Whole Foods, Sebastopol supports Ceres Project

Ceres Project is a wonderful cooperative effort engaging the efforts of young cooks who prepare nutritious meals for people in need. To learn more about the Project - please visit their web site - link below. To help contribute to this project, please shop at Whole Foods Sebastopol from September 29th through December 28th.

Whole Foods Sebastopol has selected the Ceres Project to be the recipient of the Envirocents Program from September 29 to December 28th. This is a great opportunity for us to raise money, but even more to spread the word about our work.

There will be posters in the store featuring Ceres, and our logo will be on the change boxes at each register.

Folks can choose to put their extra change in the boxes, and all of the bag donations will also come to us.

Whole Foods is also giving us three opportunities to table in front of the stores. We will be there on Sunday, October 19 from 11 - 1, and again on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and again in December.

Here's what you can do:

1. Spread the word among your circles and encourage them to take their bags to Whole Foods and to donate their change to us via the change boxes.

2. Put notices up on WACCO and in other newsletters you have access to.

3. Shop at Whole Foods often, take your own bags with you, and donate that $0.05 to Ceres.

4. Help out by volunteering to table October 19, November 23, or pick a date in December.

Thanks for helping to spread the word!

And here's the complete story:

Whole Foods Envirocents Program Helps Get Meals to Local Cancer Survivors

Grab your reusable grocery bag and head to Whole Foods in Sebastopol to help a local non-profit that’s touching a lot of lives with the healing power of food. From now through the end of December, The Ceres Community Project will be the beneficiary of Whole Foods-Sebastopol’s Envirocents Program.

Envirocents gives Whole Foods shoppers the option to donate five cents for every bag they bring in to a local non-profit organization. Change boxes at each register are designed to collect additional donations. Local non-profits get visibility as well as funds to support their work.

The Ceres Community Project, founded in March 2007, provides organic, nutrient-dense meals to families dealing with serious illness while training young chefs in the art of healthy cooking and eating. This year, Ceres will deliver more than 15,000 meals to individuals throughout Sonoma County. More than 100 teens from ten area high schools have worked as chefs in the project’s kitchen.

The majority of the project’s clients are dealing with cancer and the debilitating effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Here’s what one of those clients had to say about the difference that The Ceres Community Project made for her and her family.

“I don't know how to fully express what a lifesaver the Ceres Project food was for me during my chemo. Having food already prepared, tasty food which I knew was good for me and helping me fight the cancer, made my life so much easier during an extremely difficult time. As it came to the end of the treatment, I grew more and more fatigued but there were things I really wanted to be able to do. It was important to me to help with my daughter's 8th grade play and graduation. After nine years of being an active volunteer in her school, especially with the plays, it would have been a shame to not be able to work on her last play. If I hadn't had the Ceres food waiting for me, I wouldn't have been able to handle it.”

Each Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, teen volunteers gather at The Community Church of Sebastopol’s commercial kitchen to chop, sauté, whisk, bake and roast their way through cases of mostly donated local organic food. The teens learn first hand about the relationship between the food we eat and our health, develop their culinary skills and discover how simple it is to make a difference in their world.

If you’d like to learn more about The Ceres Community Project visit their website, www.ceresproject.org . If you know someone who needs food support, call Cherie at 823-2529. If you are a teen or adult who would like to volunteer, call Judi at 829-8295. And from now until the end of December, visit Whole Foods Sebastopol with your reusable bag in hand. Donate that five cents – and whatever change you have – to The Ceres Community Project. If each of us gives a little, we can make a big difference for our neighbors who are struggling with illness, and for the young people who are becoming the leaders of the future.


Cathryn Couch
707-799-7489
www.kitchencosmology.com
"Humans are tuned for relationship. The eyes, the skin, the tongue, ears, nostrils -- all are gates where our body receives the nourishment of otherness." - David Abrams, The Spell of the Sensuous

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Homeless Girl grows up to become Outstanding Woman

Constance Bravos earns Hearst Award

I find stories of personal achievement great inspiration for people - especially young people who are bored or lack direction. Some times a few words of encouragement, a goal accomplished or an example of someone else who has risen above obstacles are all it takes to succeed. Constance Bravos is an example of a young woman whose personal strength, attitude and intelligence earned her the William Randolph Hearst/CSU Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement. She's a rising star at 20 and an excellent example for others to follow - V

Once Homeless, Constance Bravos earns Hearst Award and Aims to Help Troubled Youth

She was an adopted child who not only faced financial problems and but was once homeless, living in a shelter.

