Southern Sonoma Country Life

Outstanding Work of Rebuilding Together Petaluma Completes 62 Home Repair Projects in 2018 with a Year-End Fundraising Challenge to Help More Neighbors in Need

 

While it's only right that we as caring Californians do all we can to support those who have lost everything in the wildfires that have continued to ravage our state this past year, there are many people in our own city of Petaluma who are struggling to keep a solid roof over their heads and through no fault of their own.

Please take a few minutes to applaud the work of one of my favorite local non-profits, Rebuilding Together Petaluma, an extraordinary and tireless group in our community that performs critical home repairs and revitalization projects for our low-income neighbors in need. This vital work is always free to the folk who Rebuilding Together Petaluma serves. 

With local business, friends and neighbor help Rebuilding Together Petaluma has completed a whopping 62 home repair projects in 2018. Now the non-profit has the opportunity to do even more!

To honor the memory of the late Max Steven Jackson Weinreb, Max's family has offered Rebuilding Together Petaluma a $15,000 challenge grant to help complete the winter projects that are listed below. Due to the incredible generosity of so many, the non-profit has already raised $8,000 for this match. Its challenge is to raise an additional $7000 for a total of $15,000 to match this grant. Will you help them reach their goal with a year-end donation of any amount?

The combined donations of $30,000 will allow Rebuilding Together Petaluma to fund the following: 

• Rebuild the front and back steps and handrails to create accessibility for Thomas a 79 year old gentleman with Parkinsons Disease who is unable to navigate his entries and is now housebound ($3500). 
• Repair extensive rot and roof/window leakage in the mobile home of Earl, a Vietnam veteran with a severe spinal condition who is living in a very cold and damp home ($8200).
• Replace two mobile home roofs that are actively leaking, one for Denis and his disabled son, and one for Michael, a developmentally disabled man ($12,700).
• Replace two furnace replacements, one for Jack, a Vietnam veteran and one for Wanda, an 80 year old who just keeps adding more sweaters as it gets colder. 

You can make a difference in how safe or healthy a Petaluma Neighbor, with very limited income, will be this winter and for many years to come.

Let a tax deductible donation to Rebuilding Together Petaluma be your best gift this holiday season. Giving to RTP is a unique bargain, since every $1 given results in $4 worth of home health & safety improvements.  The labor of amazing corps of volunteers makes your charitable investment worth four times more.

Donate online at www.rtpetaluma.org or call 707-765-3944 or mail a check to: Rebuilding Together Petaluma, 301 Payran Street, Petaluma, CA 94952.

Throughout the year, Rebuilding Together Petaluma organizes and directs the efforts of over 600 community volunteers to improve the homes of our neighbors and repair community facilities.

Volunteers return year after year because it’s an unforgettable hands-on experience of community generosity. If you like to help others, enjoy learning new skills, and want to meet new friends while doing satisfying  work, then this is the volunteer opportunity for you. Contact Rebuilding Together Petaluma to sign up as a volunteer on 2019 projects, today! 

Photos: Rebuilding Together Petaluma 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join Pamela Joyce & Tom Farnham, Acoustic Guitar Singer Songwriter Duo 2 of Us at the Newly Revamped William Tell House Tomales, Friday, December 14th, 5.30 pm to 8 pm

2018 LITERACYWORKS AND COPPERFIELD’S BOOKS LECTURE SERIES CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA LEE IN CONVERSATION WITH CONGRESSWOMAN LYNN WOOLSEY

Join Congresswoman Barbara Lee in conversation with Congresswoman Lynn C. Woolsey in the last of this year's speaker series of Sonoma County based non-profit Literacyworks with Copperfield's Books, on Sunday, December 16th, 2018 at the 
Carole L. Ellis Auditorium (SRJC Petaluma)
 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma at 4:00 PM

Congresswoman Barbara Lee was born in El Paso, TX. As a single mother raising two sons, she attended Mills College and received public assistance while building a better life for her family. Congresswoman Lee received her Masters of Social Work from the University of California, Berkeley. As a small business owner in the East Bay, Congresswoman Lee worked with people from all walks of life. In 1998, she was elected to serve California’s 9th (now the 13th) congressional district in a special election. She has long advocated for legislative action to end poverty. Her autobiography is Renegade for Peace and Justice: A Memoir of Political and Personal Courage. 

Congresswoman Lynn C. Woolsey is a former U.S. Representative for California's 6th congressional district serving Marin and Sonoma County from 1993 to 2013. Lynn focused on issues facing children, families, and education during her 20-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives.

