Sebastopol Chapter

We saw them first in the newspaper. A group of middle-aged individuals, looking like a kindly version of American Gothic, ready to serve the hungry. Their dream? To gather the bounty of our county…all the loads of extra apples, pears, backyard vegetables, great leftovers from receptions and banquets…and get this fresh, nutritious food to the local food pantries sponsored by some local churches. This way, those who need to supplement their daily bread with pantry assistance could also finally take part in the riches of our local, organic, nutritious bounty!

They bring humor to the cause, as well. If you want to participate, you can be “deputized”, get a badge, and become a posse hunter! People are responding incredibly well. It is a good reminder that hunger exists, not because of lack of food, but because of the politics and economics of distribution. These folks are taking it into their own hands, with the goal to empower their community to take care of its own hungry, with the resources that are already available!

We were wildly inspired. With $1000 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, they can print many more of their postcards to be given all over town, buy a panel truck someone was offering, or even buy some harvesting ladders to get all these apples that are beginning to come into season. The board is still deciding on the exact right use of the grant, but we know the Bounty Hunters will prevail in their efforts no matter how they make use of our grant!

Several years ago, Lillith Rogers received a $300 grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol and a gift certificate to a local bookstore and office supply store. Her dream at that time was to create a one-woman show about Rachel Carson, which she could bring to schools and into the community.

Years passed and we didn't hear from Lillith. Slowly, signs began appearing here and there advertising her show. She’d done it! Some of us went to see the show, and were enthralled. Lillith generously offered to do the show as a fundraiser for our local chapter, and we accepted.

On Earth Day weekend, 2007, during a huge downpour, Lillith did a heart-warming and inspiring show that brought Rachel Carson and her amazing work to life for all those in attendance. To keep the circle of generosity going, we presented Rachel with a surprise $200 honorarium for the performance. She also received some assistance and coaching in producing a DVD of the show.

Before becoming a local Feldenkrais practitioner, Rick Geggie had been an elementary school principal in Canada for 24 years. He had worked with gangs, set up programs for the emotionally disturbed, and taught discipline and conflict resolution to parents and teachers. He had time to gain wisdom from his own mistakes as both a parent and a step-parent. Rick understands the challenges experienced by children with learning or behavioral difficulties. He also knows how much parents struggle to find the right help for their kids, often in isolation.

Teaming up with Marie Mulligan, an outstanding and passionate local physician and mother, Rick has compiled an awesome resource project to assist parents in finding the help they need. “Growing Up Easier: Help for Children and Youth” will be both a user-friendly website and book that will offer resources from traditional Western as well as alternative healing approaches.

Rick has compiled 205 challenges/problems and then helps parents and educators find the best practices to resolve that problem. Over thirty of the practitioners that have written various sections are from Sonoma County! Rick has a huge vision that will some day include healing camps for these children, parents and practitioners. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave him a grant of $1,500 as seed money to get the website started. Our families need the heart and knowledge that Rick and Marie have to offer!

This fall, we selected another "Local Treasure" to honor in our community. We picked Mario Ramos, owner of Mexico Lindo restaurant in Graton, CA. Many of us on the board had noticed his role in the community, not only as a friendly business owner, but also for his creative commitment to food, music and art in his restaurant venue, his amazing community spirit, and his efforts to promote tolerance and understanding in West Sonoma County.

In his quiet, unassuming way, Mario has been pivotal in helping to facilitate communication among business owners and community members in downtown Graton, particularly surrounding the development of the new and innovative Graton Day Labor Center. He showcases interesting artwork, hosts a variety of local musicians on his back patio, and has created a welcoming cross-cultural atmosphere in his restaurant. In addition, the restaurant has been used during quiet hours for English classes, sponsored by the local junior college.

Bread for the Journey gave Mario a grant of $500, to be used for self-renewal and rejuvenation. Thank you Mario, for all that you do. The Wayne Muller/Bread for the Journey Local Treasure Award honors Wayne's role in the initiation of Bread for the Journey, as well as the organization's 20th anniversary. We hope to "discover" other local treasures in the future that we may honor in this way.

Daily Acts (www.daily-acts.org) is a grass-roots collective seeking to change our culture and our behavior in ways that support the sustainability of the planet. With the help of over 200 volunteers, they have produced 13 publications and 45 media pieces while educating over 9,000 people on the success of emerging green initiatives. In leading sustainability tours to diverse local organizations, they showcase examples of abundant bioregional living, including local organic farms, Permaculture gardens, green and natural buildings, vegetable-oil powered vehicles, and many other leading ecological solutions that be applied by almost anyone .

