The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Hand Off: Volunteer Gene Laden helps Dianne Maul unload her Thanksgiving food donations at the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Around The Glen

Second Harvest needs volunteers

Although the Second Harvest Food Bank in Willow Glen attracts much attention during its holiday food drives, the nonprofit organization feeds hungry and needy people all year long. Starting in January 1998, volunteers will be needed weekday mornings to screen applicants' personal data and income for Operation Brown Bag, a service that offers free groceries to low-income individuals. For another program, Second Harvest needs drivers to deliver groceries to homebound seniors. Other volunteers are needed to oversee can sorting at San Jose's Del Monte canning facility.

For more information, call the Second Harvest Food Bank at 266-8866 or Jenny Luciano at 266-8866, ext. 236.

--Cecily Barnes

The Water District offers residents classes on sandbags

In preparation for the ominous El Niño, the Santa Clara Valley Water District is holding classes on how to fill sandbags. Although the water district provides prepacked sandbags while supplies last, emergency situations can tax the county's resources.

"When we've got flooding throughout the county, a lot of times all we can do is drop sand and empty bags at the sites we've got set up," said Mark Wander, sandbag program coordinator for the water district. "At that point, the public is left to provide for themselves."

The water district has sites throughout the county, including one at Willow Street and Highway 87.

The classes offer demonstrations on how to properly fill, lift and carry the bag, as well as tips on where the sandbags should be placed and how to dispose of them at the end of the rainy season. Residents can also practice filling a sandbag at the workshop.

"They have the opportunity to fill the sandbags, but it is by no means required," Wander emphasized.

The free two-hour workshops will be held Dec. 6, beginning at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., at the water district's Winfield Warehouse, 5905 Winfield Blvd., between Blossom Hill Road and Coleman Avenue. For more information call Mike Wander at 265-2607, ext. 2459.

--Cecily Barnes

Our City Forest offers volunteer training program

To ensure the health of trees throughout the city, Our City Forest is hosting a volunteer training for community members interested in keeping trees alive and healthy.

"People who attend the class will learn to look for signs of tree decay so we can then go out into the community and check on the health of the trees," said Clare Olsen, stewardship coordinator for Our City Forest. "We're going to break San Jose up into regions, and then hopefully everyone will have a systematic way of checking on the trees."

Over the past three years, nearly 500 trees have been planted throughout Willow Glen, many as part of the Highway 87 mitigation project. All of these trees will be included in the citywide checkup.

Volunteers who accept a section of the city will walk or drive through the neighborhoods, surveying leaves and branches for signs of water stress, poor soil and decay.

"Eventually, as the program grows, we'll be able to help not only the trees planted by Our City Forest but the trees planted by the city," Olsen said. "We'll be able to be tree doctors."

The volunteer meeting will be held Dec. 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at 595 Park Ave., Suite 100, in San Jose. For more information contact Clare Olsen at 998-7337.

--Cecily Barnes

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