 |
|
|
|
|
Saratoga Sampler
It was a day for providing finishing touches
By Mary Ann Cook
AMAZING WOMEN: Lynette Manzanares is a beautician at La Nouvelle Hairdresser in Saratoga who created a community project as her way of giving back to the community. Her project, which she calls the Amazing Woman Project, was to do makeovers for women who live in shelters or transitional housing and are trying to get back into the workforce.
Both beauticians and customers at La Nouvelle volunteered their time for the makeover day on a recent Sunday and helped transform 12 women, newly geared and newly groomed, to tackle the job market. The proof is in the pudding: At least two of the women have already landed jobs.
La Nouvelle clients, such as Carol Chaniotis and Melva Vollersen, got into the act by helping organize the day. Other clients donated clothes--an impressive array--and nearby Gene's Market supplied food for the day.
Manzanares hopes other salons will connect with this project, so that it continues.
Peggy Scott, an image consultant, volunteered her time to the day, and suppliers donated shampoos and cosmetics, a six-month supply for some of the recipients. Other beautician volunteers were Suzannah Salim, who owns La Nouvelle; Bobbie Baxley; Lioudmila Polovinkine; Yasamin Karima; Miri Funentes; and Kristana Singard.
The women were selected from the Georgia Travis Home, InnVision and Second Start with the help of a counselor. "They left transformed," says Manzanares. "I was in tears."
THEY LOVE A MYSTERY: The Mystery Readers will impersonate their favorite characters from whodunits and discuss the authors of same at the Los Gatos Library on Oct. 22. Most of the members of the Mystery Readers Group live in Saratoga.
They include Bernice Giansiracusa, June Cartwright, Irma Jean Crouch, Roberta Geis, Saundra Hill, Pat Jenkins, Frances Stearns and Margo Restrick. A select handful will be impersonators. (Read: those in town with only a soupçon of stage fright.)
The Mystery Readers presentation is but one of four Friday night programs in October sponsored by Friends of the Los Gatos Library. All programs begin at 7:30 p.m. Others in the series are: Oct. 1--Author/illustrator Joan Cottle and author/ musician Martha Kendall, who share tales about the anguish and delights of writing for children and young adults. Slide show by Cottle and music by Kendall accompany the talks. Oct. 8--A video overview of the work of Picasso presented by a Los Gatos art docent. Oct. 15--The Galliard Recorder Group presents a medley of music from early Renaissance to modern pop. Shakespeare would have listened to something similar. The Mystery Readers wrap it up on Oct. 22.
BROWNIE ENTREPRENEURS: These Brownies are learning about commerce and fundraising early on. They sell freshly made lemonade as a fundraiser for their troop, Girl Scout Troop 113, which is based at Hillbrook School in Los Gatos.
The action takes place every Saturday through October from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Red Tractor Cafe in the El Paseo de Saratoga Shopping Center, at Saratoga and Campbell avenues, as part of Red Tractor's LemonAid for School Aid program, which helps youngsters raise money for their schools.
The money raised by the Hillbrook Brownies will go for supplies for earning their badges and field trips. They're there to learn something about business and to remind their customers that fresh lemonade is one of the best reminders of childhood still to be found.
FALL FASHIONS: The annual fall fashion show/luncheon to benefit Saratoga Adult Care Center will be held Oct. 21 at 11:30 a.m. at Manhattan's of Saratoga at Azule Crossing. Fashions from Exclusively Yours' fall collection for women and children will be modeled.
Tickets are $25, of which $10 is tax deductible. Call 868-1262 or 868-1257. Outstanding door prizes are in the offing--some 35 to 40 in number, we're told.
The Advisory Board of the adult center includes Yosef Boaz, Ruth Bracklein, Vy Brown, Lois Chamberlain, Dane Christensen, Paul Clark, Ethlyn Countryman, Ray Dixon, Ron Duffin, Lou Leto, Claire Ostrowski, Carol Schmidt, Shauna Suarez, Lilo Townley and Doris Ziegel.
CROSS-COUNTRY BIKING: Four students from the University of New Hampshire who have been bicycling across the U.S. for the past four months, as a fundraiser for Parkinson's disease research, showed up at the Saratoga News office recently. A grandmother of one of the four cyclists is very sick with the disease and this marathon ride was his response.
The young men have raised an astounding $600,000 and intend to make it an annual event. Their cross-country crusade included kayaking down rivers, navigating the Grand Canyon and finishing up in San Francisco on Sept. 12. The four are Eric and Matt Folia, Matt Drayton and Wallace Teal. Their website is www.parkinsonspower.org.
|
|
|
|
Saratoga, California Since 1955
