This e-card from fellow tobacco control activists really blew me away with its sweetness. It’s certainly nice to get such warm kudos for something one loves doing in otherwise dark times in one’s life. I’m so lucky to have found these volunteering opportunities here in the Bay Area and Solano County given that fighting Big Tobacco has been a passion of mine for decades.
Category Archives: Activism
Betty White Birthday Fundraiser 2024
Fosters Peanut and Zorro
Union City Tobacco Retail License Advocacy
Local Paper Story on Upcoming Shelter Fundraiser
Good job and good publicity for the upcoming Betty White fundraiser for HSNB in today’s Vallejo Times-Herald. Nice to get our picture in the paper from last year’s dinner.
Q1 Glen Cove Community Association Newsletter
For our neighborhood quarterly newsletter, I write the President’s Letter article these days. This quarter I actually wrote a few articles in this issue about what the GCCA volunteer Board does for our neighborhood. I’m proud of how professional our team delivers this online periodical each time. Check out the dynamic slide-show version of our newsletter here!
Below is the PDF version which is less interactive. For years of archives, check out the GCCA newsletter archive.
Xmas Light Holiday Winners in Glen Cove
This morning my colleague at Glen Cove Community Association, Nancy, and I gave out prizes to the top three Christmas Light contest winners in our neighborhood of Vallejo. I was not one of the judges, but had the honor of handing out the prizes as President of GCCA. It turns out Shando and I knew Andy and Carlton who won the first prize, nominated by their development representative Dina (who joined us for the photo). Only at the 11th hour did Shando and I even realize we knew the first prize winners. Such a small world. They moved into their home a few weeks before we did in 2020. All the prize winners were wonderful and warm. We thank them for their spirit and spending a few minutes with us on Christmas Eve.
Vallejo Grand Victorian Homes Tour 2023
For the first time, Shando and I attended the Grand Victorian Homes Tour, although there are some exceptions to that specific style among the fabulous houses and structures on the tour. The Naval Chapel on Mare Island was one of them, and there were a few mixtures of Craftsman and Mid-Century Modern which were very appropriately included. It was great hanging out with friends who had a similar interest and who were willing to walk the downtown area to see more than a half-dozen of the homes participating. We ended up at the wine tasting place on Mare Island where the last two structures were located. Regrettably, due to it being so close to the winter solstice, it got dark after the first few hours, so we did not take in the full view of many of the homes, but knowing the city better now, I can imagine what some of the views would be on a regular basis, including the amazing sunsets from many vantage points. As with the Garden Tour that happens each May, I loved getting decorating ideas and talking about utilitarian things with other geeks of that nature.
I’m also glad that the funds for this event go to a good cause, and furthering cultural awareness in Vallejo.
Here are some of the details that we loved. In the mid-century modern house, there was an Audrey Hepburn room and a Marilyn Monroe room with their own xmas trees. The Audrey one has her costume for Breakfast at Tiffany’s if you look closely.:
Repurposing Community Board Stand
Our Glen Cove Community Association installed this lovely community board up by the shopping center that one sees as one enters our neighborhood. The intention is to keep the public aware of our goings-on. The first sign that was shipped to us was damaged on top, so GCCA brought me the old stand. They figured that since I had offered to save on storage costs for the organization by using space in my garage, I’d take this extra piece as well. Using my garage as storage also saves me time when we get the microphone equipment ready for the community meetings. So instead of putting this weather-friendly post outside, I found a place to repurpose it IMMEDIATELY, and I love the results. This makes for a very stable plant holder!
Glen Cove Community Association Holiday Party
Here in Vallejo, there’s a fabulous restaurant called Provisions that we rented out for our holiday party. Many of our current Board members/development representatives were able to attend with their plus ones.
Most of us who attended are featured in these pictures, but after two attendees left I remembered to start taking pictures.