July 25, 2005

Little Brown Church of Sunol members and friends gathered on July 3 at Sunrise Village, a homeless shelter in Fremont, to help serve and prepare a delicious dinner for shelter residents and staff. Organized by Robin Spindler, the dinner was an overwhelming success. There were over twenty volunteers of all ages that prepared the meal which served the sixty plus guests. The menu included a wonderful casserole, fresh fruit salad and fruit cobbler. Church members prepared the desserts in advance and also gave cash donations to help out with the food that was purchased to prepare.

Robin said, "Volunteers found it to be a worthwhile experience. We had the opportunity to interact with guests and put a face on homelessness in our community. Children were provided with the chance to serve those in need. We were all reminded of the many things we have to be grateful for."

The church plans on serving many more dinners at the homeless shelter and volunteers of all ages are welcome. If you would like to help with future dinners or make a financial donation towards the shelter dinners, please contact the church at 925-862-2004.

There is another addition to the Sunol Community Park and its large size makes it very easy to spot as well. Nope it's not the beautifully ornate new gate, which I absolutely love, especially the golden letters that spell out "Sunol". It's the spanking new 36 foot flagpole recently erected by Boy Scout Galen Hoxie from Troop 945.

Galen built the flagpole, with the help of his brother, Jason; sister, Amanda; parents, Lowell and Adrienne and friend Ryan Harper, as part of his Eagle Scout project which includes requirements such as doing a certain amount of community service or doing something to benefit the community.

Galen has also volunteered his time providing yard work for his church and he participated in a beach cleanup. In scouting for 10 years now, Galen just graduated from Foothill High School and plans include working as a journeyman carpenter. The Sunol Business Guild is providing a flag that has recently flown atop out states Capitol Building and Galen plans to hold a flag ceremony in the near future.

Sunol's avid gardener, Jim O'Laughlin, did very well again this year at the Alameda County Fair. Jim received several awards in Amateur Gardening for his vegetables including three judge's favorite awards, one best of show award and a sweepstakes award for overall.

Jim tells me that there is three separate judging sessions during the fair's two week run to ensure the produce stays fresh. Judging is done on a point system for each session and awards are presented upon the highest number of points.

Besides showing individual vegetable items, Jim also created several pieces of garden art using a large basket filled with an arrangement of blue artichokes and the flowers from onions.; an old bed frame surrounded by pots of fresh and dried herbs and sunflowers; an iron gate adorned with small baskets of gourds, shallots and garlic; and an antique gardening cart filled with gift baskets. Jim's wife Pat also entered her lovely flowers again this year.

I'm really surprised that the O'Laughlin's were the only Sunolians to enter the Amateur Gardening competition considering that we live in the country and there are lots of beautiful gardens and talented gardeners all around Sunol.