Founded and led by visionary Trathan Heckman, Daily Acts is now poised to move beyond local boundaries to replicate their work in other communities. A grant of $1,500 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol will give them the additional funds needed to complete a publication that codifies their message and methods, and articulates their impact to date. This report will aid them in establishing relationships with key non-profit, governmental and business partners — making their vision and programs accessible to a wider audience.

A kitchen at a local church is bustling with activity. Some high school students have gathered after school to prepare organic meals for a number of families who are facing some serious health crises. Several students are chopping vegetables for side dishes, one is sautéing onions for a minestrone soup, and another is mixing ingredients for a turkey loaf. Cathryn Couch’s project is well under way.

This innovative project has two major intentions. The first is to empower young people with cooking and organizing skills; with the knowledge that they can make a difference; and with a direct experience of how food supports our bodies and lives. The second is to provide nutritious, organic meals to families and individuals in need.

A $1000 seed grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol enabled the project to get off the ground. It provided them with essential cooking equipment such as knives and cutting boards, recyclable containers for delivering food, storage bins; funds to donate to the church for utilities; and staples, such as beans, grains, spices and canned goods. This important and innovative project directly engages youth in meeting a profound need within their community.

Green Energy Network (GEN) works toward slowing climate change through carbon-less transportation fuels and technologies. Since 9/11, GEN has been pursuing community-based alternative fuel options such as ethanol.

Ethanol can be blended with gasoline from 25% to 100% in any vehicle depending on the make, model and year. GEN has been purchasing ethanol made from a co-op of farmers in Nebraska. The blend is 95% corn grain alcohol and 5% gasoline, and is available to members at a fuel depot in Sebastopol. Their experimental still has produced 185 proof alcohol from waste apples and junk wine (undrinkable waste product from wineries). They have designed a prototype facility capable of producing 30 gallons per hour, and expect to be online by mid-April 2007. GEN’s transportation trucks run on alcohol, as does the distillation facility itself. Soon their members will be able to put carbon-neutral fuel into their cars.

With a $500 grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, Green Energy Network will finally have a chance to print materials and also staff a few Earth Day booths. This will aid them in reaching more folks interested in reducing climate change. Visit www.GreenEnergyNetwork.org.

A democratically run worker center opened late this summer in the one-block town of Graton in Sonoma County, created through the efforts of the non-profit Graton Day Labor Center (CLG). While the focus of this gathering place is on helping local workers, employers, businesses and residents, it does little to improve the situation that drove these Mexican workers to leave their homes in the first place to seek work in the United States. So CLG has created a coffee project to address these very needs.

Workers’ Brew, an organic, shade-grown, fair-trade coffee, is being purchased by CLG from a co-op of family farmers in Oaxaca, then roasted and packaged locally. The coffee bean purchase supports Oaxacan families staying on their land, encourages earth-enhancing farming practices, and puts profits into their grassroots economy. The local roaster, Taylor Maid Farms, is training day laborers in the coffee business so they may return home to their communities with a new set of skills. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol’s $660 grant to CLG covered the cost of printing some beautiful labels for the cans. The coffee will soon be available in local grocery stores and at farmers’ markets.

Dr, K. K. Mugambi of Kenya came to Sonoma Academy in 2004 to educate the students about Microlending, and his visit drew more interest and action than he ever imagined! A group of students raised $17,000 through an art auction, then three students and one parent actually traveled to Chogoria, Kenya, to see the project in action and film a documentary about it. The documentary — Village HopeCore: Ending Poverty in Africa with Small Loans, Training and Trust — took a full year to edit, and is inspiring students and adults alike to become more active in the eradication of poverty through these kinds of projects.

The film has been shown to high school students on public access TV and also at a film festival. With a grant of $300 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, 300 more DVDs can be produced for distribution to high schools. The film can be viewed at http://Muzility.com.

There are times when a person’s vision, and what is needed to make this vision manifest, do not always line up! This was the case with Elaine Neiswender’s vision of creating a “Love Your Neighbor” Emergency Services Office. Elaine has been tireless in her energy to create programs for Forestville, CA, such as a Farmers’ Market, a Day of Emergency Preparedness, and other community-building events. While she had the vision, the energy, and even the building for this project, she lacked the finances to take on the lease. On the very day she was despairing about how to proceed, a board member of Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol asked if she could use some seed money to energize whatever project she was working on at the time!

