The Mt. Madonna YMCA raised more than $12,000 at a fundraiser
for Senior Programs and Services in the South County Oct. 30 at the
Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach. The funds will be used to
ensure that older adults in our community can live meaningful,
quality and healthy lives through the programs and services
provided by the Mt. Madonna YMCA and the Centennial Recreation
Senior Center.
Mt. Madonna YMCA raises funds for senior programs and services
The Mt. Madonna YMCA raised more than $12,000 at a fundraiser for Senior Programs and Services in the South County Oct. 30 at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach. The funds will be used to ensure that older adults in our community can live meaningful, quality and healthy lives through the programs and services provided by the Mt. Madonna YMCA and the Centennial Recreation Senior Center.
Rancho San Vicente protected
Peninsula Open Space Trust transferred ownership of 966-acre Rancho San Vicente in south San Jose to the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department for inclusion in adjoining Calero County Park. POST purchased the property from private developers in June for $16 million and Oct. 30 sold the land for the same amount to County Parks.
“With this project, we’re creating a protected corridor of open land for wildlife, recreation and scenic enjoyment at the southern tip of Almaden Valley, right at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The valley will be greener and more livable, and these rolling hills will remain beautiful thanks to POST’s partnership with County Parks to preserve this amazing property,” said POST President Audrey Rust.
Rancho San Vicente is a key link between Almaden Quicksilver and Calero county parks, with the potential to connect more than 31,000 acres of surrounding open space and parkland. Once part of a historic Spanish land grant, in recent times the ranch had been used for cattle grazing. Protection of the land as park and open space helps connect habitat for migrating wildlife, preserves rare serpentine soils for spectacular wildflower displays, and will eventually provide access for world-class outdoor recreation to residents of the South Bay.
Prior to POST’s purchase, Rancho San Vicente had, at various times, been slated for up to 900 residential units, an 18-hole golf course and 16 large private estates to be built on the land. When such plans became difficult to pursue within their timeframe, New Cities Development Group, in Monterey, sold it to POST for preservation. Now Rancho San Vicente’s scenic expanse of grassy hills, serpentine slopes and majestic oak trees will be preserved forever as Santa Clara County parkland within the protected greenbelt of hills and mountains that ring Almaden Valley and the South Bay.
Go Kids opens new center in San Martin
Go Kids, Inc., a nonprofit agency serving South County families for more than 30 years, has received additional funding from the California Department of Education to expand its existing preschool and afterschool services. The new program opened Sept. 23, and is available at San Martin Gwinn Elementary School. Families who attend San Martin Gwinn Elementary School and need before and after school childcare are encouraged to contact Go Kids for immediate enrollment. Likewise, parents living in the area who have preschool children and are seeking a quality program designed to prepare
children for school can contact Kendra Allen the centers site supervisor.
“This new center is licensed to serve 80 new families in need of quality services for their children,” said Cathy Boettcher, Deputy Director of Go Kids. ” We are able to provide scholarships to families who need help with the tuition.”
The new preschool will operate from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The before/after school services provided are for Kindergarten through sixth graders.
Details: 683-0600.
Styling tools donated
Eighteen hair styling tools were collected and donated to area nonprofits after a “Party at the Tool Bar” that was recently sponsored by Cherisse’s Hair Salon in Morgan Hill. The styling tools were donated by community members who were invited to trade in their old blow-dryers, curling irons, flat irons and hot rollers. The styling tools were given to Community Solutions.
Paige Day, communication relationship specialist at Community Solutions, is distributing the hair styling tools to the local women’s shelter and to Transition Housing for Singles. A third set is being made available to case workers at Community Solutions who will distribute them to newly homeless women, pregnant teens, and other women in need within the community. Those who donated styling tools were given a hair styling lesson in appreciation for their donations.
“This was a fun way to get together, do hair, and support the community,” said Cherisse White, artistic director of Cherisse’s Hair Salon. “It was the kind of event where everybody wins.”
School district recognizes local businesses
The Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education formally recognized Sycamore Concrete Construction, Inc. and South Valley Disposal and Recycling during the body’s Oct. 27 meeting.
During the past several years, Sycamore has donated thousands of yards of concrete and cobblestones to the schools. When an area at a school becomes unsafe due to muddy or overgrown conditions, and there is no funding to provide landscaping, Sycamore voluntarily pours concrete and lays cobblestones using their own manpower, according to a staff report.
When a school needs to be cleaned, South Valley Disposal provides bins for the staff and grounds staff to dispose of any unwanted, old or broken items at no cost to the district, the staff report reads.
