By Bleys W. Rose
The Press Democrat

SEBASTOPOL -- Signs at entrances to this tiny west county community proclaim sister city relationships with cities in Japan and the Ukraine, but only a few people, such as Leaf Roberts and Val Churma, understand what it takes to keep renewing two decades of cultural exchanges.

Through the nonprofit group Sebastopol World Friends, the town has had a sister-city relationship with Yamauchi, Japan, since 1985 and with Chyhyryn, Ukraine, since 1992. Both were undertaken at the behest of the city council, which sought to establish cultural links with cities of similar size.

"The model is to work toward world peace, one friend at a time," said Churma, who serves as chair of the group this year. "When you can't join the Peace Corps or give a lot of money, you can do things to promote friendship among young people when they are so impressionable."
Information on the nonprofit's programs can be found at www.sebastopolwf.org 

"We focus on exchanges of younger teens of middle-school age because it requires so much help from the parents who need to be involved," said Roberts, who has been an organization leader since its inception. "When children get to high school, there is not so much interaction and it gets a lot harder to organize."

Last April, Sebastopol welcomed the largest Japanese contingent ever, 18 schoolchildren, several chaperones and three city officials including the mayor of Takeo City, which had absorbed Yamauchi through a municipal merger. They stayed 10 days and got tours of everything from Fort Ross to the Sonoma mission, from the UC Berkeley campus to San Francisco's Japantown.

Next April, 18 students from Sebastopol-area schools, several chaperones and Sebastopol City Manager Jack Griffin will spend 10 days staying with Yamauchi families and experiencing their lifestyles.

"I am fascinated to learn how they deliver services, and, from a practical standpoint, in meeting with people who do what we do someplace else," Griffin said.

At one time or another, most of the Sebastopol city council and many of their children have been to Yamauchi.

Churma, whose son Morgan went to Yamauchi in 2002 and daughter Brenna went in 2004, said those trips provided her children with an expanded view of the world that they would not have attained through tourist-style travel.

"They felt part of another culture by spending so much time with the families," Churma said. "It shows they can be friends and feel like family with everybody. You are not going to support a war against your friends or family."

The Yamauchi connection, according to Roberts, has its roots in a visit to Sebastopol in the early 1980s by a Japanese businessman who suggested a sister city relationship and mentioned his relative was mayor of Yamauchi. Chyhyryn became a sister city in 1992 when Sebastopol was able to piggyback on the same relationship that Santa Rosa has with Cherkassy, also in the Ukraine.

"When the Soviet Union was breaking up, we all thought it was a great opportunity to expand our cultural exchange programs," Roberts said.

While the Yamauchi program tends to primarily involve exchanges of students and community leaders, the Chyhyryn program tends to involve more adults, in large part because Ukrainian families are unable to fund visits by their children. Some are involved in environmental projects, some in education and others in business ventures.

Roberts, who has been to the Ukraine almost a dozen times, said "our hope is that as the economy of that country improves, we'll be able to develop student exchanges along the same lines as Yamauchi."

Roberts said her daughter, Kim Sullivan, went to Chyhyryn as a chaperone of a student group and ended up staying on to teach English. She has since returned.

"There is always a change in attitude in knowing another culture," Roberts said. "Our children come back here and say they don't need all this stuff. We go over there and hear that our relationship with them has given them hope, that it is possible there would be a good life for their children."

You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.

By MIKE McCOY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

They are among Santa Rosa's "unsung," people whose contributions to the city and its citizens often go unheralded.

But on Monday, 21 individuals, nonprofit groups and businesses will be awarded Merit Awards for their contributions and volunteer efforts that "make Santa Rosa a better place to live," said Sally Mullen, chairwoman of the 2009 Merit Award Committee that chose this year's recipients from 38 nominations.

"It's to give honor to those who are hardly ever talked about," said Mullen, noting most honorees go about enriching people's lives, neighborhoods and opportunities with little fanfare.

Since the awards program began in 1978, more than 700 have been given out "partly to
encourage volunteerism and to show there are people among us who are unsung," she said.

AWARDS CEREMONY
What: Santa Rosa Merit Awards presentation
Where: Santa Rosa City Hall
When: 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9
TV: The event will be televised live on Channel 28

 
These are people and groups who "raise the bar" for volunteerism, she said. "There are people who volunteer all the time, but we are looking to honor those that just don't make a few blankets for little kids, but 2,000 blankets for little kids."