Elaine needed one month’s rent for the building where she plans to house a food bank, a community garden and a thrift store. Elaine had the Red Cross lined up to subsidize the rent — which, thanks to the landlord, was below fair market value — but bureaucratic complications caused this help to be slow in coming. With $1,000 from Bread for the Journey, Elaine was able to approach the landlord with this portion of the rent, to demonstrate good faith until the subsidy would come through. Many will benefit from Elaine’s vision and foresight in the years to come, especially in moments of hard times!

Louis Ekrem, Terry Popp and Kathy Rueve have developed a multi-faceted theater program called “Conversations” for teens in the Roseland district of Santa Rosa, CA. Bringing together their individual talents of film-making, storytelling and drama, they are working with Hispanic youth in a community where gang violence is a growing concern. Through “Conversations,” they intend to teach theater and filmmaking, as well as effective drama analysis through the review of relevant contemporary films. They will then guide the teens in writing and producing a one-act play. This entire process will also be videotaped to create a documentary film about the group's work together.

Through this project, they hope to provide the teens with the following life tools: A sense of pride in their heritage and community; enhanced self-awareness and self-esteem; written and oral communication skills; theater and filmmaking experience; and marketable film-production skills. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol’s grant of $800 will help them develop a bi-lingual brochure and other promotional materials for outreach to community leaders and organizations throughout the Roseland area.

In its seventh year, BFJ of Sebastopol found itself in the midst of life-changes that affect many non-profit boards. Of our six wonderful board members, some experienced family deaths, major surgery and crises around aging parents, while others lived through the disruption of home remodeling and business changes. It was a big year! In addition to that, we began to move to a shared leadership model after many years of one board member holding many of the primary responsibilities. Our focus was inward this year, looking at our lives, our infra-structure, our goals. In the mysterious way that the outer process often reflects the inner process, we were approached for very few grants during this time, and in fact, gave only one. We are coming through this transition with renewed clarity; a new form of collaborative, rotating leadership; a new brochure; and new eyes and hearts open to continue to participate in, and celebrate the beauty of Neighborhood Philanthropy which drew us all to BFJ in the first place!

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave a $1200 grant to the Women’s Justice Center (WJC) of Santa Rosa several years ago to help launch their bilingual website. This website, which is a tremendous resource about domestic violence, including support in dealing with courts, etc., gets approximately 800 hits (or visits) a day from around the world, with over half of these in the Spanish language. The two most visited documents, in both English and Spanish, are “Special for Rape Victims” and “Special for Immigrant Women.” Laura Asturias translated all of the articles. This takes a special skill because of the nuance of language required, and the WJC has found her to be a speedy, impeccable translator. She works tirelessly on behalf of women everywhere in many ways. She is also a renowned journalist and feminist in Guatemala, and has formed a strong bond with WJC.

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave Laura a grant of $1000 for further translations and assistance with the WJC website. We are also extending a hand from Sonoma County — where the Hispanic population is large — to Central America, and creating more bonds of cooperation to Spanish-speaking families, friends and helping professionals worldwide.

A wiry, ruddy man in his eighties, Bill Keeler has been distributing day-old bread from Whole Foods Market in Sebastopol to rest homes, homeless shelters, and other places where the elderly and disabled live on fixed incomes. When he learned of similar work being done in Santa Rosa (see the story, "Bread in Hand"), and the grant that Rachael Jacobson received from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol for plastic bags and gas, he decided to approach the chapter. The board saw Bill's work as truly life-sustaining, and happily presented him with a $600 check for gasoline, bag and box expenses. Bill estimates that the grant will cover his costs for a year and a half. Incidentally, he usually journeys around town on his bicycle and maintains the car just for his "bread runs."

Adopt-an-Activist seeks to dramatically increase the impact of creative, non-violent, solutions-oriented activism by supporting skilled, highly effective, independent activists. Some of their efforts include assisting Erik Ohlsen, who is working on creating a series of sustainability classes in Sebastopol that delve into permaculture as it is practiced, not just in the garden, but in our political landscape as well. They will also be assisting Eileen Rose and Meddle Bolger, who will be heading up the media effort for the upcoming battle to make Sonoma County's farms, ecosystems and public lands free from contamination by genetically engineered (GE) organisms. Eileen and Meddle also head up the fundraising and publicity efforts of Adopt-an-Activist, and incorporate activist efforts in their office work.

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave Adopt-an-Activist a $1000 donation, of which $600 was earmarked for the filing fee for non-profit status and $400 to assist with their fundraiser/donor cultivation event.

In the 1980's, Tom Pringle lived in Tijuana, Mexico, and has stayed connected to the community by returning once or twice a year ever since. When he goes, Tom brings with him a truckload of new shovels to exchange for old, worn-out ones, knowing that someone with a good shovel has a way to earn a living.

