Homeless winter shelter update
EDITOR: A little more than a month ago a group of us held a forum at the Healdsburg Library to rally support for finding shelter this winter for the Healdsburg homeless community. We had close to 50 people volunteer to set up and take down a shelter, provide transportation, food and clean up, do laundry and assist in any way they could. This was a tremendous show of community support in response to our concerns and in response to the local, county and state representatives who spoke on what the various agencies are doing or planning on doing to combat homelessness.
The most important piece of this emergency plan was, and remains, finding a place to have this temporary shelter. A week after this forum the City of Healdsburg contacted St. Paul’s Church to use their facilities to house a maximum of 30 people for emergency shelter.
The October fires then set us all back in our pursuits while cruelly creating more homelessness in its traumatic wake. With the first major storm expected this weekend we are desperate to find more shelter as we anticipate an increase of the more than 100 homeless already in Healdsburg. We would like to be prepared.
We are therefore making a direct appeal to the community to see if anyone has private property that would not flood and on which tents could be erected during heavy storms. Please contact Harvey Brody at 433-5786 or Gail Jonas at 490-4309.
Gail Jonas and Harvey Brody
Healdsburg
What heart can do
EDITOR: Sunday, Oct. 29 was a day of heartfelt community gratitude and giving on our town plaza. Co-produced by Corazón Healdsburg and the City of Healdsburg, An Event of the Heart, our Día de los Muertos Celebration, brought together our whole community, in observation of an important healing tradition and in recognition of the devastation and a traumatic time we have shared in the past month.
The day was created by this community, for this community and we cannot express enough the depth of our gratitude for those who volunteered, showed up and joined in thanking our first responders who fought the fires and worked tirelessly to keep us safe. We are deeply grateful for the generosity of this community in giving to those who lost their homes and need our help the most, both the 44 first responder families who are displaced and the undocumented among us who likewise no longer have a home to go to who will not qualify for public sources of funding and support. Your generosity generated $40,000 on that day which will be used to aid the displaced so they can begin their lives anew, taking the community’s heart with them as they go forward.
It is Corazón Healdsburg’s mission to unify our communities and create a quality of experience for all of our residents that includes equal access to sources of service and support and inclusion in community life. Unity and inclusion were abundant on Sunday and just as we made the call for all to be present and connected on that day, we hope that whatever impact the experience had on you and your sense of connection and unity that you bring that into your daily lives and use it to strengthen our community going forward. Likewise, do not wait for an event or occasion to give gratitude and respect to our first responders who keep us safe — honor and appreciate them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Look what heart can do. Look what we can do. Let us go forward as a whole community and meet the challenges and opportunities that face us, together.
Corazón Healdsburg; Ari and Dawnelise Rosen, founders; Leticia Romero, executive director; Ariel Kelley, chair
Healdsburg
Oppose Arctic drilling
EDITOR: As a college student who wants to secure a safe and livable climate for future generations, I am angered that the Trump administration is moving to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Not only would doing so violate the habitat of countless wild species like caribou and migrating birds (who depend on the refuge as a safe place to raise their young), it also threatens our shared right to a healthy future climate.
We must decrease our dependence upon outdated and polluting fossil fuels like oil, which are exacerbating climate change thanks to their greenhouse gas emissions. And transitioning to renewable energy will provide a clean, climate-friendly alternative that creates thousands of jobs in the energy sector and moves us closer to clean energy independence.
Believe it or not, a dollar invested in the solar power industry creates about three times the jobs that a dollar invested in oil does. I urge our legislators to stand up for the breathtaking Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by opposing oil drilling exploration and instead supporting the transition to a sane and beneficial alternative, renewable energy. The fate of future generations rests here, now, in our hands.
Rebecca Canright
Sebastopol
ACLU chapter
EDITOR: Some of you have already “seen us around” at various local gatherings, rallies and at the farmers’ market, but we wanted to take this opportunity to formally introduce the Northern Sonoma County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. For almost 100 years, the ACLU has been working to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. We are excited about the growth of the ACLU. We sense and wish to join a growing grassroots concern for preserving the rule of law and protecting civil liberties for all Americans.
We hope to be active and effective in our Healdsburg area — and farther afield as well, as the number of active volunteers will permit. We are currently concentrating on tabling at various locations around town, with the two-fold objective of introducing our chapter to the community and of surveying community opinion on a variety of issues. The survey results may allow us to focus on issues of particular concern to our community.
On our calendar are a chapter meeting, speaker, and election in January and a community forum in the spring for candidates campaigning for county sheriff. The public is welcome to both. For inquiries and volunteering, contact us at
pa*************@sb*******.net
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Yours for an America whose values we can be proud of,
Dave Henderson, Patty Morandi, Clay Miller,
Mona Ashbaugh, Michèle St. Clair
Healdsburg
Love this town
EDITOR: Many people know Singletree Café is experiencing difficult times because of the roundabout construction. But that isn’t stopping owners Nanci Van Praag and Dolores Rodriguez from opening their hearts and their restaurant to the Healdsburg community. During the North Bay fires they gave free meals for three weeks to fire evacuees and victims, and also to first responders.
On Thanksgiving Day, from noon to 3 p.m., they are providing free meals and non-alcoholic beverages to anyone who wants to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all the fixins.’ You can dine in or take the meal to go.
Fincher’s Auto Service heard what Singletree was planning, and not only jumped in with a financial contribution, but the entire Fincher family plans to volunteer that day. When I found out all seven of Singletree’s employees are donating their time and effort to put this community meal on, that’s when I started getting real weepy. Damn, I love this town.
Gina Riner
Healdsburg