Now, Sonoma State University junior Constance Bravos has a 3.61 grade average and won the William Randolph Hearst / CSU Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement, picking
up the $3,000 scholarship that comes with it. Recipients of the award have overcome challenging odds, to pursue a college degree.

"Asthma has proven to be one of my most prominent and consistent struggles throughout my life. It made my lungs collapse when I was six," says Bravos, 20, who is from Martinez but now lives in Rohnert Park while she attends school.

Bravos lost her home when she was ten, and says it took five years to find a home and see her life get back on track. "You could say it was because my parents didn't graduate to go on to college in order to make a better living wage and not have to rely on their parents to help them with a house," Bravos says.

"But really, I just remember being ten and receiving the two weeks notice and coming to the realization that my life was going to be different and difficult."

During school Bravos feared being teased because she was homeless and so she had only a few select friends that did not know her past.

"Instead of focusing on my peers and my struggles, I began to expedite my energy toward school and my future," Bravos says.

Bravos is a psychology major looking forward to graduating in 2010. Because of her own hardships, she wants to make a difference as a psychologist for Martinez's Juvenile Hall after
completing her degree at UC Berkley where she plans to study counseling and psychology.

She already has worked toward this goal by being a peer mentor and a teaching assistant at SSU, helping the freshman class become more aware of college opportunities. She is involved in
the Educational Opportunity Program, Future Scholars, among others.

Bravos feels blessed by the award.

"I feel honored in knowing that my life and goals are being recognized for their true worth. It's an indescribable feeling to come from a history of being a part of one of the most forgotten populations - the homeless - to end up becoming someone who is not only remembered, but awarded for my efforts," she says.

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Sonoma State University Saving California Turtles

“HEAD START”
SSU Head Start Program for turtles sees first hatchlings effort to halt shocking decline of reptiles in California - Slow and steady is not winning the race.

Rapidly shrinking numbers of California’s only native aquatic turtle species - the Western Pond Turtle - has sparked the development of a pioneering partnership between Sonoma State University and two Bay Area zoos to save the reptile from extinction in California.

Sonoma State Biology professor Nick Geist successfully hatched the first six young turtles last Friday from 57 eggs collected this summer from an undisclosed Lake County location. Geist and his graduate students, and Oakland Zoo staffers, spent the summer monitoring a Lake County site for mother turtles and followed them to the nests where they collected their eggs.

PHOTO: Students working form a ‘‘blind’’ to watch the turtles

The eggs were placed in five incubators in his lab at the Rohnert Park campus. Young turtles began to emerge last Friday. More are hatching daily in the first-of-its-kind breeding program for this species in the state.

“Slow and steady is not winning the race for this species,” says Geist. “The turtles must be saved before the population reaches critically low levels.”

Geist has solicited the support of Bay Area zoos in a captive-breeding program - a “head start” program - to protect the young turtles, who at the size of a quarter at birth often become tender morsels for predators such as bullfrogs, skunks and foxes. These predators, as well as the loss of 90% of its habitat, have contributed to a shocking decline of the species.

This past Friday, the first hatchlings went to the Oakland Zoo for care until they are large enough to be released back to wild. Plans are to send the second batch to the San Francisco Zoo on Friday. The SF Zoo plans to create a public education exhibit about the project at its Koret Animal Research Center.

Geist envisions a network of zoos throughout the state that will raise the hatchlings in captivity for almost a year to facilitate the immediate conservation and ultimate recovery of the Western Pond Turtle in California.

Geist is also using the program to determine at what temperature the sex of the turtle is decided so that better conservation management techniques can be designed.

The Western Pond Turtle (Clemmys marmorata) has declined precipitously, or been eliminated entirely, in so many parts of its former range, that it is now protected by the Department of Fish and Game as a California Special Concern species.

