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Main Street
Town's volunteer program growing, going strong
By Mary Ann Cook
VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION: My, how we've grown. In the nine years that the town's volunteer program has been in effect, it's grown from 354 volunteers to more than 750 today. Measured in hours, volunteers contribute 40,000 hours yearly, which adds up to $1 million in services to make Los Gatos a better place.
The quality of the food to celebrate the volunteers seems to get better every year. Thanks, Regina (Falkner) and caterer Sweet Peas, plus these donators: Los Gatos Meats and Smokehouse, Icing on the Cake, Lunardi's, Safeway, Togos and Los Gatos Coffee Roasting. Ben Wilson played piano.
Mayor Randy Attaway and three other council members spoke. All the town florists contributed and Ray Bortolussi of Village Flowers sent yellow roses, given out to volunteers. Helium was donated by Fred Koslowski, Jr. of A Rental Center. Susan Buxton is the volunteer coordinator for the town.
MISS TEEN CHINATOWN: Monica Young of Monte Sereno was crowned Miss Teen Chinatown 2002 by the San Francisco Chinatown Lions Club. Young is a senior at Los Gatos High and the recipient of many academic awards and honors. She is the daughter of Sunah and Charlie Young.
Monica says about winning Miss Teen Chinatown: "It didn't seem to be my thing, but I'm glad I did it." A school counselor suggested she fill out an application. She was editor of the senior issue of El Gato, was captain of the water polo team, is active in student government, and has played the piano since age 5.
She has done volunteer work in Indian health and at a family shelter. She gets straight As. Whew. She intends to pursue a neuroscience degree at Brown University.
ART WINNERS: ART WINNERS: Locals won top places in the oils, watercolors, and photography and mixed media categories in the juried show at the Art Museum of Los Gatos recently.
First places went to Maralyn Miller of Los Gatos for oils; Kay Duffy of Saratoga for watercolors; Carolyn Ramsay of Los Gatos for photography; and Catherine Dudley of Los Gatos for mixed media.
Genie Even of Los Gatos won second place in watercolors; Prudence Victor of Saratoga snagged second place in oils; and Kenneth Johnson of Los Gatos won second in the three-dimensional art category.
Third place in oils went to Helen Scheel of Saratoga. Third place in watercolors was won by Mary Ann Henderson of Saratoga. Henderson also claimed an honorable mention in pastels. Honorable mention in oils went to Connie Klass of Los Gatos. Honorable mention in watercolors went to Dan Tellep of Saratoga. And honorable mention to Michiko Shimoda of Saratoga for her untitled three-dimensional work.
Rita Wilson and Ella Fisher were co-chairwomen of the exhibit.
HIGH-DENSITY HOUSING: The League of Women Voters is offering a bus tour of affordable, high-density, and mixed-use housing on May 23. Participants will gather at 9:15 a.m. at the Saratoga Senior Center parking lot, where a bus is provided, along with water and soft drinks.
The tour is a chance for people to see from the inside out what affordable, high-density and mixed-use housing is all about. Tour guides will explain the purpose of these developments and how they came to be. This overview should help people decide whether they want one in their own backyard.
Participants bring a bag lunch. The bus returns about 2:30 p.m. Checks for $20 should be made out to League of Women Voters of Southwest Santa Clara Valley and sent to Dale Hill, 150 Robin Way, Los Gatos, 95032. The registration deadline is May 16. For more information, call 408.867.VOTE for visit the website at www.lwv-sw-santaclara-valley.org.
DISCOVERY SHOP: With the Farmers' Market's move to town hall, the Discovery Shop followed suit and is now open Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. All proceeds from the resale shop go to the American Cancer Society. Always a treasure to be found, is volunteer Laurel Perusa's motto.
SHORTS: Four short plays by Los Gatos playwrights Riva Rubnitz and yours truly will be presented May 17 in a program sponsored by Friends of Los Gatos Public Library. The action starts at 7 p.m. in town council chambers with a brief business meeting; new officers will be elected, followed by the plays.
A staged reading is midway between a seated reading of a play and a full production. Staged readings are designed to show the playwright what works and what doesn't--and what (if anything) needs to be done next. A discussion period will follow, so the audience will be part of the play-making process.
Actor/teacher Judith Johnson is directing the plays. The cast, all experienced actors, includes Los Gatan Dave Wilkinson, Howard Kerr, Mary Jane Reiter, James Pao and Amy Thompson.
The plays by Rubnitz, a psychotherapist in her other life, are titled Siren Song and To Save a Flower; mine are D'nA and No Strings Attached.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
