President-elect Obama is calling for citizens and volunteers across the country to organize non-partisan, volunteer community service events to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In response, Sonoma Valley CAN (Community Action Network) is planning three community service projects in concert with local nonprofit organizations in the Sonoma Valley for the weekend prior to the inauguration, Jan. 17, 18 and 19.
On Saturday, Jan. 17, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 40 volunteers are needed to help prepare the Sonoma Ecology Center's Community Garden on Seventh Street East for spring planting. The work involved includes roto-tilling the soil, weeding, and adding compost and fertilizer to the beds. The Ecology Center will provide the materials, but volunteers will be asked to bring shovels and gloves. For more information or to sign up, please visit this event's page at USAService.org.
Sunday, Jan. 18, there will be Sign Up for Service tables at many area churches in the morning, and grocery stores in the afternoon. Volunteers at the tables will have sign-up sheets with information on the needs of various non-profits for volunteers, and will be encouraging people to get involved in meeting the needs of the community. For more information or to sign up, please visit this event's page at USAService.org.
Monday, Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Day, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Dunbar Elementary School Garden needs volunteers to help with weeding, turning the soil for spring planting, and possibly helping to build a shelter that can be used as an outdoor classroom. Contact Garden coordinator Alissa Pearce atpearce4@mindspring.com or call 933-8914 for more information. To sign up, please visit this event's page at USAService.org.
Sonoma Valley CAN is a new organization formed to bring positive change to the community. Its roots are in the Obama presidential campaign, but it aims to take the energy and idealism of that movement and form a broad-based group that can organize support for legislation at all levels of government, build grassroots electoral strength, promote civic involvement and facilitate two-way communication with the White House.
For more information on the Day of Service Projects and Sonoma Valley CAN, go to http://www.sonomavalleycan.org.
Thank you!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Sonoma Valley Nonprofit Wish List
Thanks to the Sonoma Sun we have a list of items needed by some of our local nonprofits. Maureen Wilson is coordinating our efforts to help these groups. I'd rather not post Maureen's email on a blog so please contact me or Lilla or post your message to our Google Group if you need to reach Maureen.
Operation Youth
• Picture frames
• T-square and L-square
• Canvases
• Spray paint
• White paint
707.996.9697
La Luz
• Small wooden drop-leaf kitchen table
• Park bench
• Picnic table
707.938.5131
Sonoma Community Center
• Coffee pots
• iMac computer
• Space heaters
• Fans
• Industrial two-door refrigerator
707.938.4626
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
• Plain envelopes (4 x 91/2)
• Coffee maker
• Good coffee
• Coffee mugs
707.939.7862
WillMar Center
• Outdoor planter boxes
• Entry mats
• Hammers, screwdrivers and woodworking tools
• Sofa or love seat
• Large coffee table
707.935.1946
Hospice by the Bay
Items for Camp Erin, a summer youth bereavenebt camp:
• Art supplies
• Journals
• Disposable cameras
• New stuffed animals
• Sunscreen/bug repellant spray
Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance
• Art supplies
• Office supplies
707.938.1990
Sonoma Ecology Center
• Truck to haul water
• Lab filters
• Report paper
• Space heater for MUD lab
• Sample bottles
707.996.9744
Sonoma Garden Park
• Binoculars
• Taxidermy Chinook salmon or steelhead trout
• Small tractor
• Rakes
• Felco pruners
707.996.9744
Meals on Wheels
• New frying pans, kitchen utensils and knives
• Canned meats (no spam)
• Volunteers to cook, shop or deliver meals
Drop off canned meats at Trinity Church, 275 E. Spain St.
FISH
Drop off at bell-ringer locations throughout Sonoma Valley.
• Nutritious non-perishable foods such as peanut butter, soups, canned items.
• Warm wearable clothing.
707.996.0111
Operation Youth
• Picture frames
• T-square and L-square
• Canvases
• Spray paint
• White paint
707.996.9697
La Luz
• Small wooden drop-leaf kitchen table
• Park bench
• Picnic table
707.938.5131
Sonoma Community Center
• Coffee pots
• iMac computer
• Space heaters
• Fans
• Industrial two-door refrigerator
707.938.4626
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
• Plain envelopes (4 x 91/2)
• Coffee maker
• Good coffee
• Coffee mugs
707.939.7862
WillMar Center
• Outdoor planter boxes
• Entry mats
• Hammers, screwdrivers and woodworking tools
• Sofa or love seat
• Large coffee table
707.935.1946
Hospice by the Bay
Items for Camp Erin, a summer youth bereavenebt camp:
• Art supplies
• Journals
• Disposable cameras
• New stuffed animals
• Sunscreen/bug repellant spray
Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance
• Art supplies
• Office supplies
707.938.1990
Sonoma Ecology Center
• Truck to haul water
• Lab filters
• Report paper
• Space heater for MUD lab
• Sample bottles
707.996.9744
Sonoma Garden Park
• Binoculars
• Taxidermy Chinook salmon or steelhead trout
• Small tractor
• Rakes
• Felco pruners
707.996.9744
Meals on Wheels
• New frying pans, kitchen utensils and knives
• Canned meats (no spam)
• Volunteers to cook, shop or deliver meals
Drop off canned meats at Trinity Church, 275 E. Spain St.
FISH
Drop off at bell-ringer locations throughout Sonoma Valley.
• Nutritious non-perishable foods such as peanut butter, soups, canned items.
• Warm wearable clothing.
707.996.0111
Host a Health Care discussion before the New Year
Over on my Northern California blog, Organizers for America, I just posted a note from the Obama-Biden administration. However, you can also jump straight to the relevant page at Change.gov.
