Published in the March 5- 18, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Robert Airoldi
Top-shelf praise to you, Morgan Hill, for your civic engagement. More than 100 people spent Feb. 20 evening in the Community Center’s El Toro Room with Mayor Steve Tate and city staff, learning about the state of the city through the mayor’s annual speech. Staff members had to keep bringing more chairs into the room for the government-minded gathering, and finally it was standing room only. And the state of the city? Things are looking good, the mayor said.
• • •
Mark March 22 at 7 p.m. for a gospel-bluegrass concert at Morgan Hill’s Advent Lutheran Church, 16870 Murphy Ave. This fundraiser supports St. Catherine Church’s Reach Out Food Pantry. Price of admission? Five cans of nonperishable food or a cash donation.
• • •
We at Morgan Hill Life never heard of a “gender reveal party” before, so when Morgan Hill resident Kathy Sullivan, the former school board member, told us she attended one for her daughter Julie Mendez and son-in-law Ken Mendez’s expected second child, we just had to tell you about it. This is how it works: Julie’s pediatrician took a sonogram of the baby and put the gender result (a secret to the couple) in a sealed envelope and gave this to a cake baker. Under the frosting that read “He? She? Open and See,” pink cake would reveal a girl and blue cake would reveal a boy. About 30 people at the Feb. 23 party voted what the cut cake color would show. The gender? It’s a boy! The baby is due July 17. Congratulations!
• • •
Photo by Marty Cheek
Science Fair party attendees, from left: Chamber of Commerce President and CEO John Horner, Marcus Reyes, Keegan Dahm, Holly Rottenborn, Sarah Graton, Cheyenne Duarte and city councilwoman Marilyn Librers.
Science is super cool! Winners of the fourth annual Morgan Hill Science Fair gathered Feb. 23 in the community room of BookSmart for cake and fun to celebrate their accomplishment. The fair was conceived by city council member Marilyn Librers to encourage our young people to explore the wonders of the natural world. It was held Jan. 23 at the Oakwood School gym with about 200 exhibits from various middle and high schools in the Morgan Hill Unified School District. Congratulations to all the participants.
• • •
Hey, young people in Morgan Hill, wanna have fun in the sun during the spring school break? The Santa Clara County Parks has a Junior Ranger program where you can explore the wildlife and terrain of various parks run by the county. This year’s program includes Anderson County Park in Morgan Hill and goes March 31 to April 3 from 10 a.m. to noon. Registration is “first come, first serve,” said program organizer Janet Shriner. For more information, go to the county’s website at www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/Education/Pages/Jr-Ranger-Program.aspx.
• • •
There’s a new captain at the helm of the Morgan Hill Community Foundation. Amy Whelan now serves as acting president of this active nonprofit organization that helps so many other groups in town. She replaces Earl Liebich as its leader. Whelan joined the Foundation three years ago and has previously served as secretary and vice president. The group continues its active community services, and is next preparing to award its spring grants totaling $5,000 in May.
• • •
The newspaper biz encourages reading, so we give a big thumbs-up to Mike Wasserman, president of the board of supervisors for Santa Clara County, and his taking an hour of his time to get involved with reading to youngsters at the Morgan Hill Library. At 11 a.m. March 6, he’ll be reading the book Reading Makes You Feel Good. True words indeed.
