Rebuilding Petaluma…one home at a time

Journalist Frances Rivetti has just published an article about the upcoming Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP) volunteer workday on April 20th.

Her article provides a deep insight into the critical work of that organization in our community and some of the people that have been helped in the past…and who will be helped next month.

Check it out at Rebuilding Together Petaluma’s Upcoming Community Work Day Provides a Lifeline for Impoverished and Disabled Homeowners

SELECTED PHOTOS FROM PAST VOLUNTEER DAYS

Community…People…Faces…

In Faces… I presented some of my past photos of Petaluma community volunteers.

The next day I was able to document some of the Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP) volunteers at work in Petaluma’s Lucchesi and Glenbrook parks. Their work in the parks was to add mulch to the tree areas.  In addition, RTP volunteers were also hard at work at an East Side home building a new deck and landscaping the yard.

I selected some photos from the day in an attempt to give a sense of the effort at all three locations.

• As a reminder, an individual collage or photo may be enlarged by clicking on it. Back clicking will take you back to this page. 
• I also included a slide show at the end of the article. 

In this presentation I mixed photos from each work location in the collages.  Individual photos were selected simply because I liked them.  Hey, what the heck, it’s my blog…  

One with the mulch…

Jane Hamilton, RTP

 

Photo Slideshow…

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Faces…

It is the eve of another project by Rebuilding Together Petaluma, which I will attempt to document with my camera gear. There are, of course, many such projects going on in our fair city–river clean ups, Daily Acts projects, and countless others. 

In getting my head together for tomorrow, I reviewed some of my past photos of volunteer workdays. I thought they were worth sharing…

Rebuilding Together Petaluma–Community In Action

Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP) is a local non-profit volunteer organization that provides home modification and repair services free of charge to individuals and organizations in our community who are in need of some helping hands. — Rebuilding Together Petaluma

On April 17, 2010, 350 RTP volunteers came together to work on 15 projects in Petaluma.

• The photos below document some of the volunteer efforts at the Petaluma Boys & Girls Club and a COTS transition home.
• Photos from additional RTP projects will be included in a later article.
• After the last photo (“Winston”), there is a slideshow of the photos included in this posting.

Individual photos may be “enlarged” by clicking on them…

Sidewalk Superintendent…

PHOTO SLIDESHOW

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Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP)

Last Saturday, April 17, 2010 was the big project day for Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP)…

• 350 volunteers
• 15 Projects

I followed the activities of three of the teams and “collected” a rather large number of photos. It will take some time to sort through them all.

As a preview, I offer the following…

They’re Changing The Landscape…

…And Building Community At St. James and Petaluma’s Cavanagh Recreation Center…

…Two Stories For The Easter Weekend…

St. James Community Garden…

Starting literally from scratch a few months ago, the St. James Community Garden continues to grow…in production as well as in land under cultivation. Lois Pearson advises that this month they plan on building two additional sections and planting  twelve more fruit trees.

The project is driven by dedicated volunteers and fueled by donations of materials and volunteer hours. In addition, money has been raised by numerous fund-raising events.

One of the fund-raisers was a recent garden mosaic tile workshop where people could learn how to make stepping stones for their own garden or for the St. James Community Garden. At the end, 79 stones were created–15 of which were created for use in the garden.

According to the instructor, Mari Philo: “We had all age ranges in the classes. The youngest was 4, the oldest in their 80′s.  We had families, singles, partners and even a couple of walk-ins.  Every mosaic stepping stone turned out absolutely unique and beautiful–stones representing crosses, hearts, animals, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, flowers, abstract and more. Some people made one, some two, and some even four at a time.”

Photos from the St. James Mosaic Tile Class 

Individual photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

 

Petaluma’s Cavanagh Recreation Center…

In May of last year, on some of the hottest days of the year, volunteers working with the City Of Petaluma transformed the landscape around the Cavanagh Recreation Center from lawn to low water landscaping.  (See Petaluma Gets Its Sheet (Mulch) Together…)

When I learned that Daily Acts had scheduled another volunteer workday for March 26, 2010, I decided it was a great opportunity to follow-up on the story. I was more than impressed with what I found.  The landscape was thriving and ready for the second stage of planting and completion of the rain garden.  Frankly, I was a little jealous that some of their plantings were not only larger than mine were—they were already in bloom. 

A little Garden Envy, I suppose…

Photos from the Cavanagh Recreation Center Workday 

Individual photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.

Ladybugs…(Look Closely)

MLK–A National Day Of Service

Martin Luther King Day is more than another Monday Holiday. It is also a day when people throughout the country join together to work on various service projects in their community.

Everyone knows this…right?

Well I, for one, did not.

Furthermore, my ignorance would have continued but for a request from Jane Hamilton of Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP)  to take some photos at the Martin Luther King Jr. “Day of Service” project at Valley Vista Child Care in Petaluma. 

I later learned that the Valley Vista project was one of many throughout the nation. For example, in the Greater Philadelphia Area, 70,000 people turned out to work on 1,100 community projects. (Link)

On the morning of January 18, I arrived at Valley Vista to find 30 volunteers. They were primarily employees, including friends and family members, from Kaiser Permanente facilities in Santa Rosa, San Rafael & Petaluma.

Their presence was due to the efforts of Carol Harris, Kaiser’s Community and Government Relations Manager (Sonoma/Marin) and Jane Hamilton of RTP. 

Kaiser and RTP have a history of working together in the planning and execution of  MLK Day projects with Kaiser providing grants and employee volunteers to work with RTP. And so it was again this year.

During the course of the day, they fixed  bicycles, scooters, computers, and skates.  In addition, one crew worked on painting a room–washing the walls before applying a prime coat and the finish coat. Another group worked on general cleaning which included, believe it or not, sorting through and organizing the Barbie accessories.

Below are a few photos and photo collages from the day’s activities…

“EVERYBODY CAN BE GREAT BECAUSE EVERYBODY CAN SERVE”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

PAINTERS 

PAINTERS ASSEMBLED!

 VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION!

NOTE

• Rebuilding Together Petaluma posted a link to a full set of photos from the Valley Vista workday.  To view, CLICK>>HERE
• Also see the Article in the Press Democrat.

Petaluma Photos–PIXS From Our Town

Over the last few years of blogging I have taken a number of photos to support the articles published on Petaluma 360 and elsewhere.

The photo inventory has built up to a level requiring me to organize it–reorganize it?– once again.

I have selected some of the photos for an album page.  To view, simply click on Petaluma Photos (Pixels of Petaluma) at the top of the page.