October 24, 2005

I can't even count how many times this has happened here in Sunol, it continually amazes me to see how closely woven we are here in our small town. In September, Sunol Glen School teacher's aide, Darlene Wexner gathered the students together to make a huge 21 foot postcard to send to the kids that were victims to hurricane Katrina. The postcard, which they called "Hands That Care", included over 200 small handprints and heartfelt words written by all the students.

When Darlene went to the Sunol Post Office to mail the gift, she discovered that it was going to be almost impossible to get the giant postcard to the kids. It could not be sent by mail nor express carrier, so she left the post office disappointed. What Darlene did not know was that she had forgotten her car keys on the post office counter and the woman standing in line behind her was in the process of collecting items to send to the Hurricane victims. Yes, that woman, Christine Harris returned Darlene's keys to her and offered to take the postcard to St. Isadore Church in Danville where they were collecting donations. Christine and husband Van Harris have actually collected 5 truck loads of donated items from the residents of Sunol.

Darlene is a teacher's aide in the Art Department at the school so it was fitting that she also collected brand new art supplies and school books for the children and the Harris' are ready to deliver those as well. "Getting the art supplies to them means that we still remember them, yes maybe it was a couple months ago but we have not forgot them", says Darlene.

Now Darlene has taken on the task of delivering Halloween treats in the form of candy- grams. She is hoping to have approximately 400 lollipops to be delivered to the kids of Katrina from all the students at Sunol Glen School.

Darlene said, "The first graders put together candy grams and wrote little notes. They call them their hurricane buddies. Some of notes said, 'Don't worry be happy ', 'There is still hope' and 'We are here for you'. And someone even drew a picture of a little girl holding a band aid".

The annual 4-H Halloween Trunk or Treat (yes I did say "trunk") is being held on the 31st and Jayne Wells, Community Leader at Sunol 4-H is looking for folks to join in the fun.
Due to the rural nature of our community, the 4-H has found a safer alternative rather than going door to door collecting treats. The kids go trunk to trunk at Sunol Glen School.

"It is a great time for everyone of all ages! Please join us in turning your car, truck, SUV or horse trailer into a haunted lair for the little tricksters! There have been some very creative trunks for treats in the past. One trunk had a coffin with a vampire; a horse trailer had skeletons playing cards, with eerie sounds and rats on the floor. The possibilities are endless. Please arrive at 5:30 for set-up if you would like join us with your 'scary mobile". For more information please contact Jayne at 925-862-9040.

Be sure to stop by Sunol Regional Park and say goodbye to Supervising Naturalist, Norm Kidder. After 33 years with the East Bay Regional Park, Norm is looking forward to retiring. Norm plans on using his time to write a book about Stone Age technology titled, "Old Ways, A User's Guide to the Stone Age".

Norm's last program in Sunol will be guiding a hunter/gatherer hike through the park on November 5.

Beware! For those of you who live in Kilkare Woods. It was a little frightening for Faye Dishong when out walking his dog on the morning of October 10. Faye discovered a dead deer in the ballpark near the swimming pool pump house. He soon noticed some distinct scratches and bites marks on the deer and notified the authorities. Although unconfirmed by my phone call to the Alameda County Animal Control, Faye said the officer who arrived to dispose of the deer said it was definitely killed by a mountain lion.