November 22, 2007

NEWS BRIEFS

Light up a recovering soldier’s Christmas with a card

This message has been going around various e-mail lists. It’s a good idea and one that can really brighten up an injured soldier’s holiday. When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following address:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Celebrate with Santa; help the community

The AVCS Auxiliary invites parents, grandparents and their children and grandchildren, to enjoy Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, Dec. 8 from 9 to 11 a.m. This fun, family friendly fund-raising event will be held at the holiday festooned Almaden Golf and Country Club.

Among the features at this year’s event are a delicious breakfast buffet and pancake station, caroling and children have individual pictures taken with Santa. There will also be a raffle featuring gorgeous holiday gift items as well as a fully decorated Christmas tree with gifts for giving!

Tickets for the annual fund-raiser are $25 for adults, $20 for children ages 2-10 and $10 for children under 2, which includes a highchair or want to have a picture with Santa and other goodies.

Tables seat eight and seating is limited; this event sells out rapidly so send in your reservation as soon as possible. If you would like to attend, a reservation form is available to download at www.avcounseling.org, under Fundraising Events, or call (408) 997-0200.

All proceeds will benefit the Almaden Valley Counseling Service.

Supervisor Yeager looks for reverse 9-1-1 options

Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager recently asked county staff to look into options for reverse 9-1-1 and to come back with a proposition. Governments can use reverse 9-1-1 when there is an emergency and city, county, police or fire official need to alert citizens for problems and possible disasters.

Currently, the only method to alert citizens of impending problems is through an emergency alert on radio or television. Yeager asked the staff to look into a number of options including cellular and regular phone calls, e-mail and text messages to determine which is the best method.

For example, during the recent firestorms in southern California, a system was in place to alert residents to evacuate. Another example was last month, when Palo Alto Police issued an alert similar to an Amber Alert about a high school girl that had been kidnapped.

Craft boutique to benefit San Jose Children’s Shelter

Art Through Women's Eyes invites you to its second annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Show to benefit San Jose Children's Shelter. This free event is on Saturday Dec. 8, between 11 and 6 at the Americana Ballroom located at 707 Continental Circle in Mountain View.

Among the gifts available are unique works of many talented Bay Area artists. The collection of original art pieces are in various mediums, including ceramic, glass, mixed media, oil, photography, fine jewelry and crafts. To view a sample of the art works at the online gallery: http://www.artthroughwomenseyes.com/galleries.php.

The show will offer raffles at $2/entry ticket to help raise funds for San Jose Children's Shelter, which is the fourth largest shelter in California for abused and neglected children. As the only receiving and short-term caring facility in the Santa Clara County, San Jose Children's Shelter provides services such as medical and mental care, home placement, education, recreation and art to these children through volunteer work.

Kurt Carrasquilla receives teaching honor
Almaden Valley resident Kurt Carrasquilla received a second award this year from the University of California, Berkeley. In January, he was awarded the Tim Kochis Award for Teaching Excellence for his class in the Personal Financial Planning Program.

“My main goal is to make sure students feel like they received a good return on their investment. I always want to be respectful of their time and money,” Carrasquilla said. When he is not lecturing in the classroom on Thursday evenings, he is a vice president of Wealth Management at Citi Smith Barney’s downtown office in San Jose.