This year's honorees and categories include:

COMMUNITY SERVICES, INDIVIDUALS:
Evelyn Chatham: Founded "Worth Our Weight," a culinary apprentice program that
teaches vocational farming, cooking and food skills to disadvantaged youths and has provided free Christmas dinners for 20 years.

Jim Lanz: A founder of Piner High School's Hall of Fame who has led fundraising efforts over the past several years that raised more than $50,000 toward athletic needs, including football stadium lights.

Judy Kennedy: Led efforts to include her Burbank Gardens Neighborhood in the city's
Station Area plan and has been a driving force to reduce city's carbon footprint through
distribution of fluorescent light bulbs.

Rhonda Roman: Fleet Feet store owner and founder of six-year-old Run to Stop Hunger
that helps fund two charities, the Redwood Empire Food Bank and FISH of Santa Rosa.

Julie Chasen: Santa Rosa Junior College neighborhood resident who led efforts to create
the Humboldt Street Bike Boulevard, a neighborhood bulletin board, a weekly produce
swap and public-use spaces.

Alan D'Ambrogi: A 25-year Rincon Valley Fire Protection District volunteer firefighter
who also volunteers at the Redwood Empire Food Bank, the St. Vincent dePaul Society and Sonoma County Humane Society.

COMMUNITY SERVICES, ORGANIZATIONS & BUSINESSES:
Mother's Club: Members write letters and donate gifts to U.S. soldiers abroad, visit convalescent hospitals, donate clothes to women's and children's shelters and sponsor self-defense classes for women.

Fountaingrove II Open Space Maintenance Association: Members donate hundreds
of hours annually to clear 200 acres of wildlands of fire dangers, pick up roadway
trash, plant trees and raise funds for a neighborhood park.

Listening for a Change: Develops and shares oral histories collected from people
with widely diverse backgrounds to break down walls of intolerance and misunderstanding in schools, businesses and the community.

YOUTH SERVICES:
Cesar Cruz: Has been a peer educator for Southwest Community Health Center and at
local high school campuses on health and social issues affecting teens. He is an advocate of the Safe School Ambassador Program.

MANA de Sonoma County: The local chapter of the National Latina Organization sponsors the "Hermanitas Mentorship Program" that helps Latino girls ages 11 to 17 prepare for scholastic, career and life choices.

Alan Miller: Donates 15 hours a week teaching martial arts and other life skills to
more than 400 at-risk youth who have gone through the Martial Arts Youth Institute.

Warren Dickinson: A licensed general contractor who donates expertise and materials
to help develop The Children's Village, a series of homes that provide stable environments for children in foster care.

NEIGHBORHOOD ENRICHMENT:
Steve Burns: The southwest Santa Rosa resident since 2005 has been removing and painting over graffiti as quickly as it appears, even to the point of matching paint.

Rob Fisher: A contractor who restored in historic detail a small, 80-year-old apartment
complex in the Santa Rosa Junior College neighborhood.

Santa Rosa City Schools: For construction of DeSoto Hall, a classroom building that
matches the historic Gothic architecture of other Santa Rosa High buildings while meets
environmentally friendly standards.

Tzu Chi Foundation: Members of the Taiwan Buddhist group have hosted a litter cleanup
day at Howarth Park each quarter of the year for the past three years.

Narrow Way Stage Company: Provides alternative venue for emerging actors, directors
and set designers to offer audiences plays based on youthful views of issues ranging from homelessness to post-traumatic stress.

Jim King: At 89 years of age, he continues to do annual pruning and provide weekly care
of several beds of roses he helped plant in Juilliard Park more than 50 years ago.

CULTURAL ENRICHMENT:
Lisa Skelly: The parent of a Santa Rosa Middle School student spent a year painting
two murals on the front of the school depicting Sonoma County's agricultural and rural
landscapes.

Santa Rosa Nissan: Rebuilt its aging dealership using environmentally friendly methods
that included recycled steel, solar panels, skylights and a bus shelter and bike rack to encourage less-polluting options.

Look Good . . . Feel Better program provides wigs, scarves, makeup and skin care tips for women fighting cancer.

BY MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

By the time Healdsburg resident Tammy Montenegro had lost both breasts and her blond hair to cancer treatment last year, she was starting to feel a little bit more like an "it" than a "she."

"All the outward signs of femininity were going to be gone, and that's really upsetting," she says, now cancer-free, her hair and body restored.

There can be skin discoloration and extreme dryness, cracked and splitting nails and loss of hair -- including the eyebrows and eyelashes that play so important a part in defining a person's face.

