leave
behind natural “fertilizer” while keeping green
trash to a minimum. The Conservancy also plants
native plants for the health and benefit of wildlife.
Palos Verdes residents are invited to adopt a
goat or provide plants to make a permanent and
positive impact on this community. Please consider
a gift of support to the Conservancy by “adopting”
a goat for $100.
If you choose to adopt a goat, you will be invited
to a small spring event where you will be
offered a family portrait with the goats (exact
date in spring 2022 will be announced in April).
A generous gift of $100 will help pay for one goat
for one day and will prepare land for beautiful
plants; $250 helps pay for one goat for ½ week;
$500 will purchase a full week. Each gift also
provides support to grow locally-harvested seeds
into beautiful native plants. A gift of $100 can also
help grow a dozen plants for our native coastal
sage scrub plant community. A gift of $1,000 will
support one classroom for the third grade junior
naturalist program. If you choose to double the
value of your gift by December 31st, a generous
anonymous donor will match your gift!
Last year alone, our community of supporters
helped to plant 24,000 locally-grown native plants.
Despite COVID-19, we provided amazing “virtual”
educational field experiences to more than 3,080
elementary students. The Conservancy asks for
the continued support of its neighbors to carry
on this legacy.
Donors are also encouraged to participate in
the 2022 presentation of Wild & Scenic Film Festival
on tour January 16th. Visit pvplc.org/donate-pvplc/
to Adopt-a-Goat and to learn more about the
donation options.
College students are coming home for the
holidays but soon after the holidays they will be
packed and ready for another semester in college.
Parents everywhere have already purchased all
the necessities and will most likely purchase more
while they are home. Travel arrangements were
secured months ago. Parents might feel prepared
by helping their student children but are they
really? If you’re a parent, have you considered
how you would step in to handle an emergency
without having all the proper legal documents
in place?
Gregory Becker, a Palos Verdes native and California
trusts and estates attorney, says when he is
retained by clients who are parents, he prepares
two simple powers of attorney. One for health care
and one for business.
If there are no legal documents in place to allow
parents to step in and manage their student’s
health and financial affairs it can be a complex
and daunting task. In California, without the proper
legal documents a court order may be required
before action can be taken which is why Becker
believes everyone should be prepared. Although
our kids will always be our kids, once they turn 18,
they are legal adults.
In times of emergency, and in order to avoid
costly delays and costly hearings, Becker says all
families should prepare Powers of Attorney for
Health and Business for their college students.
These documents set forth the student’s
wishes and nominate agents (most often parents
or guardians) to carry out their wishes. An agent’s
powers can be immediate, or they can vest upon
the occurrence of an event such as incapacity.
In an emergency, with these documents in
place, the student’s agent should be able to work
with the student’s health care providers, police,
first responders, bank, landlord, utility providers,
school and insurance companies without delay or
costs.
Even if there is no emergency a power of attorney
can still have value. In the case of an agent
who has the immediate power to act, the agent
can step-in and make medical appointments or
help with billing disputes, issues that are often difficult
for college students to navigate.
If you would like to learn more about this topic
or help with estate planning, wills or trusts: (310)
543-1126, gregorybecker.com.
Gregory Becker is a Palos Verdes Native and California trusts
and estates attorney who lives in Rolling Hills with his wife
Tiffany and three children, Ethan, Caroline, Landon
and their dog, Parker.
42 | PVMagazine | December 2021 December 2021 | PVMagazine | 43