Please check it out and then consider that we are currently undertaking three efforts:
1) Adopting our local food bank -- take donations to Reader's Books ASAP.
2) Participating in a National Day of Service, Jan 19.
3) Holding our own Valley-wide Forum on Feb 8 -- similar to our Change is Coming event last Sunday.
Based on last Sunday's meeting the group has chosen an initial focus on poverty, homelessness and food insecurity in our community. Yet, I see health care (as well as education) as very connected to those issues and it is high on our group's list.
So, how do we fit in the Health Care discussions with our existing efforts? Well the goal is to host a discussion by December 31st and report the results back to the transition team. So, I would challenge two or three of our other "members" to host a Health Care discussion. You could join together to host a single event or split up and host a series of house parties throughout the valley.
We'll only see the change we want if we participate in the process. However, I don't want to overload our teams with too much too soon. Please feel free to leave a comment on this blog or share your thoughts via our Google Group.
Please give it some thought.
Please check it out and then consider that we are currently undertaking three efforts:
1) Adopting our local food bank -- take donations to Reader's Books ASAP.
2) Participating in a National Day of Service, Jan 19.
3) Holding our own Valley-wide Forum on Feb 8 -- similar to our Change is Coming event last Sunday.
Based on last Sunday's meeting the group has chosen an initial focus on poverty, homelessness and food insecurity in our community. Yet, I see health care (as well as education) as very connected to those issues and it is high on our group's list.
So, how do we fit in the Health Care discussions with our existing efforts? Well the goal is to host a discussion by December 31st and report the results back to the transition team. So, I would challenge two or three of our other "members" to host a Health Care discussion. You could join together to host a single event or split up and host a series of house parties throughout the valley.
We'll only see the change we want if we participate in the process. However, I don't want to overload our teams with too much too soon. Please feel free to leave a comment on this blog or share your thoughts via our Google Group.
Please give it some thought.
Friday, December 19, 2008
A "Valley Forum"
We have tentatively set the date for what we are currently calling a "valley forum". The purpose of this forum is to reach out to the larger valley community and invite more people to participate in our group's efforts to work for change via civic engagement and political participation.
Details are still being worked out but pencil the date, Sunday, Feb 8, 2-5 PM, on your calendar.
Our goals are to:
During this meeting, we will break out into groups based on our SVCAN's four objectives:
We have set up three teams to do the planning for this event, they are:
Lilla Weinberger will remain available for overall help. If you'd like to help with any of these efforts, please contact Lilla or one of the people listed above.
Check back on the website and this blog for further information.
Details are still being worked out but pencil the date, Sunday, Feb 8, 2-5 PM, on your calendar.
Our goals are to:
- Invite a broader cross-section of our community
- Build relationships
- Engage in discussion on our group's objectives
- Initiate projects aligned with our goals and the community's needs/interests
During this meeting, we will break out into groups based on our SVCAN's four objectives:
- Legislative Issue Organizing
- Electoral and Grassroots Organizing
- Two-Way Communication with the White House
- Civic Engagement
We have set up three teams to do the planning for this event, they are:
- P/R and Marketing led by Chip Roberson
- Outreach (tentatively) led by Ted Sexauer
- Program and Logistics (tenatively) led by Maureen Wilson
Lilla Weinberger will remain available for overall help. If you'd like to help with any of these efforts, please contact Lilla or one of the people listed above.
Check back on the website and this blog for further information.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A National Day of Service - Jan 19, 2009
We are at a “defining moment” in our movement. Andy Grove, in his great book on business management, Only the Paranoid Survive, describes it as an inflection point:
We have traveled a successful arc that took us to this point but “now what?” Do we ride the curve back down as we let what we built disassemble or do we take this opportunity to redefine ourselves and begin a new trajectory upward? The choice is ours but the time is now.
President Obama is calling on his grassroots supporters to participate in a national day of service on January 19th, 2009. As the Regional Field Organizer for the campaign in congressional districts 1 and 6, I am asking our group to rise to the President-Elect's request.
The Obama team wants to vet the project ideas by January 2nd so a few of our volunteer organizers are reaching out to local housing, food and poverty groups to see what opportunities exist. If you have any ideas, please let us know either by posting to our Google discussion group or by leaving a comment on this blog.
It doesn’t have to be a monumental project but it does need to make a difference in your community. We are “community organizers”, are we not?
Yes we can!
We have traveled a successful arc that took us to this point but “now what?” Do we ride the curve back down as we let what we built disassemble or do we take this opportunity to redefine ourselves and begin a new trajectory upward? The choice is ours but the time is now.
President Obama is calling on his grassroots supporters to participate in a national day of service on January 19th, 2009. As the Regional Field Organizer for the campaign in congressional districts 1 and 6, I am asking our group to rise to the President-Elect's request.
The Obama team wants to vet the project ideas by January 2nd so a few of our volunteer organizers are reaching out to local housing, food and poverty groups to see what opportunities exist. If you have any ideas, please let us know either by posting to our Google discussion group or by leaving a comment on this blog.
It doesn’t have to be a monumental project but it does need to make a difference in your community. We are “community organizers”, are we not?
Yes we can!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
2008-12-15 Meeting Minutes are now available
The minutes from our "Change is Coming" (aka "What's Next?") meeting held Sunday, December 14 at Reader's Books in Sonoma are now online and stored in the Documents section of our website.
2008-12-14 Meeting Minutes are now available
The minutes from our "Change is Coming" (aka "What's Next?") meeting held Sunday, December 14 at Reader's Books in Sonoma are now online and stored in the Documents section of our website.
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