Felix Maura, a good friend of Tom's for many years, is an elementary school principal in the Pipila, in the barrio of Obrera. Lacking funds, the school is in disrepair, with a library room that remains empty and unfinished. Tom offered to be the liaison and intermediary for this project, so Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol awarded him this year's annual International grant of $500 to purchase materials. Tom sent us many photos that showed the community working together to make a gate, paint the rooms, and complete the library.

At the age of 14, Gerardo Sanchez traveled alone from Mexico to live with his uncles in Santa Rosa, CA. Gerardo's vision has been to teach Taekwondo to kids as a means to develop self-discipline, and to engender respect for self, family and community. Having persisted through many struggles, he now gives back to the community with his incredible Multicultural Taekwondo Institute, where he teaches this art nightly to students ages 5 and up. His fees are low (20 students pay nothing) and the classes are bilingual.

With a $1000 grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, Gerardo can pay entrance fees to World Cup championships, and help purchase appropriate clothing and equipment for kids whose families can't afford them.

The Middle Way provides jobs for developmentally disabled adults, who can be seen around town maintaining the cleanliness of public spaces, putting on recycled bicycle sales, and doing landscape work. However, as with many nonprofits, they have suffered in the last few years due to budget cuts and changes in leadership, and without the required 3-year accreditation, they are in danger of losing the funding they need to continue. The missing piece has been a lack of staff training and development, so a special training program has been lined up to provide team-building and communication skills to this hard-working staff.

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave Penny Synder, the new director of The Middle Way, a grant of $1000 to pay for a large portion of that training, enabling them to get their accreditation so that their wonderful presence can remain in Sebastopol!

Debra Anderson is a local hairdresser who has been volunteering her time for years to help women with breast cancer. She is now creating a website for women who are suffering from the fear of cancer. The idea for the site came from her increasing awareness of the desperate level of fear that women of a certain age endure on a daily basis. The threat of cancer is sometimes greater than the reality of it. And then the reality of it can become crippling. Debra's website will take a small bit of that huge fear away by giving women the chance to tell their stories to other women, and gaining support and friendship in return. Debra is a woman who is passionate about serving this population, so Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol was happy to give her a grant of $600 to continue her good work.

Bread in Hand

Now, how could we miss with a project with this name? Rachel Jacobson found us on the Internet "by mistake" and gave us a call. Rachel lives near a well-known Santa Rosa grocery and, while out on evening walks with her dog, noticed large amounts of fresh-baked bread out in the dumpster. So she got permission to collect the bread at night and redistribute it to local people and agencies in need. Large black plastic bags of bread would give way, through her efforts, to bread individually bagged. Rachel has enlisted the help of a few people to assist her and, since last fall, has been distributing an average of 400-600 loaves per week! We felt this was true "recycling," so Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave Rachel a grant of $400 to help purchase the plastic bags and gas that's needed to distribute the bread.

Mia Young called us from North Bay Horse Welfare, located in Occidental, CA. Mia has an amazing non-profit program in which horses that have been abused or neglected are rehabilitated, then found and placed in foster homes. In addition, Mia conducts workshops that focus on equine therapy, a fast-growing field that brings people and horses together for therapeutic purposes. Through their connection with horses, many people have achieved significant healing in the areas of boundaries, confidence, self-authority and relationships. Mia asked for a grant to begin a scholarship program for these workshops, so that people with limited income who are drawn to this work could receive a reduced rate. We are confident that the $600 Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave her to seed this program will sprout many good results!

Christina Woodworth and the Positive Women's Gatherings (an update)

In August 2000, Christina approached Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol for some help. She worked at Face-To-Face, Sonoma County AIDS Network. In the course of her work, she saw that women were simply not accessing services and had a vision to begin Positive Women's Gatherings that would bring women together in a different way, one that would suit them more. Her goal was to better educate the women about what services were available, to provide support and more community. With $800 seed money from BFJ, she began organizing quarterly gatherings that included donated catering and childcare, as well as discussions about needs, services, and general support. It has continued to grow, and now, several agencies have come together collaboratively to support the Positive Women's' Gatherings. They are now held regularly at the Food for Thought Garden, with high tea, crafts, and sharing. Christina happily reports that now a core group of women volunteers have stepped forth from within the group to organize, implement, and vision it forward, just as Christina steps back to pursue her education. This was truly a seed that grew a Garden!