Occidental resident Carol Delaney, who's been fighting breast cancer since 2000, has experienced it all, and then some, including infections in cracked nails and cuticles. She recently acquired "some new hair challenges" thanks to a round of radiation that left a bald patch amid her thinning fringe.

Like Montenegro, she was surprised -- and grateful -- to stumble upon an American Cancer Society program called Look Good . . . Feel Better that helps cancer patients learn how to address problems such as hair loss and skin care.

"They gave me the tools to work with and encouraged me to play with wigs and scarves and make-ups," said Montenegro, 51, "and I just grabbed that with both hands."

The program, sponsored by the cancer society, the Personal Care Products Council Foundation and the National Cosmetology Association, depends on volunteer cosmetologists and estheticians to teach skin and nail care, makeup and hair styling, as well as use of wigs, scarves and other head covering.

T.J. Griggs, owner of Salon West on West Third Street in Santa Rosa and a volunteer for the program, said she was drawn to the program two years ago by her belief that people feel better when they feel good about their looks.

There's been cancer in her family -- both parents are survivors -- so she's seen its ravages up close. Sometimes people just want to feel normal and go out in public without announcing themselves as "victims," she said.

"So for me, it gave me a chance to give back," Griggs said. "I have positive stories to share with people in treatment of cancers and also use my skills in a positive way.

"It is really neat for me to be able to do," she said. "It's really rewarding for me."

It's also a fun and therapeutic group environment for the patients, she said, allowing them to share their challenges and complaints, and receive practical instruction about what they can do to improve their appearance using head-coverings and wigs from the agency's wig bank.

"We get to play dress-up, basically," Griggs said.

"Personally, I'm really proud of the people that are brave enough to just go out there and let it hang out," said Delaney, who attended an Oct. 12 workshop with Griggs. "I guess what I don't want is . . . the attention that I might get because of it. I'd rather be noticed for a different reason if I'm going to be noticed."

Classes are available monthly at the cancer society office in Santa Rosa and every other month in Petaluma. Most groups include five to 10 women, though the program can be made available to men and young people when there's demand.

In addition to the instruction, participants receive free skin care products and cosmetics worth several hundred dollars from the Personal Care Products Council Foundation, an industry trade association.

They also love the wigs, which offer an opportunity to experiment and have fun with different colors and styles, both Montenegro and Delaney, 66, said.

Griggs offers free consultations in her salon, as well, including shaving for preparing for hair loss, "transitional" styling for those whose hair is growing back in -- usually with an entirely new texture -- and wig trims.

Griggs said women sometimes resist getting help on their appearance, thinking it means they're giving into vanity. But there's no shame, she said, in wanting to look normal, "to look more like yourself."

"You really do feel better if you look better," she said.

Staff Writer Mary Callahan can be reached at 521-5249 and mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com.

Volunteer Melody Montero honored for her work with Sloan House shelter

BY BOB NORBERG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Melody Montero likes to think of herself as the "chief angel" for Sloan House, organizing 45 other angels to provide for the needs of the residents of the emergency women's shelter.

"I can do something to help somebody, giving that break in life that if it was me, that is what I would want," said Montero, who is on the board of the Community Action Program, which runs the shelter.

From shampoo and eggs to living room furniture, Montero will procure it through a network of donors, the 45 Sloan Angels, that she has created.

For her work, Montero received the Outstanding Board Member Volunteer Award from the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County at its Oct. 6 awards ceremony.

She has been involved with Sloan House for seven years, including the construction of the new shelter four years ago.

The Santa Rosa shelter provides a home for 22 homeless women and children, a place where they can stay for six months while they get their lives together and move into more permanent housing.

It serves women who may have just lost a husband and support, those who are jobless and those who may have had substance abuse problems.

"Fifty percent of the women are over the age of 50, which is amazing," Montero said. "It is wonderful we have Sloan. It is a clean, safe place with a lot of my Sloan Angels looking after them, and they are very, very appreciative of what we do for them."

Montero's job is to find whatever the Sloan House and its residents need, using a network of donors that she has built over the years.

"Everybody wants to help; caring comes from the heart and everyone wants to give from the heart," Montero said.

She was instrumental in finding the furniture for the new shelter, which has a living room, dining room, kitchen and 10 bedrooms, and she often will find furniture for the residents as they move into their own permanent housing.

Montero also gets calls from the Sloan House staff for the residents' daily needs. Shampoo and eggs were among the most recent.

