Bill Clinton and Colin Powell and many of the biggest names in corporate America put their heads together recently to figure out how to mobilize volunteers to solve many of the country's problems.
Maybe they should have come to Los Gatos and asked around.
A couple weeks ago, Los Gatos recognized 560 people who in 1996 volunteered their time to the tune of 33,400 donated hours at an approximate monetary value of $850,000.
In another area of town, community volunteers have rallied 'round the cause of the Los Gatos Elementary Education Foundation and have just passed the $1 million mark in their fundraising efforts.
The foundation's major fundraiser is an annual phone-a-thon, run by a flock of volunteers.
The Junior League of San Jose, many of whose community-minded members are local residents, recently honored 27 outstanding volunteers from throughout Santa Clara County. Four of them are Los Gatans.
Paul Benedetti, who was honored with the Junior League's Alexis Award, builds swimming pools. Volunteer service isn't something he's thought much about in the past, but when he found out that the swimming pools at Camp Costanoan were in terrible condition, he got inspired.
Eighty-year-old Edith Brockway, a Silver Bowl winner, has actively volunteered as an Art Docent in the Los Gatos Union School District since 1975.
Other Silver Bowl winners from Los Gatos were Lynn Anderson and Bill Frost. Anderson is a special education teacher in the Campbell School District and contributes 120 volunteer hours to the school's peer counseling program. Frost, who is retired from IBM, helps students at Oak Grove High School develop the skills they need to pass the state-mandated proficiency tests.
With or without a presidential summit on the subject, America, and certainly Los Gatos, is already a better place because of the generous contributions of time and talent from volunteers.
Last week's bus tour of completed projects and vacant lots appears to have been a reality check for some councilmembers and planning commissioners.
It was, in part, a reminder that artist's renderings can be misleading. But if the hard evidence showed that planners sometimes misjudged the scale of a proposed project, it also reinforced the importance of insisting that developers meet the town's high standards for designs that are compatible with the character of the community.
It's too late to go back and change what's already done, but this kind of reality check may well shape those empty parcels that were on the bus route.
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This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 7, 1997.
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