Graton is a small yet vital village fully engaged in the difficult and often messy work of "community." However, as an unincorporated area of Sonoma County, it often has little control over civic matters. A hardy group of volunteers have worked for many years to create a sewer district for Graton that would be ecologically and economically viable, as well as designed with a visionary eye toward sustainability on every level. The county government does not look favorably upon these creative efforts, yet despite countless obstacles, Graton has succeeded and the final vote is coming up in December.

Graton has no newspaper, and at this critical juncture, it is important that citizens have access to accurate information, rather than gossip. To this end, www.graton.info has been launched with the help of local volunteers and a $500 grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol. Although the current focus is on the sewer project, the larger vision is for the website to keep Graton's residents informed about town history, local organizations, happenings, hot issues, and more. A true Community Bulletin Board, via the Internet! Bumper stickers and other publicity items have been distributed to let the town know about the new website. We applaud a small town that is working so diligently to create a community that engages its citizenry in this inspiring way.

The following is a letter to the editor that Sara Harris, the Director of Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol wrote after their Cookie Company fundraiser.

On Saturday, August 2, 2003 our small grassroots non-profit, Bread for the Journey, was the fortunate recipient of the very benefit we espouse: Neighborhood Philanthropy. Terry Gallagher, owner of our downtown Sebastopol Cookie Company, once again invited us behind the counter to help out, and in turn he donated a percentage of his store¹s profits to our group! Now, it is a courageous and patient move in itself to invite the unitiated behind the counter, but when that generous spirit extends to sharing profits,this is a true expression of community building. In addition, we thank our friends who came to help out, including Michele Anna Jordan, and all the patrons who came in and supported us! We also appreciated his patient staff that day. Bread for the Journey gives small seed-money grants to ordinary people who see a need in the community and have the energy, wisdom, and commitment to volunteer their time towards that need ( visit www.breadforthejourney.org for philosophy and stories). In addition, Terry has demonstrated again the value of supporting local businesses and our true inter-relatedness. We thank you, Terry, and Sebastopol.

Car-Lite

One of the most effective environmental actions each of us can undertake is to drive less, yet most of us need help integrating this simple concept into our day-to-day activities. This is Car-Lite's mission. With $1200 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastapol, a Car-Lite website is being designed to educate, motivate and inspire more awareness and participation in what Portia Sinnott and Sammy Nasr are living every day. They are also supporting bike parades, energizer stations, as well as Bike-to-Work and Car-Free days, and are gathering pledges from local citizens to reduce car usage through more mindful planning of errands, along with many other suggestions. Sonoma County was the first in the country to gain committed support from each City Council involved in reducing emissions, and took very direct steps to support the Climate Protection Act. Car-Lite's mission provides a way to educate and encourage people to support this important Earth need!

Rhythms of Journey High

Many teenagers are in special high schools because life circumstances have been difficult for them. Although they may be receiving extra help to try to meet their many needs, they are often still marginalized within the community. This makes it especially important for them to make contributions to the community that will bring them recognition for their talents and abilities.

In Sebastopol, a group of teens at Journey High are participating in an exciting new program. Kim Atkinson, a well-known and highly skilled Latin/African percussionist, is working with Leah Weiss, a dance teacher at the school, to bring the gift of sound and movement to the teens there. As they practice, they're developing multiple skills, such as concentration, cooperation, focus and rhythm. Their aim is to form a touring group of performing students, thereby ensuring positive recognition by the community. Kim needed help with instruments, and a $500 seed grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol is helping him toward his goal of a full program. Bread for the Journey is looking forward to the teens' participation in the local Spring Apple Blossom Parade!

Computer Skills for a Better World

One day, as Sara (Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol board member) was returning from work, a neighbor approached her. "I know a guy...," the story began. Within a few days, board members, the neighbor and "the guy," Juan Ugarte, were all sitting together around Sara's kitchen table. Juan explained that in Santa Rosa, at Cook Junior High, 80% of the students couldn't afford computers, placing them way behind on the advantage curve.

Juan collects donated computers, then teaches kids to install the components that make them work, including motherboards, power supplies and operating systems. When a student demonstrates competency to Juan's satisfaction, he/she gets to take the computer home! The next step is to reconstruct yet another computer to donate elsewhere, thereby completing the cycle of giving and receiving.

Juan teamed up with Kwame Poku, a teacher and founder of Rehoboth Systems, a school in Tema, Ghana. Juan's students rebuilt 200 computers to be shipped to Ghana. Expenses were mounting rapidly, and he needed some community support to compensate him for the overwhelming amount of personal time and money he was investing in this project. To the delight of all, Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol wrote Juan a check for $1500. This funding will help Juan to take the necessary steps in moving ahead with this generous and much-needed work.

