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Around The Glen
Local volunteers help out at Gift Faire
Exotic jewelry, woven bags and intricate musical instruments are among the many handmade gift items lining tables at Willow Glen's International Gift Faire.
The 11th annual Faire takes place on Oct. 15 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Oct. 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lincoln Glen Church, 2700 Booksin Ave. in San Jose. It offers hundreds of handicrafts--including baskets, holiday ornaments, toys, wooden figurines, jewelry, musical instruments, linens and home decor--made by artists from 30 developing countries.
"Sometimes [the money from craft sales] helps children go to school, sometimes it helps clothe people," says local volunteer Ruby Bartell. Besides helping out, Ruby's a regular shopper at the Faire. "There's beautiful boxes, brass wear, soapstone, beautiful cards made with straw--it's really beautiful work," she says. "People can come look at all the pretty things, and maybe they can find something on their Christmas list. It helps them out, and by buying the gifts, they are helping others."
The mission of Ten Thousand Villages, a marketing and job-creation program formed by the Mennonite Central Committee, is to sell handicrafts at fair prices and create economic opportunities that help people help themselves in the areas of education, healthcare, nutrition and housing. All Faire proceeds are returned to Ten Thousand Villages, which in turn can stock the shelves of its 60 stores nationwide with more crafts purchased from more artisans.
Among the Willow Glen volunteers is Joanne Rafferty, who's in her 10th year with the Faire.
"I believe in helping the people of the world," she says. "By doing this we can enable people to make a living in their home country. It's especially good for the women, who in some countries can't work outside the home. This enables them to make a living, and it also enables them to get healthcare and education for their children."
-- Shari Kaplan and Jessica Lyons
NASA photo shoot puts local girls into orbit
Presentation High School junior Nicole Chubb was flying high after attending a shuttle launch in July at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Her dreams aren't the only thing soaring above the ground, however. Soon her photo will be, too.
Chubb recently returned from the NASA Space Center in Houston, where she participated in a photo shoot with three women astronauts, to be featured in a national media campaign for Take Our Daughters to Work Day. The theme for the new millennium is "Women in Space." The campaign will feature group photos of Chubb and two other students alongside the astronauts: Eileen Collins, commander of the recent STS93 launch; and Ellen Ochoa and Dr. Yvonne Cagle, the first Hispanic and African American female astronauts, respectively. The photos will be displayed on posters, billboards and display advertisements.
Chubb and Laurie Cox, a junior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, visited the Space Center in Houston with Adrienne Renner, the technology coordinator at Presentation High School. In Houston, the three participated in a simulated space shuttle launch, and toured the NASA Mission Control center.
--Jessica Lyons
New boundaries would shrink enrollment
The Board of Education's proposed changes to elementary school boundaries would affect 16 elementary schools, all north of Hillsdale Avenue.
Under the current recommendations, enrollment would shrink at Booksin, Schallenberger and Willow Glen elementary schools. The most dramatic decrease, however, would be at Schallenberger, with enrollment cut nearly in half.
If the proposal is approved, about 675 future elementary school students now living in the Booksin, Schallenberger and Willow Glen Elementary areas would attend Canoas School, slated to open in fall 2000.
The board will vote on the proposed boundaries at the Oct. 21 meeting.
Under the plan, children could continue going to the schools they now attend even if the boundaries change.
The boundary changes come as a result of plans to remodel and reopen three schools in the central and northern part of the district--Canoas, Horace Mann and River Glen--which currently houses the district's two-way Spanish immersion program, but will reopen as a neighborhood school in the winter of 2001.
The intent, according to San Jose Unified School District spokeswoman Maureen Davidson, is to redraw the lines, making elementary schools within walking distance of the neighborhoods they serve. It's also intended to reduce crowding in the already overenrolled elementary schools in the northern and central part of the district.
--Jessica Lyons
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