Originally, the pond turtle ranged from Mexico to the Canadian border in a narrow strip along the coast. It lives to be 60 years old and its shell gets as large as 12 inches in length.
Once estimated to have populations in the millions, it has virtually disappeared from urban areas of southern and northern California and most of the Central Valley.

For further information, contact:
Dr. Nicholas R. Geist, Associate Professor of Biology,
(707) 664-3056, nick.geist@sonoma.edu
Nancy Filippi, Director of Marketing, Oakland Zoo,
(510) 632-9525, ext. 132, nancy@oaklandzoo.org
Gwendolyn Tornatore, Public Relations Manager,
San Francisco Zoo, (415) 753-7174, GwendolynT@sfzoo.org

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Activist Vandana Shiva at Sonoma Country Day School

Respected and Revered, Vandana Shiva's presentation at Sonoma Country Day School is reviewed not only for content, but also from the perspective of mutual respect from Sonoma County leaders on the environment.


VANDANA SHIVA
Review by Jim

On August 27, 2008 Dave Henson of Occidental Arts and Ecology Center introduced Dr Shiva, a world-renowned scientist, environmentalist and agricultural activist to an audience of about 700 people at Sonoma Country Day School, whose Jackson theater, I estimated had about 750 seats. He spoke glowingly of her for about 15 minutes. A Phd in quantum physics who started the tree-hugging movement in India. A cofounder of The International Forum on Globalization and author of a number of books such as "Water Wars", "Stolen Harvest" and "Biopiracy". Her new book, "Soil Not Oil" will be out in November. She is the founder of Navdanya International, a science and policy research center based in India. A powerful, articulate and vocal critic of the WTO, IMF, World Bank, Monsanto and the biotech industry (GMO's). She has founded or organized holistic living schools and huge seed saving exchanges in India and all around Asia. Of course most of us attending needed no introduction to this profoundly amazing and inspiring leader in the movement to protect and restore the Earth.

She refers to the global climate crisis as CLIMATE CHAOS which she calls the highest expression of global instability. We are brilliant at how to do nothing, she says. We are good a getting oil and gold out of the ground without regard for the destruction it causes. Producing what we want when we want it, is called democracy. Half of the people in the world are peasants.

Agriculture is the fundamental crisis and remember FTA's & GATT,(Free Trade Agreements/General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs)? They have led to Three instruments: GMO's, Packaging (?) Mergers and Intellectual Property Rights. Seeds embody biological evolution! Cargill and Monsanto have merged and now own 95% of all genetically engineered seeds. This agricultural dictatorship owns half of all seeds. Farmers in India gathered five million signatures protesting the 50 to 100 fold increase in seed prices. GMO's are vulnerable. The often heard claim that they increase yield has been proven false. NAFTA has destroyed food security in North America. Strangely, Anti-Trust Laws have never been applied to food. There are serious food shortages in India and China. George Bush claims it is because the Indian people are eating more; getting laughs from the crowd...which she did on numerous occasions.

Petroleum based fertilizers account for 51% of greenhouse gases(?). We need to ban chemical fertilizers. They constitute a war against food, life and ecosystems. She says oil represents a human death wish. She mentioned the creation of a University of Seeds. She asked the audience if they knew the root of the word millet. She said it means millions, a reference to the number of seeds one seed can produce. Monsanto's terminator technology represents the creation of scarcity. The real and true fertilizer is the soil. She repeated the phrase Seed, Soil, Sun. Earth Democracy is nonviolent farming.

Following her presentation was a Q & A session from 3x5 cards taken from the audience. When asked about water, she talked at length about the water crisis and mentioned the fact that the use of chemical fertilizers requires 10 times as much water. With more carbon in the soil, less water is needed and flood and drought damage is decreased. My question was about farmer suicides, and like the water question she answered in great depth, talking about the conditions leading to suicides. Turns out that about 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last decade in india and well over 3,000 (?) in the U.S. The solution is to distribute good seeds to the farmers. When someone suggests that its too late for whatever, her reply is " It is never too late to stop doing the wrong thing or to start doing the right thing." About bees she thinks it has something to do with the Bt gene engineered into crops. She used the phrase GE FREE STATES. She says don't take peoples' land away and use resources to produce more food. We need soil and seed keepers and not tractor keepers. Finally, when asked how we need to change, she said, start celebrating Earth. All food is a sacrament. Give us this day our daily bread should not be a prayer to Cargill/ Monsanto.

