Published in the April 29 – May 12, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
Robert Airoldi
Sherry Parrish (left) holds Coal and Belinda Saenz holds Dumpling. The kittens were offered at the Pet Adoption Fair.
To solve the issue of overcrowded animal shelters in the county, Kerry Huang had the purr-fect Girl Scouts project — a pet adoption fair at BookSmart April 18 where Morgan Hill residents had the opportunity to find a feline friend to bring home and love. The pet adoption fair brought a kennel of kitties from the Town Cats and Santa Clara County Animal Shelter to the BookSmart parking lot where people could select which furry friend they wanted to take home. The cats are inspected by a veterinarian and given shots, a microchip and are fixed, said Sherry Parrish of Town Cats.
“Everything is done and we make sure they’re healthy when they go out for adoption,” she said.
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Get a sneak peek at this year’s Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras TV spot. The television spot was made by Morgan Hill Life Publisher Marty Cheek — you might see someone you know in the coverage taken from previous years. Visit our website or go to the advertisement’s YouTube page at http://youtu.be/n6FSJEuoy8w .
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The Rotary Club of Morgan Hill is at it again. First, the club presented The Boys and Girls Club of Morgan Hill with a check for $7,000 during their recent open house. The funds will be used to provide scholarships for families that need assistance in sending their children to summer camp.
Rotary Club member Terry Moriyama along with 65 other Rotary members from six area clubs helped spruce up the Villa Mira Monte House.
The donation will help 60 families with summer program membership fees, said Alban Diaz, director of the Boys sand Girls Club. “This helps our families greatly, especially because most of them have two or three members that attend at El Toro.”
A few weeks later, the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill joined five other Rotary clubs in the area to clean up and restore the Historical Villa Mira Monte House in Morgan Hill. This project is part of the World Community Service program where one Community Service project is done together by all six clubs in their area once a year. The club leading the annual project rotates each year. Next year, all the clubs will be gathering in Gilroy for a great Community Service project, to be decided later this year.
More than 65 Rotarians from the six area clubs assembled into 10 groups. They removed manzanita bushes, planted 100 boxwood hedges and moved 40 yards of fresh mulch into the area. Others cleaned the attic, and removed items from the basement. Still others stained three teak benches, painted an outside storage shed and painted the El Camino Real Bell, which sits in front of Villa Mira Monte House. All this done just in time for the monthly wine events which begin at the house May 2.
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Sobrato sophomores Tera Plummer pushes Lance Spagnolo and Leonette Stafford pushes Jan Bergkamp in wheelchairs during a fundraiser.
Congratulations to Sobrato High School students who are getting involved in their community. That’s a big part of the high school experience. First, many spent most of a day planting a hedgerow of fruit trees, herb shrubs and native plants along the western edge of the school’s two-acre farm.
Later in the spring, the students will plant a windbreak hedgerow of native shrubs and trees along the northern edge of school farm. These two hedgerows — more than 10,000 square feet combined — will have habitat and windbreak functions and will also be an important teaching tool.
“We’re delighted that the students have this opportunity to learn about planting and about the many ways that hedgerows can benefit farms,” said Vera Gomes, assistant principal and long-time agriculture program teacher. The high school has a long term goal to develop a 10-acre organic row crop and orchard demonstration farm next to the current two-acre farm, which mainly focuses on animal husbandry.
The hedgerow planting is a partnership between the high school’s acclaimed agriculture program, in which about a third of the school’s 1,500 students are involved, and Sustainable Agriculture Education, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting agriculture near cities. Secondly, students involved with the Interact Club, a Rotary-sponsored service club for teens, deserve a hearty praise for fundraising to purchase wheelchairs for people in need. The students held a wheelchair marathon at the Live Oak High School track where they were pushed along from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 18. People who came to watch donated $10 at the gate as well as provided additional money for the worthy cause.
“We’re raising money for a foundation that helps donate wheelchairs to people who need it,” said Sobrato sophomore Tera Plummer. “It’s for anybody who needs one.”
