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How to Give
Your gift helps children and others in need Contributions to the Holiday Fund will be matched dollar for dollar, to the extent possible, and will go directly to the nonprofit agencies that serve Mountain View residents. Last year, Voice readers contributed more than $40,000, which with matching grants, provided more than $10,000 to each agency No administrative costs are deducted from the gifts, which are tax-deductible
as permitted by law. All donations will be shared equally with the seven recipient agencies listed here.
2009
ay d i l o H und F
This year, the following agencies will be supported by the Holiday Fund: ■ PARTNERS FOR NEW GENERATIONS
■ THE SUPPORT NETWORK FOR BATTERED WOMEN
Trains volunteer mentors who work with local youth in education and community programs.
Operates a 24-hour bilingual hotline, a safe shelter for women and their children, and offers counseling and other services for families facing this problem.
■ THE COMMUNITY HEALTH AWARENESS COUNCIL Serves Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and seven school districts. Offers schoolbased programs to protect students from highrisk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse.
■ COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTS Provides hands-on arts and music projects in the elementary classrooms of the Mountain View-Whisman School District. Nearly 40 percent of the students are low-income and 28 percent have limited English proficiency.
■ MOUNTAIN VIEW ROTACARE CLINIC Provides uninsured community residents with medical care and medications, and is frequently the last resort for this under-served clientele.
■ DAY WORKER CENTER OF MOUNTAIN VIEW
■ COMMUNITY SERVICES AGENCY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW AND LOS ALTOS
Provides a secure place for workers and employers to negotiate wages. Serves 50 or more workers per day with job-matching, English lessons and guidance.
Assists working poor families, homeless and seniors with short-term housing and medical care and other services.
Name of donor ______________________________________________ Amount $ ____________ Street address ___________________________________________________________________ City _______________________________________________ State _____ Zip _______________ ❏ I wish to contribute anonymously.
❏ Don’t publish the amount of my contribution.
❏ I wish to designate my contribution as follows: ❏ In honor of: ❏ In memory of: ________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________
TO DONATE ONLINE GO TO: http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/giving-mvv.html PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: THE HOLIDAY FUND Enclose this coupon and send to: The Voice Holiday Fund The Mountain View Voice, P.O. Box 405, Mountain View, CA 94042 By Credit Card: ❏ Visa or ❏ MasterCard
No. ______________________________________
Exp. Date ________________________________________________________ Signature ________________________________________________________
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■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■ NOVEMBER 20, 2009
MICHELLE LE
Autistic student Cesar plays the marimba to “Jingle Bells” during Bill Liberatore’s class held at CSMA. Students in his class are from Pacific Autism Center for Education.
CSMA
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students spend their education in intimate, one-on-one settings isolated from the rest of the community. They love coming to CSMA because it gets them into a group setting, she said. Covello recalls one student’s reaction to his weekly classes: “We go from being in a really small space to being in these really big spaces where we can paint and work with clay and interact,” said Jordan, a 19-year-old enrolled in the Morgan Autism Center. Like Mike, the special needs students come away from arts and music classes with more than artistic skills. The students, separated into higher and lower functioning groups, work with aides to learn art and music skills. For Covello, teaching these students is a unique experience because of the pride they feel in even the simplest expressions of creativity. “They have a kind of innocence
HAPPY
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Mountain View, much of Silicon Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains. “Of 435 districts in the country, people in Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s district apparently feel happier than in any other district in the country,” said city manager Kevin Duggan. “I think it’s great.” He added, “It’s good that people feel good about their circumstances in such trying times.” The city of Sunnyvale has pounced on the Gallup poll results, and now claims to be “the happiest place in America” in a press release on its Web site. The accolade comes from TV personality “Dr. Oz,” who for his Nov. 9 show contrasted Sunnyvale to the city of Hazard in Kentucky, which is in the least happy congressional district in the
and excitement about making art,” she said. Mary Holmes, music director at CSMA, at first was concerned about the effectiveness of the program because the teachers are not trained as music therapists. But the classes have exceeded her expectations, she said: Students who were previously disengaged now are participating and talking. “It’s about learning social skills and encountering a peer from another agency that you don’t see every day,” said executive director Jeffry Walker. Walker’s office features artwork by a student from Abilities United — a painting resembling an abstract interpretation of sheet music. Like Walker, Holmes also has a keepsake of her work with the students: a note from Wanda, an autistic adult. It begins, “I send you a very happy late Halloween and early Thanksgiving hug! I’m really enjoying giving you this card because I like you a lot as my staff and friends! You are great ones and I care about you a lot!” V
country, according the poll. The 14th congressional district stretches from Sunnyvale through Mountain View and Palo Alto to parts of Redwood City, Belmont and San Carlos to the north. It also stretches to the coast to cover Half Moon Bay, Ben Lomond, Scotts Valley and other less densely populated areas in Santa Cruz County. Gallup says the survey sample represents 98 percent of the adult population, including households that have begun using cell phones instead of landlines. On a daily basis, about 1,000 people are asked dozens of questions about everything from job satisfaction to how often a person laughs. The poll’s results by district are available at www.ahiphiwire.org/ wellbeing. A map of the 14th district is available on Eshoo’s Web site, www.eshoo.house.gov. V