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DECEMBER 2017 • ALAMO TODAY & DANVILLE TODAY NEWS • PAGE 1
& DECEMBER 2017
LOVE YOU MORE: ENTERPRISE WITH A HEART OF GOLD
By Jody Morgan
Launched to turn a profit marketing fine keepsake jewelry of gold and pearls, Love You More now offers a Bohemian Line of jewelry, purses, and clothing specifically designed to empower the women making these handcrafted items to reliably provide basic needs for their families. While the original Love You More Line donates 10-20% of profits to a variety of charities, the newly released portion of the business is dedicated to giving the ladies involved in putting each piece together both additional income and useful skills so that they can offer their children the opportunity for a future far brighter than the prospect they faced themselves. In 2009, Alamo resident Gaby Love You More gives mothers working on the new Ghorbani decided to exchange her Bohemian line lots of reasons to smile. financially remunerative role as a well-established entrepreneur to follow the personally rewarding path dictated by her heart. She longed to share with local youngsters the life-changing experience of discovering their own individual ability to positively impact the lives of others that she first embraced as a 10-year-old child growing up in Mexico. Riding home from school in her family car one day, she spotted a boy about her own age pedaling candy on the street and knew she somehow had to find the means to help him. Although involved from that day forward in supporting charitable endeavors in her spare time, she wanted to devote herself full-time to making a difference. Pledge to Humanity (PTH), the non-profit she founded, has grown exponentially. It teaches young people of all ages that helping others forms a sense of connection rather than a duty to fulfill service hour requirements and that in turn furnishes a remarkably powerful feeling of self worth and achievement. Ghorbani explains: “I believe in the innate compassion in the heart of every child. I know and believe in the ability they have to give, to love, to empower, and to make a significant impact in the world.” However, as Ghorbani remarks, she has an entrepreneurial nature that wasn’t fully satisfied and decided to build a new business. Still interested in conveying a
See More continued on page 18
Alamo Tree Lighting Festival Sunday, December 3, 4:30pm-6:30pm Andrew Young Park at the corner of Danville Blvd & Jackson Way
Local Postal Customer
RICHARDS ARTS AND CRAFTS WITH ALAMO TODAY & DANVILLE TODAY NEWS OPEN POP-UP STORE TO SUPPORT NORTH BAY FIRE SURVIVORS
By Terri Delfosse of Richard’s Arts and Crafts
As the fires in the North Bay raged on for weeks, many of us found ourselves watching with aching hearts. As homes fell with no rhyme or reason, no care for how, what, or who was destroyed my husband and I talked about our own home and property. What would we do? What would we take? How do you decide? The owner of Alamo Today & Danville Today News, Alisa Corstorphine also had similar thoughts about how to help, where to look to reach out, and how to provide things most missed as well as most needed for the fire survivors. While there are places to look for help, actual physical wants are sometimes lost, and some things with special meaning cannot always be bought and are possibly simply not affordable. While insurance for some is one answer, many people, especially renters, had no insurance at all, and some precious possessions may be irreplaceable even with insurance.
See Purposes continued on page 22
ALAMO MAC DISCUSSES AIRBNB, CELL TOWER ISSUES By Sharon Burke
November’s regular meeting of the Alamo Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) saw more than 40 Alamo residents turn out due to two controversial issues. First up, the MAC’s input was sought to guide County planning officials preparing a proposed short term rental ordinance for the Board of Supervisors. The County asked the MAC to complete a questionnaire with yes or no answers on options for Board consideration such as completely banning short term rentals, requiring short term rental businesses to obtain a business license, requiring owners to be on site (hosted rental), banning special events at short term rentals, restricting rentals to 90 days per year, and requiring the county hotel tax of 10% to be collected from the tenants. The MAC took public input from those present. Mike Gibson of the Alamo Improvement Association (AIA) presented research done by AIA as to how surrounding cities in Contra Costa County deal with short term rentals. Short term rentals are banned in residential areas in Lafayette, Pleasant Hill, and
See MAC continued on page 24
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The Editors
Serving the combined communities of Alamo, Diablo, and Danville, Since October 2017
Volume XVII Number 10
Volume VIII Number 12
3000F Danville Blvd. #117 Alamo, CA 94507 Telephone (925) 405-6397 Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher Editor@yourmonthlypaper.com
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