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
Saturday, December 20, 2008
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.
Our website is live!
We've create a Google Site for our group and have linked to a Google Calendar as well as a Google Group.
The site is the main place to look for information about the group and should the starting place anytime you are curious about what we're doing.
The calendar is available at the normal Google Calendar site and on our website. Additionally, subscriptions are supported for those of you who have calendar programs on your computers that support calendar sharing. We will post our (and other related) events to this calendar so be sure to check it regularly.
The discussion group is a forum for people who want to stay more closely connected regarding this group's efforts.
Finally, we have a domain name which now points to our website -- it is:
http://www.SonomaValleyCAN.org
The site is the main place to look for information about the group and should the starting place anytime you are curious about what we're doing.
The calendar is available at the normal Google Calendar site and on our website. Additionally, subscriptions are supported for those of you who have calendar programs on your computers that support calendar sharing. We will post our (and other related) events to this calendar so be sure to check it regularly.
The discussion group is a forum for people who want to stay more closely connected regarding this group's efforts.
Finally, we have a domain name which now points to our website -- it is:
http://www.SonomaValleyCAN.org
A Call to Action
President-Elect Obama has challenged each of us increase our "civic engagement" before the inauguration. With only 33 days until the inauguration, there is not much time to plan and execute an effort. Three ideas were put forward during our meeting at Reader's Books Sunday night:
1. Donate 1-2 hours a week over the next 5 weeks to a local non-profit;
2. Run our own food-drive to support FISH and the Redwood Empire Food Bank;
3. Hold an inter-agency meeting to see how we can help fill any gaps in the local community support network of non-profits.
The day after our meeting the following request came from the Community Organizer network leadership:
OUR FIRST CALL TO ACTION!
ADOPT A FOOD BANK FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The first official post-election action will be to adopt food banks for the holidays.
Nearly 30 million Americans rely on government aid and food banks to keep food on their tables amid unemployment and rising prices. In LA County alone, demand has jumped 33%, while contributions have dropped precipitously.
To that end, the hope is that we can focus on both donating some time and goods to the local food banks between now and Jan 19, 2009! Please stay tuned as we had two members from our group who agreed to contact both FISH and Redwood Empire Food Bank and report back to us.
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
1. Donate 1-2 hours a week over the next 5 weeks to a local non-profit;
2. Run our own food-drive to support FISH and the Redwood Empire Food Bank;
3. Hold an inter-agency meeting to see how we can help fill any gaps in the local community support network of non-profits.
The day after our meeting the following request came from the Community Organizer network leadership:
OUR FIRST CALL TO ACTION!
ADOPT A FOOD BANK FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The first official post-election action will be to adopt food banks for the holidays.
Nearly 30 million Americans rely on government aid and food banks to keep food on their tables amid unemployment and rising prices. In LA County alone, demand has jumped 33%, while contributions have dropped precipitously.
To that end, the hope is that we can focus on both donating some time and goods to the local food banks between now and Jan 19, 2009! Please stay tuned as we had two members from our group who agreed to contact both FISH and Redwood Empire Food Bank and report back to us.
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
CommunityOrganize.com Launches
Much of the staff from the Obama for America (OFA) campaign has remained together and in touch with Chicago after the election. This new organization is functioning under the working title "OFA 2.0" the reflect that it is the second generation of this movement.
While we expect MyBO to continue to exist, the California OFA 2.0 staff has launched CommunityOrganize.com to build a network in the state of California.
The new site is structured with many of the same social networking tools that were on MyBO and which are on Facebook. I encourage you to check it out and stay tuned to see what develops with this state-wide network.
While we expect MyBO to continue to exist, the California OFA 2.0 staff has launched CommunityOrganize.com to build a network in the state of California.
The new site is structured with many of the same social networking tools that were on MyBO and which are on Facebook. I encourage you to check it out and stay tuned to see what develops with this state-wide network.
Our purpose
The creation of this group is a direct result of a charter set forth by the Obama for America campaign. It was Barack Obama's wish that, once the election was over, the network of individuals and teams that came together to elect him would continue by serving their communities, helping pass legislation and electing candidates that represent the change we hope to achieve.
The purpose of this group is to facilitate the organizing efforts of individuals working for change in our community. In effect it is both a clearing house and resource center for local community organizers to work on issues and campaigns that are important to their community, whether that community is their neighborhood, city, area, state, region, nation or the world.
This group will be part of the larger community organizer network that evolves out of the Obama campaign. The hope is that people can opt in to work on whatever campaign or suits their interests while others are free to pursue other sets of interests.
The work did not end November 4th. It has just begun.
The purpose of this group is to facilitate the organizing efforts of individuals working for change in our community. In effect it is both a clearing house and resource center for local community organizers to work on issues and campaigns that are important to their community, whether that community is their neighborhood, city, area, state, region, nation or the world.
This group will be part of the larger community organizer network that evolves out of the Obama campaign. The hope is that people can opt in to work on whatever campaign or suits their interests while others are free to pursue other sets of interests.
The work did not end November 4th. It has just begun.
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