"I punched my e-mail list and within one hour I get an e-mail letter from a woman who brings me bags of shampoo and conditioner, and I had eight other women also offer," Montero said.

"One woman gave me $10. I bought five dozen eggs for $9.99 and took it to the shelter."
Valentine said such work would not get done otherwise, and volunteers are more important than ever because of threatened cuts in state support for women's shelters.

On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed a July order and signed a stopgap bill to restore financing to women's shelters. But it may only be a one-year reprieve.

"Women's shelters are at risk now. . . Without this kind of volunteer engagement and commitment, the emergency shelters could go away," Valentine said.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or  bnorberg@pressdemocrat.com.

MOMS volunteers seek donations to make care packages for soldiers overseas

by Lori A. Carter
The Press Democrat

The quarterly "comforts from home" packages the MOMS put together have always been labors of love. But the most recent production took a more personal toll.

The Sonoma County MOMS, Mothers of Military Servicemembers, had to dip into their own pockets to finance and mail the 102 boxes of toiletries, snacks and other cherished items they sent to soldiers abroad.

In these tough economic times, charitable giving -- including to those serving in the military and fighting our wars -- has been in decline.

The moms seeking donations last month outside Wal-Mart in Rohnert Park saw that first-hand, said board member Sally Moratto.

Group members ended up having to pay about $500 from their own funds to subsidize the filling and mailing of the boxes, which are sent to military service members serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The total cost was $1,302.

"I know everyone is watching their wallets and what have you . . . and there's so much in the news about the (Jaycee Dugard) kidnapping, the economy and health care issues," Moratto said. "Yes, it's been eight years, but we still have troops over there."

Last quarter, the group gathered enough donated items and monetary gifts to fund the mailing of 150 care packages.

The care packages include new socks, toothpaste, lotions, sunscreen, bug spray, tuna packs, peanut butter, crackers, granola and coffee with filters.

<hr>

HOW TO DONATE

online: email moms@sonic.net or go to www.moms-sonomacounty.org

by mail:

MOMS

P.O. Box 8122

Santa Rosa, CA

<hr>

Moratto said she suspects the changed political landscape -- a new president and changing public sentiment on the wars -- may also be slowing donations.

"I think it's both, but probably more so the economy," she said. "But we are hearing more on the political side than we have in the past."

Since its founding in 2003, the group has remained apolitical.

"We don't care if you support the war or not, or support the president or not," Moratto said. "Our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters -- that's what we need to remind the public about."

The group continues to raise money to send the boxes and collects Christmas cards to mail to troops. They will have a card-signing event at Montgomery Village in Santa Rosa on Oct. 25, where they also will be accepting donations.

MOMS also accepts donations online or through the mail.

"We want to remind the public that we still have thousands of Americans serving for our freedoms," Moratto said.

-- You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 521-5240 or email at lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.

BY DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Responding to maritime emergencies and helping kids with their reading assignments present similar challenges.
They require attention to detail, for one thing, and an unselfish desire to help someone in need.
The ultimate payoff is saving a life, either literally or in the sense of plucking a kid from the wrong path and onto the road to success.
The staff at the Two Rock Coast Guard station near Petaluma have proven themselves capable of handling such distress calls, and for the 12th year, are partnering with Roseland Elementary School to help tutor students.
 

BY MIKE McCOY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

For seven years, Dan Potts would leave his job running Sawyer's News in downtown Santa Rosa to put in 20 hours a week chalking tires, directing traffic, hosting neighborhood meetings and pretending to be a thief.

It was all in a week's work as a member of Santa Rosa's Volunteers in Police Services program.

One day he'd be marking tires of those who violated the city's 72-hour parking limit, redirecting traffic at accident and crime scenes, hosting one of 100 Neighborhood Watch meetings or do play-acting at the Santa Rosa Junior College Police Academy to test how cadets would react to a real-life situation.

"It was a personal need," Potts says of his commitment to volunteer work. 

Potts said he gets paid, but not in money.

"I get compensated in my heart," he said, "by helping people in bad situations."

Potts' relationship with Santa Rosa's volunteer corps came to an abrupt end earlier this year when his job got caught in the political crossfire of Sawyer's votes to cut some department programs and jobs because of budget problems.

"It became uncomfortable," Potts said, so he and the department came to a mutual agreement he'd leave in March.