Micro-enterprise for Education

The drought was severe in Masai territory this past year and there was no money for the girls' schooling in the village of Loordiak, Kenya. Josh Haner, a young man known to Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, had spent time in Loordiak. Through Josh, $400 in seed grant money from Bread for the Journey was donated to assist in the girls' schooling effort. Initially, their mothers - who are master bead makers - were going to use the money to purchase beads for bracelets and necklaces that they could then sell. This would meet the school fees as well as establish an ongoing way to make money. However, once twelve women met with the principal and chief to discuss how to manage the grant, they decided to switch from buying beads to raising cows! They felt this would earn more money and that more girls would benefit from this as on ongoing project! This Bread for the Journey seed grant is a shining example of how micro-enterprise opportunities, paired with the efforts of committed, resourceful women, can enhance the well-being and spirit of a community. (photos will be posted soon!)

Marjorie Wallace, an irrepressible "senior citizen" gardening activist, is truly the Sebastopol Community Garden's own "Garden Goddess." Marjorie grows a wide variety of vegetables with her green thumb. She then not only gives many of them away to the Sebastopol Senior Center; she also gives seeds, starts, and vegetables away to the elderly or disabled living on small fixed
incomes in Laguna Park, a mobile home park where she has lived for over 30 years. Marjorie needed a garden cart large enough to haul hay bales. In conjunction with a generous discount from Sebastopol Hardware, Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol allocated $165 to provide Marjorie with this important tool. Since Spring arrives early here, it has already been put to good use.

Gus Guzzi and Philomena Ryan have a passion for homeless people and their stories. They also have a passion for professional video and filming. Bringing these loves together, they are joining forces with Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center and the Community Media Center of Sonoma County to produce a series about the homeless for independent television as well as for training programs for groups throughout the area.

What touched us so much about Gus and Philomena was that, to gather the depth of real stories, they must enter into the world of the homeless themselves. Most people would stand at the periphery and look into this world, unwilling to go there themselves. To this end, they live on practically nothing and do not allow themselves the security of a home or car.

BFJ purchased a professional quality video camera for them to use in gathering their tender and heartfelt stories throughout Sonoma and other counties. Gus is a former Franciscan Brother, and Philomena comes from a background of non-profit work. We will keep you posted on these two!

Lifeschool

Lifeschool is a new and energetic non-profit designed to empower youth with a variety of life skills learned through outdoor adventures. Skills like problem solving, teamwork, accountability, conflict resolution, and personal leadership are taught through direct experience in wilderness situations, with follow-up back at home. What makes this program different is that Jim Neville and Padraic Rohan are committed to keeping a high percentage of their enrollees on scholarship positions or reduced rates. Also, they outfit the children right down to boots, warm clothes, packs, etc.! Often, the cost of buying outdoor equipment is prohibitive for low income or single parent households, so children don't get to go. BFJ gave Jim the money to buy quality rain parkas that fit over backpacks for 20 children. They were put into use immediately, on the very next trip. Jim is a dynamic person who loves to see kids thrive, and we feel he will go a long way in bringing his vision alive in many kids' lives to come! For more info. see www.life-school.org

Graton Community Services Project

We met with Marta Williams and Merrilyn Joyce and were set on fire by their passion and tireless work (for years) on behalf of their vision of Graton as a sustainable community with affordable, ecological wastewater solutions. They represent a group who have been working hard to own and operate their own sewer, separate from the expensive and high tech upgrades the County wants to implement that they feel neither matches Graton's pocketbook or needs. Their vision, supported by years of study, conserves open space, achieves zero discharge into surface waters, and enhances in-stream wildlife habitat. It also incorporates a wide-ranging social vision that includes the needs of our migrant workers in the area. But that is just the beginning!

BFJ provided the money needed to file for their non-profit status as a group, so they can avail themselves of more funding and support. Their soon-to-be-Board has 7 members. You will definitely be hearing more about this dynamic Graton group!

In January 2001, Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol's first annual international project was "seeded". This project brings neighborhood philanthropy to a larger neighborhood! Rocio Alarcon, a passionate Ecuadorian ethnobotanist met Sara Harris on her trip to Ecuador last October, and told Sara one of her dreams. Fifteen women from four indigenous groups will be housed and fed at an Amazon field station for 5 days while they learn more skills in weaving techniques with plant fibers. They will have a special teacher for this, and with a $1000 grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, plus $800 from another source, "Weavers of the Forest" will come to pass.
Working to improve both personal connections and economic viability of indigenous women, this is a valuable contribution to an area that is currently over-run with oil development.