In trying to describe this incredible woman, I decided she had the knowledge, integrity and perseverance of Ralph Nader, the incisive, linguistic wit of Barbara Jordan, the powerful, commanding presence of Hugo Chavez and the compassion and sensitivity of Mother Theresa.

Debbie Barker spoke at the break between Vandana's presentation and the Q & A session. She is co-director of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) and was instrumental in arranging Dr Shiva's appearance here. This event was a benefit for Navdanya International and a kickoff for Navdanya U.S. whose director is Debbie Barker.

The evening was capped off with delicious hors d'oeuvres and a number of superior wines donated by local wineries. My sympathies to those who missed this marvelous event. Check out the website navdanya.org.

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48 Years After the Torch was Passed

Stephen Gale writes about our political legend, Ted Kennedy, from his personal perspective and years of activism.

Forty-eight Years after the Torch Was Passed

By Stephen Gale

The first time I met Arnold Schwarzenegger he was sitting beside his celebrity companion, Maria Shriver. Their table-for-four at Froman’s Deli in Santa Monica was only a few feet from the little two-seater where my wife and I sat, exhausted at 9:00 on a Sunday morning. Maria was animated and loud and excited that she woke that morning to see the name KENNEDY boldly showing on the windshield of every car on the street below the apartment where she lived. Arnold beamed, but it was Maria who became the gracious niece of Edward Kennedy when Lorre and I admitted, wearing broad smiles of our own, that we had labored since before sunrise to place a flyer on every car in Santa Monica, until our limited supply was exhausted.

Ted Kennedy has been the patriarch of a generation of Democrats for as long as I can remember, being only eleven when John Kennedy visited Dallas for the last time. Five years later, such a short time after I heard him calm an anguished crowd when Martin Luther King was murdered, there was no consoling those whom Robert Kennedy touched and who sought to touch him. Although I would experience grief at the loss of friends who did not return from Viet Nam and others who stepped out of line too soon, there is a cold stillness, even today, as I remember the assassination of the second Kennedy. The generous words Ted Kennedy spoke in eulogy were soothing and still hang on my office wall.

My father was so affected by the loss of John Kennedy that he resigned a lucrative job in the Santa Clara valley and became the Director of Vocational Education at Parks Job Corps Center in Pleasanton. Some of those relationships forged during years of committed action grew into friendships that lasted for the rest of his life. Before his death he remembered how George Forman, the most famous person to emerge from Parks, had his life changed by the passionate commitment of those who worked in one of the cornerstones of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

For a short time, I was so affected by the loss of Robert Kennedy that I worked in the district office of first term Assemblyman John Vasconcellos and considered pursuing a career in public policy. Then I went away to college, married, pursued two careers and raised a son, while the political world unfolded on a course so different from the hopeful path illuminated by three Kennedy Brothers. Through all of those overly ordinary and sometimes self-absorbed years, I came to understand that it was Edward Kennedy who showed the greatest strength, through long struggle that is the real hallmark of courage.

To see Edward Kennedy speak tonight, with his left hand covered by a bandage and his right hand shaking slightly as his voice filled the Convention’s never-silent space, was to know that the torch had, indeed, been passed. When Edward and Caroline stood with Barack Obama and endorsed his candidacy, the torch moved from the loving hands of the third Kennedy Brother who had so jealously kept the eternal flame alive in the Democratic Party.

In his mid-day message from Denver, Chip Roberson (Obama Delegate from the City of Sonoma) shared his illuminating recognition of the message imprinted on the California Delegation. “By strengthening and building relationships, we can share and craft a common message that will serve to build the bonds that unite the party.” Politics and the struggle to create a better future for ourselves and our children do create lasting bonds of unity. For those of us who are preparing for the loss of the final Kennedy Brother, it is encouraging to see the torch being passed so peacefully and respectfully to Barack Obama. And locally, it is equally gratifying to see a new generation of political leadership emerging in the likes of Delegate Chip Roberson, new to politics, and passionately engaged.