Potts said his desire to give back to the community led him three months later to join Sebastopol's Community Services Volunteers, 17 people who free up the city's 14 sworn personnel to tackle more pressing law enforcement matters.

Potts said he's still in the training stage until he learns all of Sebastopol's streets. But he said the role of volunteers is much the same as in Santa Rosa, except they have a bit more latitude, including writing tickets for all types of non-moving violations instead of just handicapped and fire-lane parking violations.

A few weeks ago he was part of Sebastopol's contribution to a joint countywide law enforcement task force that is cracking down on drunken drivers. During one crackdown in Rohnert Park, Potts worked from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. processing tow reports and compiling an inventory of the contents of cars of those arrested.

During the recent two-day Gravenstein Apple Fair, he and other volunteers "walked through the festival to present a police presence and make sure people were safe." At other times they may find themselves shooing gawking motorists around accident scenes, walking through a senior housing complex to offer a sense of security or fingerprinting people at the police station.

Sebastopol Police Chief Jeff Weaver said the volunteers, along with Police Explorers and reserve police officers, are critical for the city of 7,800 residents. "They do things we just couldn't do," Weaver said.

Potts said his intent is to provide at least 50 hours of volunteer work a month to his adopted department.

"It helps fill a void," he said.

-- You can reach Staff Writer Mike McCoy at 521-5276 or mike.mccoy@pressdemocrat.com.

Three decades ago, Lea Eastin was looking for a place to volunteer in Sebastopol. Her friend Millie Wild invited her to join the Palm Drive Hospital Auxiliary.

Thirty years later, Eastin still volunteers once a week at the hospital, delivering lunches to patients, listening to their stories or just bringing them a cup of tea.

"I feel that I'm doing a service to the community, and I really enjoy it," said Eastin, who has 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Palm Drive, a publicly owned hospital, gets community support through parcel taxes and through donations raised by the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation.

The auxiliary members typically work a three-hour shift once a week. And they take their role seriously.

"It's a commitment," said Auxiliary President Laurie Morton. "You're not paid, but there is a job to do."

Some members, like Eastin, have been volunteering for years, Morton said.

Raoul McDuff, the hospital's human resources director, oversees the auxiliary. He said its members are an integral part of the hospital and their services provide concrete benefits to those with whom they interact.

"It enhances the well-being of patients and staff and we value it and we greatly appreciate it," McDuff said.

Volunteers say they try to help relieve the staff of some of the workload. That could include bringing a wheelchair to transport a patient or posting notices of meetings and activities on the hospital's bulletin board.

And they said they help increase the human touch of the hospital.

Often the patients "really appreciate people coming in and talking to them," Eastin said.
Wild, who introduced Eastin to the auxiliary, took a leave for some years, but returned in 2001. She said west Sonoma County needs the hospital, and its value is recognized by patients and volunteers.

"People really like the small place, and you really do get to know everybody," Wild said.

The auxiliary raises funds for the hospital and gives scholarships each year to graduating seniors at Analy High School in Sebastopol and El Molino High in Forestville. The members raise funds through selling items from the hospital's gift cases, from spring and fall bridge party fund-raisers and from bake sales.

Regarding the bake sales, Morton said, "Of course, our best customers are the staff."

-- You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com.

"The economy's getting so bad that people can't afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables," she said.

With that in mind, Wood has taken over a strip of dirt sandwiched between industrial buildings and an asphalt parking lot behind the Ukiah Food Bank, where she volunteers several days a week.

Squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, peppers and lettuce now fill the strip, along with a few pre-existing fruit trees and grapes.

"It goes straight to the Food Bank, what doesn't go into my stomach first," said Wood, who was born in Arkansas and raised in Tulare County. She arrived in Ukiah in 1958.

Wood hates to be idle, so she works for free. In addition to gardening, packaging and distributing food at the Ukiah Food Bank, she helps with American Legion Post fund-raising projects and bakes goodies for others, including breast cancer organizations and the local battered women's shelter.

"She's very involved," said Food Bank Director Dayle Reed. And responsible. She shows up at the garden, long silver hair in a ponytail and wearing a ball cap, just after 7 a.m. at least three times a week.

Wood also has a knack for getting others to help out, Reed said. Friends and acquaintances she's met at the local farmers market have donated soil, plants and hoses for the garden and tilled the soil.

People are eager to give when it's for a good cause, Wood said. Many of the people Wood helps through her work for the Food Bank are homeless, a condition she knows all too well. She lost her rental a little over five years ago and spent two years homeless after her roommate died. Wood said she couldn't afford the rent on her own and couldn't afford a new place.