At the end of January 2001, Jessalyn Nash told Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol about "Restorative Resources,' a new non-profit she began recently with Janet Hughes. Restorative Resources promotes an exciting and successful approach to youth crime called "Family Group Conferencing." In early April, a group of New Zealand teenagers (the home country of this approach) conducted conflict resolution workshops to teach local Sebastopol teens skills to use within their own schools. A Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol seed grant of $1000 helped to support this amazing endeavor, as well as helped to provide local transportation and special event costs for the New Zealanders. This is an innovative way to connect cross cultural relations and teen communities.

In March 2001, Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol was delighted to be introduced to the "Harvest for the Hungry" Garden, a 3/4-acre gem on land donated behind a Santa Rosa church. Under the guidance of Lyn Howe and Geoff Rauch, the Harvest Garden produces an average of 240 pounds of organically grown produce each week, 7 months a year, that supports the food programs at 3 area groups that feed homeless or low- income people. With a $1000 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, "Harvest for the Hungry" will be able to upgrade their watering system to make their garden
even more efficient and productive.

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol has had the opportunity to meet Jill Lowry, a member of Martia Nelson's free "Painting Group for Women Dealing with Cancer." The group, who has been using the creativity of painting in their healing, had an exhibit of their work at Millennium Arts Gallery in Sebastopol from June through July. The show is called "Dancing with the Phoenix." The artists highlighted issues of education, and used their art as a way to reach out to others in the community who are in need of this avenue of healing. $500 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol was used to contribute to outreach and art materials for this event.

Most recently, $1300 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol was used to purchase a professional level video camera for Philomena Ryan and Gus Guzzi for their project "Railroaded: Tales of the Homeless." They will be making 28 half-hour video pieces telling the stories of those we often tend to see as "other". These videos will not only be released through Public Access Television in Sebastopol and in several other cities, but also will be used locally throughout the Santa Rosa Peace and Justice Center, and in groups throughout the community. The stories aim to educate, and hopefully, affect public perception and policy for homeless people. Gus and Philomena have a deep passion for the homeless community; they have many friends within this community because they live very marginally themselves, and therefore can inspire confidence and trust. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol has been offered a set of the videos, which can be used by our chapter as well as other Bread for the Journey Chapters who face similar issues in their communities.

Christina Woodworth is a young woman who is the head intake coordinator at Face-To-Face, an agency devoted to providing services to people with HIV and AIDS. Christina began noticing that mostly men were accessing these services, and that many women with these illnesses were not showing up to find out about, or make use of care they were entitled to. Christina had an idea that if the women could be approached more personally, and invited in to talk, the Face-To-Face could find out more about what these women really needed. She came up with an idea. She would create an event and warmly invite the women in to talk. She found a beautiful , homey room at another location to remove the meeting from the familiar “agency” setting. She found a woman who would cater the event at a reduced price. She got stores to donate small gifts, and also got flowers and free childcare donated. She wanted the event to be intimate and beautiful, as well as useful. Christina pictured this as an on-going event to be held a few times a year so that women would slowly get the word, and begin to come forward more with their needs. With $800 from Bread for the Journey, Christina was able to cover all of her expenses, and also hold another Positive Women’s Gathering 4 months later. Seeds have been planted, doors to improved care for women have been opened, and new dialogues have begun!

Gabriella Randazzo believes that compassion can be cultivated through the arts, and her Children’s Theatre productions are dedicated to helping children in need. Not only do the children involved in productions receive a great deal personally, but also their benefit performances and relationship building with others cultivate openness and healing with the larger community. With a $ 500 grant from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol, Gabriella has teamed up a few local artists with kids from the Full Circle Group Home to provide opportunities for expression and creativity for those who often miss out.

S.P.E.A.K. is trying to cut the generation gap using poetry and music. Christine Svane feels that part of their mission is to help young poets develop a sense of belonging and feel secure in the beauty they express, including the form of hiphop music as poetry. She feels all age groups can communicate through poetry. The group is having Open Mikes on the Plaza and has a dream of a Poetry Caf�. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave a small assist of $200 on their first community event so more people could find out about the life-affirming work they do.

Marie DeSantis and her organization, the Justice Center, has helped over 200 women and children break free of domestic violence without having to move out of their homes. Displacement of women and children adds to the chaos they experience when a family is breaking up because of violence. Although Marie had helped so many women, she knew there were more. Because all of Marie's materials were written in english, spanish speaking women were falling through the cracks. She could get a translator, but printing everything in two languages was cost prohibitive. She needed an economical solution. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave Marie $1200 to hire a professional translator and a website consultant to create a bilingual library of materials relevant to violence against women and children. The topics range from tips for testifying, rape prevention and new legislation, as well as practical advice for families, friends, and neighbors. When completed, this material will be available to print from a website through the county to families, teachers, health care workers, clerics, and many others.