General Admission: $30 
Buy tickets for Congresswoman Barbara Lee in Conversation with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey

Literacyworks, headed by executive director, Paul Heavenridge is increasing is outreach in two critical areas: the Literacyworks Center and Parents as First Teachers (library workshops for low-literacy, low-income bilingual parents, and children).

Started in 2015, the Center helps low-literacy, low-income adults who lack the basic skills to access career and technical education and persist in college. Unique learners share a common goal of wanting to succeed to give back to their families and communities. This is the Center’s 4th year of operation. Some of the Center’s accomplishments to date: 

• Enrolled 95 students each semester at Santa Rosa Junior College, 80% being Latino 
• Provided $750,000 Adult Literacy Awards scholarships* to over 550 low-income, low-literacy students 
• Achieved less than a 10% dropout rate each semester, well under the 60% average dropout rate for community colleges for this at-risk population 
• Increased acceptance by students to certificate and associate programs and even four-year college programs. As of Fall 2018, nine Literacyworks Center students are on track to graduate from SRJC with a certificate and/or associate’s degree at the end of the Spring 2019 semester. Eight of the nine graduates will transfer and continue their education at a 4-year institution (CSUs and UCs). 
• Increasing students to 110 per semester starting in 2019 due to an anonymous family foundation* providing additional scholarship funding for 2019 because of its extraordinary success rate.                                   

*All Adult Literacy Awards scholarships come from a family foundation and go to benefit students. No scholarship funding is used for program funding.

This year the Literacyworks team has launched Literacyworks Parents as First Teachers: Engaging Families to Increase Children's Literacy. The team is working with low-literacy, low-income bilingual parents and children through a combination of access to resources in the home and the community and by training parents in the basic skills to encourage their children to become avid readers. The goal is to help parents positively view their parenting role, have appropriate expectations of their children's achievements, prepare their children with the necessary skills to be successful in school and establish and maintain positive relations with community resources, including libraries, schools, and community groups. These successful workshops have been requested by all the library branches of the Sonoma County Library system starting in 2019.

Literacyworks is helping underprivileged and underrepresented adults secure better jobs, become better parents, and contribute more to their community. The center has launched its 2018 Year-End Campaign. Its goal is to raise $25,000 to keep receiving the donor’s scholarship funding by matching it with funding for staff and operations. This will allow Literacyworks to reach its goal of helping 110 motivated low-income low literacy adults get on its program each semester in 2019.  Will you make a gift? To make your donation now, go to http://www.literacyworks.org/donate or contact Rita at rita@literacyworks.org to be mailed a remittance envelope.

 

 

Learn about Andrew Carnegie and the American Public Library Movement at Petaluma's Own Carnegie Historical Library & Museum Saturday December 8th, 4 pm

History and architecture fans as well as book lovers alike take note, don't miss a wonderful event on Saturday, December 8th, 2018 at 4 pm at the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum.

Hear distinguished academican Dr. Kenneth Breisch speak about Andrew Carnegie and the American Public Library Movement in our own community's treasured Carnegie architectural gem, former library turned museum.  

The event is free and presented by the Petaluma Museum Association as part of an exhibit celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, curated by Paula Freund. This exhibit tells the story of the founding of the Carnegie Library through the dedication of the building as a museum in 1978, and the continued work of the Petaluma Museum
Association to preserve the cultural heritage of the City of Petaluma.

 

What's On at The Petaluma Arts Center This December . . .

Back by popular demand at Petaluma Arts Center is the Members Exhibition & holiday art sale, opening Saturday December 8th with a public reception from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm. Stop by for a browse and pick out a piece or two for gifts that support both artist and art center. 

There has been a lot of buzz in the news this year with regards to the trials and tribulations of our much loved local Arts Center, it's great to see members rallying to stage this favorite of exhibitions during the holiday season. Let's hope that with everyone's support, the Arts Center may launch into 2019 with new energy and options and possibilities. 

Please note, the center is closed Sundays and Mondays (and holidays). If you can't make the opening, pop in Tues through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm.

Another annual highlight at the Arts Center, back by equally popular demand, the Petaluma Readers Theater presents a  “A Christmas Memory” and “A Child's Christmas in Wales"  — Friday evening, Dec 21st 7 pm to 9 pm. This is a treat for the whole family. Click here to register.

Red Barn Studios Holiday Sale — Dec 8th & 9th