The Ukiah Community Center, which runs the Food Bank, helped her with housing vouchers and eventually she was able to get permanent housing assistance that helps make up the difference between what she can afford and what she must pay for rent.

Her studio apartment is 3.2 miles from the Food Bank. She knows because she usually walks the route. "I've always walked. I'm too impatient to wait for buses," Wood said.

She said she sometimes gets tired and wonders why she makes the effort. But the mood doesn't last.

"Doing something for other people puts you in a different frame of mind. It's good for you mentally and physically," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.

She's involved in an innovative program called "Read Me A Story" that allows incarcerated parents to read children's books and send a recording of their reading to their kids.

Madlem gets tremendously positive feedback.

"We hear the child wants to listen to Daddy every night before they go to bed, or the child wants to play it over and over again to hear Mom. It's very clear how important that connection is for the child," she said. "It means a lot to the inmates too."

Now in its fifth year, Read Me A Story is part of Friends Outside in Sonoma County, a nonprofit agency that provides services to families affected by incarceration.

With Read Me A Story, the intent is for the children to know they are loved and not abandoned. It also can help the inmate bond with their child.

"The hope is they will feel that connection and want to go home and be a better parent," Madlem said.

She is among three volunteers who visit male and female inmates who ask to participate, mostly at the North County Adult Detention facility, which holds minimum- to medium-security inmates.

Friends Outside said they work closely with the Sheriff's Department to make the program work and ensure there are no restraining orders against the inmate by family members.
In the first six months of this year, 114 inmates participated.

With a device that records to a compact disc, they capture the inmate's voice reading, to be played to their child or children.

It might be just five minutes of "Pooh's Grand Adventure," "Dr. Seuss," "Clifford, The Big Red Dog" or "Dora the Explorer."

The CD and book are then mailed to the child.

"A lot of children are very thrilled to hear their parent's voice, even though they realize the parent is not there with them. It brings them closer," said Kate Jenkins, executive director of Friends Outside in Sonoma County.

More than 170 children were recipients in the first half of this year.

The program is also intended to promote the importance of reading, as well as the joy of reading together.

"Occasionally, you can tell it's the first time a parent has read a book to a child," Madlem said.

Inmates in the North County facility typically are serving time for alcohol- and drug-related offenses, or waiting to get into a drug treatment or rehab program.

For many, especially the fathers who haven't had a bedtime-story connection with their kids, it can be an emotional experience.

"They know they let their kids down," Madlem said.

In some rare instances, the volunteers with Read Me A Story work with inmates who are about to be sent to prison for many years.

"It's heartbreaking. The parents are going away for life and reading to a 3- or 4-year-old," Madlem said.

Jenkins said that Madlem not only helped launch the program, but is a "tried-and-true volunteer."

For her part, Madlem is modest about her contributions and said her two fellow volunteers, Suzie Clark and Judie Filippa, also deserve credit.

For now, no more volunteers are needed in the reading program. But there is a need for children's books and donations to buy them.

Books can be dropped off at the Friends Outside office at the main jail, but donors are asked to call the agency first at 526-7318.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.

The phone rings constantly -- people needing free groceries must call before coming by the tightly run FISH cupboard on Benton Street. Recently it provided essential food to its millionth client.

Despite the rising demand for food, the pantry's hardy volunteers, most of them well into their retirement years, aren't having trouble keeping shelves stocked.

They receive regular donations of food from local grocery stores and from collection drives by postal carriers and others. What the FISH volunteers don't receive free they buy with money donated primarily by members of churches and service clubs.

Jones said she would love to have more volunteers to take in food and to bag and dispense it to the people who come in a steady stream six days a week. FISH (it stands for Friends in Service Here) gives away groceries from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Jones said she knows that it's difficult for many potential volunteers to make themselves available in the middle of the day, particularly weekdays. And when a volunteer does come in, it's best if he or she can commit to working the entire time the pantry is open that day.

It's an understatement to say that FISH -- now in its 36th year -- is an ambitious and necessary operation. In 2008 alone, it provided food to 60,005 people.

That was a 20 percent increase over the previous year, said Dennis Hansen, the deputy director. What's happening this year?

"The last time I looked, we were up another 15 percent," he said.

He and other volunteers -- no one at FISH is paid -- can only guess at the circumstances that cause people to seek food. No one is asked to justify their request or to prove their need.