Stephen Gale is the Chair of the Sonoma County Democratic Party.
http://sonomademocrats.org/

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Relay for Life- Petaluma

Dream Team Volunteers

The 10th anniversary of Petaluma’s Relay for Life must also mark the long relationship between the American Cancer Society and two long-time, hometown volunteers.

The friendship and skills of Marilyn Herzog and Gail Nielsen are inextricably woven into Petaluma Relay’s existence. Their passion and dedication is the stitch on the fabric of the local volunteer community. And after 30 years of service, they continue to inspire other members of the community to continue its ongoing success.

With her upbeat personality and energy, Marilyn Herzog has always been involved with some form of volunteerism for the Petaluma community. With skills in sewing and fabric design, Marilyn has always had an interest in fashion and fashion design. So it was natural, with this love and passion, to begin her volunteer career by organizing fashion shows for the local PTA and Petaluma hospitals.

In 1978, she was inspired to join in the fight against cancer when she learned on television that the star quarterback for the University of California Berkeley Bears football team was stricken with leukemia. “I couldn’t believe this amazing athlete was struck down in his prime,” Marilyn says. With her husband’s encouragement she approached the American Cancer Society to do fashion shows to raise money for the cause. “It took nearly a year to get it approved. I had friends who went to bat for me and told the board that I was a good risk.” Thirty years, and many shows later, she is still an organizing force with the American Cancer Society.

Marilyn knew she needed help with the fashion shows and asked her good friend, Gail Nielsen, to join her in the planning and execution of the event. The two met while Gail was buying some fabric from Marilyn and they became good friends. Their shared love of sewing and community became a shared cause.

They were a dream team: Marilyn, the people person, used her contacts and sources to get custom-made clothing for the show and Gail, who is good with numbers, used her background in bookkeeping and accounting to take care of the business and financial end of the events. The fashion shows were wildly successful and became even more so when they changed the event to be a two-day affair adding a second evening event with a dinner and an auction. “That’s when we started making the bucks” said Marilyn. “We would net over $100,000 on those events.”

The two friends have also served the cause in the wider organizational realm of the American Cancer Society over the years. Marilyn started the local ACS unit in Petaluma and was its first president. She also helped develop the board of directors. In 1996, Marilyn was selected as income development volunteer for California by the American Cancer Society. She later became regional president for ACS, which covers western Northern California.

Want to learn more? Contact:
Nell K. Western
Co-Chair
2008 Petaluma Relay for Life
Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back.
www.events.cancer.org/rflpetalumaca

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Good Samartians Honored

Youth: Cody Hicks, Santa Rosa
Law Enforcement: Beverly Liberman, Santa Rosa
Medical: Laura Roehrick, Santa Rosa
Good Samaritan, Adult: Agostino “Marco” Aimo, Rohnert Park
Good Samaritan, Senior: Mary Isaak, Petaluma (deceased)
Military: Army Specialist Ryan Sobel, Petaluma
Animal: Lee Justice and Robert Hope, Petaluma
Rescue Professional: Jan Wasson Smith, Boonville
Educator: Rebecca Kress, Ukiah
Mendocino County Hero of the Year: Eric Glassey, Willits

Red Cross honors heroes in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties
Stories of daring rescues and dedication

A young woman who donated her kidney to her volleyball coach, a man who helped two teenagers survive a terrible car accident, and an Anderson Valley volunteer who eagerly responds to life-threatening emergencies are just a few of the 10 stories. More than 100 individuals from two counties were nominated as heroes this year.
The Real Heroes Awards honors extraordinary compassion and commitment of community members, and at the same time, it is the largest fundraiser of the year for the local Red Cross chapter. Funds donated at the event build up the relief fund that covers disaster responses in two counties and other essential services.