Atascadero And Green Valley Watershed Alliance

Because of a workshop he took in the summer of 2000, Zeno Swijtink and his partner Gillian Parker became aware of a serious problem with one of the major watersheds that runs through Sebastopol. After many years of heavy agricultural use, with its by-products of pesticides and severe erosion, as well as heavy development, the health of this watershed has been rapidly in decline. There has been a loss of many species, increased flooding that has especially effected lower income folks, and a general degradation of the quality of life. There are many areas along this watershed where migrant workers for the local vineyards have begun to make encampments to live. The workers are exposed to unhealthy water and living conditions and their presence negatively impacts the quality of the watershed. By bringing attention at last, in a focused, detailed way to all of the issues of the watershed, this group is doing a great service not only environmentally, but also to the social issues that are entwined in the environmental problems. In a very short time, they had gathered together a group of 8 concerned citizens and began meeting to creating a vision which had two aspects: to reach out and educate people about being stewards of the very watershed they lived within, and to implement management plans for restoration of the watershed. They discovered that there is state money available for the necessary assessment needed to determine a management plan, but to avail themselves of this money, grants needed to be written. However, they had no grant-writing experience, no funds, and needed expert consultations in several areas. With $ 1,000 from Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol they were able to get the professional help they needed to try and win a grant from the state of California.

If someone were to ask you to draw a symbol for the word "family" it may very well be a simple circle. But for many Sonoma County families, that circle of family life is one of homelessness and need, a cycle which The Family Connection of Sonoma County seeks to break. They do this by bringing homeless families into the circle of their own community.

A team of three to five trained volunteers from the community is matched with families who are leaving homeless shelters. Volunteers and the family commit to continuing to work together for up to one year on the family's goals. These can include locating housing, finding low or no-cost furnishings and clothing, coaching for job interviews, completing a college application, celebrating birthdays and having fun. The program succeeds because it encourages self-responsibility and community. And it succeeds because of a woman named Kathy Tonkavich.

Kathy Tonkavich is the one woman show who heads up The Family Connection and she is the one who caught our eye and our heart. There are many times when a simple pair of shoes is needed for a job interview, or a parent needs to buy their child a birthday present. Kathy would like to be able to offer assistance in these moments of need. Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol gave her $500 to make that possible. She will keep this money in a fund to respond to these seemingly small but important needs.

Postscript from BFJ of Sebastopol: "Kathy Tonkavich called us shortly after she had received our gift to tell us she was thrilled to be able to help a homeless woman smog her car in order to get her to her new job...and we were thrilled too as we watched the Bread for the Journey money dance its own symbol of a circle!"

A grant of $1,000 plus consulting time on graphics and marketing, was given to a group called Planting Earth Activation (PEA)... Eight young people ages 18-25, on their own, have planted 25 organic gardens in Sebastopol and have more energy, vision, commitment, and passion than you can imagine. They have plans to plant more gardens, educate people about the benefits of organic gardening, build community through gardening and food distribution and involve more people in local food distribution. They have "overage" tables at the community garden where people in need can come and get extra food for free. They encourage people to place their gardens in their front yards so they can talk to neighbors more. They have planted 8 front-yard gardens in one neighborhood. They encourage the homeowners to help create the garden with them and ask for 25% of the yield for seeds. Most of this, so far, has been done with no funding, but simply from their own determination. Bread for the Journey’s contribution helped them establish visibility and strength. They are really moving now. The community is beginning to hear about them and offer more support.

Bread for the Journey of Sebastopol has given $525.00 to DeAnna L’am for her teen mentoring program called Honesty. DeAnna has a gift of communication with teenagers and she wants to share it. She sponsors three programs: A Town Meeting inviting teens and adults to come together and get to know one another. The second program is a half-day workshop called Honesty where focused attention is placed on facilitating communication between teenagers and adults. In addition to helping teens and adults learn to talk to one another, she hopes to identify adults from this program who will become teen mentors. Her third program, Mentoring, teaches adults to mentor teens through their adolescent years. The Mentoring program is the heart of the DeAnna’s efforts.

Sara Harris
bfj.seb@gmail.com
PO Box 2233
Sebastopol, CA 95473

Louise McCoy and Sara Harris - BFJ of Sebastopol