"A lot of them are the working poor," said Jones, the executive director. "I've felt that for years. These people get up and go to work, but there's just not enough for all the bills."

There are a few rules with which clients must comply. The volunteers have long found that they have to be able to anticipate how many people they will serve each day, and how many bags of groceries they need to pack.

So clients are required to phone (527-5151) before they come by the FISH building, a former firehouse that the city owns. And a client is eligible to come in for food once each month.

People served by FISH receive generous portions of whatever foods the volunteers have received or purchased. It's common for a day's grocery bags to contain breakfast cereal, tuna, canned and fresh fruit and vegetables, pasta, day-old bread and something sweet, perhaps a pie.

If the busy volunteers calculated correctly, the food they provided last year totaled 539,714 pounds.

It's not at all surprising they could use a hand.

-- CHRIS SMITH is a columnist for the Press Democrat

The 71-year-old retired American diplomat has navigated heated negotiations between Turkey and Greece, once watched a grenade explode under his office window and endured three coups while living in Thailand.

But since moving to downtown Santa Rosa more than a decade ago, Wilkinson has focused on a decidedly more local agenda.

"I was looking for something different, a second career for someone who has no saleable skills, so I got interested in local politics," he said.

Wilkinson formed the Cherry Street Historic Preservation District Neighborhood Association when he was concerned that city plans would have allowed 10-story buildings on the borders of the historic neighborhood.

That soon expanded to an interest in broader downtown issues. He got together with a handful of other neighborhood leaders and established the Neighborhood Alliance, a group that bands together smaller groups to present a united front to city officials on civic issues.

His work netted him the City of Santa Rosa's Award for Community Service last year and put him on the list of folks people turn to help establish fledgling neighborhood groups.

"You too, can organize your neighborhood," he said, noting that the Cherry Street group started out as a progressive dinner and still involves just a few leaders and an active e-mail list.

He's also writing a book about Santa Rosa politics that he hopes to finish this fall.

It's been no small endeavor, taking on a new career as neighborhood leader and regular attendee of planning commission and city council meetings.

"If you say yes, you have to give it some meaning, some substance," he said of efforts that have also included tutoring, mentoring and advocating on topics such as non-violence.

"I'm retired, so I can spend as little or as much time as I want, but to be knowledgeable on issues takes an enormous amount of time," he said.

Victories vary, Wilkinson said. The Santa Rosa City Council's recent decision to re-think the scope of a downtown parking garage marks one. But so too, does a neighborhood event to rally money and support for a couple who lost their Orchard Street home to a fire last winter.

"Having a neighborhood association, it's something the city can work with," he said. "The city, under the current council, is very responsive.

"We don't do much proselytizing," he said.

The Neighborhood Alliance, which includes representatives from the neighborhoods around Santa Rosa Junior College, Burbank Gardens, Cherry Street and the West End takes a broader view, advocating for thoughtful planning and design, adequate sidewalks and green space and other uber-local concerns.

If Wilkinson is adept at speaking to the concerns of various neighborhood groups from across the city, maybe it stems from his background speaking Russian, German, Thai, Greek and "a few words of Spanish" during his time as a diplomat.

And he's adept at speaking the language of government officials -- he spent years preparing high-ranking officials for visits abroad, briefing them on issues of local and international concern "so your secretary of state or senior official is not caught flat-footed."

Wilkinson's second career as a many-hat-wearing volunteer is decidedly more local than anything he had done until now. But one gets the feeling he doesn't mind.

"For me, I have no complaints," he said. "I'm engaged in this and that project. I'll finish them and see where I go from there."

Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. She can be reached at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.

It was a Nature Tots class at the Lady Bug Park in Rohnert Park. The hourlong session got the seven 2- to 4-year-olds outside for stories, songs, a nature walk and crafts.

"At that age they're so fascinated with the outside world, they're curious about every leaf and flower and animal," said Cotati resident Stephanie Derammelaere, the program's founder.

The current session is about using different senses to notice nature. This particular class emphasized sight. Armed with their vision tools, they got a closer look at the outside world, including a treasure hunt of sorts looking for the colors of the rainbow in nature.

Her goal is to increase her program through grants and other funding and add volunteers so that it's offered more frequently, in more places and for free.

She is a lifelong nature lover who has picked up some training in an extensive naturalist program through Fairfield Osborn Preserve in Penngrove. But she also has a masters degree in business and works from home with a resume-writing, freelance-writing and career-counseling business.

