By Zach Friend, County Supervisor, 2nd District
As I close in on my first year of elected office, I have a lot to be thankful for — and much of it comes from the remarkable community we call home. From my office family to your family we want to wish you a safe and happy holiday season. We are very fortunate to live in Santa Cruz County (and in particular the 2nd District) and it is worth taking a little time during this holiday season to reflect on the great gifts we are given locally. Here are some positive stories from the 2nd District occurring recently!
Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, with members throughout our district (Capitola to Watsonville), once again challenged the membership to help raise food and funds for Second Harvest Food Bank; they donated over 1 million meals!
In Corralitos, the Community Restoration Project, a program of the Community Action Board and Encompass Community Services teamed up to refurbish and repair playground equipment at Aldridge Lane Park.
Caroline’s Thrift Shop in Aptos is a nonprofit thrift shop dedicated to raising money for programs and services for children with special medical, developmental, or psychological needs. This year, Caroline’s presented checks totaling $120,000 to a dozen nonprofits with children who have special needs. Non-profits that serve many local children including Children’s Hospice and Palliative Coalition, Hospice of Santa Cruz County and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) received substantial sums.
Because of the work of Capitola Police Chief Escalante and Capitola resident Anna Marie Gotti, the city just received a grant to continue to offer low cost classes for women’s self defense through the City’s Recreation Department. Last year the city had more than 25 participates in the various classes that were offered – now, more classes will be offered.
In Watsonville, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sgt. Alan Burt, filled dozens of garbage bags and pulled 70 shopping carts from an encampment along Corralitos Creek. They received a dumpster donated by Greenwaste and were able to protect the creek from trash and other items before the rainy season.
Aegis of Aptos donated lights and cookies for the annual Aptos holiday tree lighting and chartered a bus for seniors to enjoy the music and holiday cheer provided by local churches and community groups. The residents are making the cookies for the celebration. In addition, this event collected gifts for Toys for Tots and food for Second Harvest Food Bank.
In Seascape, Janus and Children’s Charities Inc. joined with Seascape Village Fitness for a fundraiser to benefit multiple non-profits this last week.
The Aptos Times’ Adopt-A-Family project will be providing Christmas for over 30 families in need this holiday season.
The stories above represent just a small fraction of the great things coming from our district – from Capitola to Watsonville. Many of these positive stories occurred within the last few weeks and I expect that many more will occur before the New Year. Too often we find ourselves surrounded by our challenges and not our opportunities. Stories tend to focus on the negative – on things that are going wrong or things that we as a community aren’t doing well as we should. But as this short collection of examples show, we are doing a lot of positive things locally and it’s important to take time to reflect on, and appreciate, them.
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As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to call me at 454-2200.