THE AWARD-WINNING HEROES AND THEIR STORIES

Good Samaritan, Youth: 14-year-old Cody Hicks appreciated the tremendous guidance and encouragement she received from her volleyball coach, Nancy Archer-Crofut,. Nine years later, when Archer-Crofut needed a kidney transplant, it seemed like a miracle when Hicks turned out to be a match. At the age of 22, Hicks donated her kidney, saving the life of her friend and mentor.

Good Samaritan, Adult: Agostino (Marco) Aimo, a 50-year-old nursing student, was the only bystander willing to volunteer as a car accident threatened to turn tragic. With the car on fire, he dragged a disoriented passenger from the car, and a few minutes later rescued the unconscious driver with help from a police officer.

Good Samaritan, Senior: The late Mary Isaak left a huge legacy in Petaluma. Thanks to her work as co-founder and leader of Committee on the Shelterless, or COTS, approximately 2,700 homeless children and 10,000 homeless adults have slept inside during 700,000 bednights, and have eaten 350,000 meals.

Law Enforcement: Beverly Liberman, Director of the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Academy of Sonoma County, ensures that all those who want to become chaplains are trained with compassion and understanding. Their work is demanding: when victims of crimes, tragic accidents, and sudden deaths need emotional support, they turn to trained chaplains. Beverly is hardworking, caring, and skilled in both her leadership and her own chaplain work, inspiring others to continue to perform this difficult, important work.

Educator: For 17 years, Rebecca Kress has been on a mission to keep the Russian River clean. Thanks to Kress’ ceaseless drive to educate others, volunteers with her group Russian River Unlimited have removed nearly 6,000 tires, tons of appliances and cars, mountains of plastic, and toxic waste from the Russian River.

Medical: Nurse Laura Roehrick developed a unique way to heal feet that are at risk of amputation, due to diabetes. Last year, she went to Tanzania to donate medical supplies, and teach others how to treat diabetic foot problems. Next, in Zanzibar, she will work with Dr. Fadhill Abdalla to start a model foot care program that will keep people’s feet, and ultimately their lives, healthy.

Animal: Lee Justice and Robert Pope, a retired couple with a love for horses, are the founders of Giant Steps Therapeutic Equestrian Center. There, people who suffer from any of more than 60 different kinds of physical or mental disabilities ride therapy horses as part of their rehabilitation. Justice and Pope lovingly guide volunteers, staff, and parents, they all participate in the healing of hundreds of disabled children and adults each year.

Military: Army Specialist Ryan Sobel was serving in Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. One day, as he was riding in a Humvee, the vehicle drove over and exploded a buried bomb. Despite his serious injuries, when Sobel regained consciousness, he got into another Humvee to help other Rangers who had been ambushed by Taliban fighters. Sobel, who is still in rehabilitation from his serious injuries in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, was awarded the Purple Heart.

Rescue Professional: In her work for Anderson Valley Ambulance and as Battalion Chief of the Anderson Valley Fire Department, Jan Wasson Smith responds to emergency calls, trains volunteers, and helps others deal with the stress of emergency situations. She created a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing team that has made a major difference in helping emergency volunteers to continue their difficult, important work.

Mendocino County Hero of the Year: As Board President of three non-profit organizations, Eric Glassey spends countless hours each week guiding organizations so that they can make life better for the people they help. He has served as a Hospice volunteer, and was the leader of a prison ministry at a California prison camp. He’s generous in every way: last November, he donated a kidney to his wife Alison.


Significant in-kind donations have been contributed by Barlow Printing, Star Shots Photography, Roaring Mouse Productions, Roberta Rankin, and H & S Information Systems.


ABOUT THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, SONOMA & MENDOCINO COUNTIES
The American Red Cross is a neutral, humanitarian organization that provides relief to victims of disasters, and prepares people to prevent and respond to emergencies. The Chapter, like all Red Cross chapters, is self-sustaining and receives no funding from the national organization. All disaster assistance provided by the Chapter is free and is made possible by voluntary donations of time and money by the people of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Donations can be made online at sonomacounty.redcross.org, by mail to American Red Cross, 5297 Aero Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, or by phone at (707) 577-7627 (707-463-0112 local call for Mendocino County).

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