Derammelaere and husband Ian, a San Francisco firefighter, have two children, Lucas, 4, and Vanessa, 2.

"When my oldest started preschool I just realized there was a lot in this county for preschool age: story time at the library and music classes, gymnastics, exercise, soccer classes," she said. "But everything is indoors."

About then she read an article about fewer people visiting the nation's parks and concern about how that could lead to a drop in the newest generation's interest in the environment and the outdoors.

"I realized even within the preschool crowd, they don't spend as much time outside. That kind of sparked the idea in my head," she said.

The aim of the program is to start kids at an early age thinking about nature and conservation, as well as helping them gain the benefits of being outside.

Darammelaere also writes a monthly newsletter that includes tips for how to get youngsters engaged with outdoors issues and easy eco-tips for getting young children thinking of the environment.

Nature Tots offers one session each month, which includes four one-hour classes. The upcoming sessions are at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa and in Rohnert Park.
She's developed sessions with age-appropriate themes, such as Creepy Crawlies or Feathered Friends. The cost for a four-week session is $48, with variations if siblings are involved or for single classes.

For more details on Nature Tots, see its comprehensive Web site, www.naturetots.com.
Jenny Blaker, an outreach coordinator for a creek restoration program called Cotati Creek Critters, crossed paths with Derammelaere and her Nature Tots. She said she was impressed with how Derammelaere built her idea into a hands-on program.
"I think it's a wonderful idea. It's very important to help small children be outside, explore nature in a safe way and just to encourage parents to take their children out and observe what's going on with insects and flowers . . ." said Blaker.

-- You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.

Marrianne McBride, the new chief executive of the Council on Aging Services for Seniors, said the growing population of older citizens makes her work all the more important.

"Baby boomers are just starting to become seniors," she said. And that means more than a simple jump in the numbers of older people who will need help living independently, or want a Meals on Wheels dinner delivered to their door.

"We will be more demanding," said McBride, 52, of the new generation of seniors that will expect more choices. Instead of a basic meat and potatoes meal, for example, they might want fish, vegan or organic food.

Instead of a "caregiver," they might want a "personal assistant."

In addition to the Meals on Wheels program, which delivers up to 1,200 meals a day from the Council on Agency's new $3.5 million kitchen facility on Kawana Springs Road, the organization provides an array of other services. They include legal advice for seniors, financial planning, peer support, shared activities and in-home visits. The organization has a $4 million budget, about 75 employees and 350 volunteers.

It's not easy relying on charitable contributions, but that doesn't diminish McBride's zeal for the job. "It's a challenge in tough economic times. It doesn't change my commitment or passion," she said.

McBride replaces Shirlee Zane, who was elected in November to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. She was chosen from 200 applicants and is being paid $100,000 a year, though board members said she could have gotten more. "I didn't want the message out there (that) we would overcompensate," McBride said.

She starts on Aug. 3, although she's intimately familiar with the agency, having been promoted from within. McBride has been the chief fund-raiser for the past four years.
"We had our own little gem right in our back yard. She has a passion for the agency and a wonderful vision for the future," said Bonnie Burrell, board president of the Council on Aging. "She stood out head and shoulders above the other candidates."

McBride said non-profit agencies "have always held a place in my heart." She said that since the age of 19 she's looked for opportunities to serve on various boards, whether it was with the Miss Sonoma County Pageant (in which she also competed in 1976), the Cloverdale pre-school co-op or with Soroptimists.

The Petaluma native graduated from St. Vincent de Paul elementary and high schools and attended Santa Rosa Junior College and the University of San Francisco. She was a travel agent and Realtor before becoming executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cloverdale in 1992.

It was in 1995, when the Boys and Girls Club burned down in an arson fire, that she honed her fund-raising skills in a campaign to raise money to build a new clubhouse. Cloverdale residents rallied, donating $500,000 -- a significant amount for the relatively small community.

What she learned is that "you have to have a mission that's really compelling to people." Then, identify those who care about it and convince them their investment will make a difference.

The result, is "individual donors, companies, foundations get behind it," she said.
McBride went on to polish her fund-raising skills further by working four years at United Way of Wine Country beginning in 2001. She ran the agency's campaign in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties, raising up to $4.7 million annually for the myriad non-profits that are under the United Way umbrella.

She said it was "incredibly rewarding" discovering how many people cared enough to invest in the community. But she missed being close to services and seeing the programs benefit recipients.

The Council on Aging, she said, provided that exposure.

-- You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.