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September 2015 Shepherd’s Gate: A Haven for Healing
Serving Alamo and Diablo
By Jody Morgan
Inviting strangers into her two-bedroom home wasn’t part of Alice Ann Cantelow’s retirement plan. Nevertheless, in 1983, she abandoned her dream of hiking the Pacific Trail to offer respite from despair to women and children abandoned by everyone else. Aided by a few other couples, she purchased a 3-bedroom Livermore cottage in 1984 and officially established Shepherd’s Gate (SG) to provide a safe haven to homeless women and children for up to a 30-day stay. To date, Shepherd’s Gate has helped more than 11,000 Shepherd's Gate Founder Alice Ann Cantelow individuals rebuild their lives with a variety with Executive Director Steve McRee. Photo of programs offering support, education, and courtesy of Shepherd’s Gate. a loving space in which to live and heal. Tailored to address the specific needs of each resident, programs at the Livermore and Brentwood campuses run for as long as 18 months, sending graduates out into the world confident that they belong to a community that cares and leaving them well-prepared to maintain their financial independence. In 1992, the enormity of the need for SG to grow was evident. Forced to turn away more than 500 individuals seeking shelter and recognizing that a 30-day respite was inadequate to break the cycle of poverty, abuse or addiction that continued to keep the homeless at risk, planning began to build a 3-acre campus in Livermore. Steve and Carla McRee, Executive Director and Associate Director of SG since 1996, had no intention of moving across the country when they came to interview. They were content residing in Tennessee and running a successful rescue mission. A friend and business associate living in Pleasanton urged them to accept the offer of a round trip flight to California. “Funny things happened the day Carla and I came for the interview,” Steve recalls. “My foot caught as I hit the threshold of the doorway, and a foghorn went off in my head saying, ‘You belong here.’ When we stepped on the gravel lot destined to be the Livermore campus, we both heard separately the same message, which was: ‘This ministry is to expand and touch cities all over the world.’” The original section of the Livermore campus opened in 2000. With a second residence hall and five two-bedroom cottages added in 2006, as many as 70 women and children can be accommodated at a time. In 2004, Signature Properties offered to build SG a Brentwood facility free of charge. Housing up to 25 women and children, the 7,600 square foot site opened in 2006. Plans
O’Neill Festival 2015 Highlights Tao House Playwright’s Legacy
See Haven continued on page 22
By Jody Morgan
The 2015 Eugene O’Neill Festival – “A Season of Desire” – is a month-long tribute to O’Neill’s impact on American theater. Sponsored by the Eugene O’Neill Foundation Tao House (EOF), the Festival explores the way people struggle with confronting, controlling or O’Neill with his Dalmatian Blemie at Tao House, capitulating to all manner of yearnings. the Danville home where he wrote his final plays.
See Festival cont. on page 27 Local Postal Customer
Photo courtesy of EOF archives.
PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit 263 Alamo CA
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Answers to Twenty Questions: How Well do You Know Alamo? By Sharon Burke
Thanks to the many Alamo residents who took the time to enter our August quiz about Alamo and its history. Don Copland is the undisputed winner, correctly answering 19 of the 20 questions. Enjoy your Giants game, Don and Trudi! Kudos to the other entrants. No one got fewer than 15 correct. You are all masters of Alamo lore! Here are the answers and the stories behind the questions. Q. This Spanish name is given to a ridgeline, an East Bay Regional Park, Alamo's highest peak in the Westside hills, and one of Alamo's oldest streets. What is the Spanish name, and what does it mean in Spanish? - Las Trampas means the traps or the snares in Spanish. Wild elk roamed the west Alamo hills when the Spanish arrived in Alamo, and they set snares for the elk so they could enjoy fresh meat. The name was given to the hills and endures long after the elk are gone. Q. What Alamo street is named after a football team? - Oakraider Drive in Alamo was named for the Oakland Raiders. The street was developed in the 1980's after the Raiders had won their third NFL championship.
See Questions continued on page 30
Volunteers Always Wanted!
By Fran Miller
Seeking to lend time to a needy cause? Start with the Volunteer Center of the East Bay (VCEB) to find your perfect match. VCEB provides online resources for both volunteers and non-profits, bringing the two together to create meaningful volunteerism.
September is Corporate Volunteer month, sign up individually or as a business to help!
Finding your ‘volunteer match’is fun and easy. Enter a few key interest words on the online form, such as ‘animals,’ ‘environment,’ or ‘education,’ and uncover a menu of opportunities from amongst 100 non-profit organizations and 400 volunteer opportunities. VCEB offers one-time, on-going, and single day-ofservice projects. Their site receives 11,000 ‘hits’ per month from project seekers. “We change lives,” says VCEB executive director Jo Loss. “That’s the bottom line. Our volunteers really are helping to change someone’s life. Sizing diapers at St. Vincent de Paul might seem inconsequential, but it really is a big deal.” Visitors to the VCEB site will find matching programs such as Board Link, which connects volunteers with nonprofit board positions in the East Bay, or Corporate Caring Volunteer Week, which matches civic-minded business groups with projects. The Disaster Volume XV - Number 9 Response program provides an avenue 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, Alamo, CA 94507 for the public to help with relief and Telephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 recovery efforts after a catastrophic Fax (925) 406-0547 event. During the holidays, VCEB Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher helps community members locate Editor@yourmonthlypaper.com toy and food drives, sponsor-a-famSharon Burke ~ Writer ily programs, and holiday-related The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do volunteer activities. The Student not necessarily reflect that of Alamo Today. Alamo Today
See Volunteer cont. on pg. 27
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