The 2000 Las Madres Willow Glen playgroup is teaming up with Willow Street Wood-fired Pizza to help raise funds for one of its members, Jonathan Seepersad, who has neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer.

The fundraiser on June 6 is an all-day event at the restaurant, 1072 Willow St. The pizzeria will donate 20 percent of its proceeds from all purchases accompanied by a fundraiser flier that can be downloaded from the Las Madres website, . This applies to both dine-in and takeout orders.

To date, the playgroup has raised about $4,700 for the Seepersad family. "Every little bit counts," said playgroup treasurer Linda Garbarino.

White fences add
finishing touches

Residents in North Willow Glen pitched in on May 21 to put the finishing touches on a white fence that will grace the neighborhood gateway at Delmas Avenue and Willow Street.

This is part of an ongoing project to build white fences around city-owned vacant lots to increase the aesthetics in North Willow Glen. "We hope the fences will have a psychological effect on people to slow down, reminding them that they are driving through a neighborhood," said Ken Ecklund, president of the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association.

With help from volunteers, the association has erected close to 10 "signature fences" all around North Willow Glen. One of those locations is at Bird and Atlanta avenues.

Nonprofit given
unexpected gift

Willow Glen-based Estrella Family Services received a $5,000 grant from Community Foundation Silicon Valley on May 18.

Community Foundation Silicon Valley received an unexpected $1.2 million bequest from the late Louise Edgerton. The foundation created the Edgerton Fund for Youth Math and Science Education to help children pursue interests in computers, science, flight space and related fields.

The $5,000 grant to the Estrella Family Services will help the nonprofit reach its $2.45 million fundraising goal. The nonprofit has provided childcare at Gardner, Galarza and River Glen schools for more than three decades.

Louise Edgerton was the wife of late Millard Edgerton, an electronic technician contractor at NASA Ames. Millard died in 1994, and Louise died in 2003 with no heirs. She left her estate to the foundation.

Foundation president Peter Hero described the Edgerton gift as a "love story ... her gift to the community was also a tribute to her husband."

Delmas lot gets OK
to rezone for homes

The San Jose Planning Commission approved Stonebridge Development's request to rezone a .95 acre-lot on Delmas Avenue from residential to planned development on May 11.

To meet the conditions of approval, Stonebridge will have to increase the setbacks from three to five along the Guadalupe Trail and the garages will require a 20-foot setback from Delmas Avenue.

The proposed development, on the west side of Delmas Avenue near Dorothy Avenue, would raze three two-bedroom houses on the lot and replace them with seven single-family homes and two-car garages.

Neighborhood residents appreciated the developer's willingness to design five houses facing Delmas Avenue and hide the garages from the street on four of five sites. But residents were concerned with how the new houses would blend in with the existing one-story smaller homes on the street.

The developer agreed to work with residents to preserve the vintage feel of the neighborhood and to ensure secure public access to the trail near the development. The rezoning proposal will go before the San Jose City Council for approval in June.

Iglesias is recognized
for tech-savvy effort

San Jose Unified School District's Superintendent Don Iglesias is among three educators who received the Tech Savvy Superintendent award given by the Krause Center for Innovation at a ceremony on May 5.

The Krause Center for Innovation created the award to recognize educators who play a major role in promoting technology in kindergarten through high school.

Iglesias said he was honored to be one of the award's first recipients. "I believe it is extremely important for teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum," he said.