Sebastopol builds cultural ties through annual exchanges with sister cities in Japan, Ukraine

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 

2009 Santa Rosa Merit Awards to honor contributions of those who 'make Santa Rosa a better place to live'

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.

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.

 

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.

 

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.

Two Rock Coast Guard station provides much-needed mentors for kids in need at Roseland Elementary

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.
 

Sebastopol police volunteer Dan Potts fills a need in the community -- and his heart

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. 

Elly Cohen had an active business career in the Bay Area for more than 40 years, working as a savings and loan executive and construction company manager.
Now retired and living on her family's property in Santa Rosa, Cohen, 66, said she is "busier than I have ever been."
"I've never been able to cut down," she said, stuffing tickets for the Jewish Film Festival 2009 into envelopes at the Sonoma County office of the Jewish Community Center on Farmers Lane.
Cohen, a gray-haired grandmother, tutors students in religious studies at Santa Rosa's Congregation Shomrei Torah and works part-time as administrator of a Santa Rosa-based nonprofit, Remember Us, which connects Jewish children preparing for bar or bat mitzvah with children lost in the Holocaust.

For 3 decades, Lea Eastin has volunteered at Palm Drive Hospital

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.

Julia Wood, 68, hates to see a patch of land go to waste, especially when so many people have fallen on hard times.

"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.