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[Photo above: Sabina Frison and family]

On Saturday, May 6th, it was Mila’s  8th birthday [Sabina’s daughter]. Mila, an active young citizen, wanted to do something special for her birthday so the family decided to join in the 9^th Annual Mackenzie’s Beach Clean Up Project.

[Photo above: Sabina’s 8 year old daughter]

[Photo above of Sabina’s daughter and son]

MacKenzie Beach Clean Up Project is a wonderful local organization that brings the Milford community together every year to make the beautiful beaches even more so! And, though it feels like spring will never arrive,  our local beaches need to still be prepared for the summer season.

The Frison family spent all morning cleaning Silver Sands Beach in Milford just few miles from their home. Derek and Mila worked surprisingly hard, while Stevie was chasing seagulls. It was a fun and rewarding experience for all as they helped to remove piles of garbage, debris, hung out with friends and neighbors, and also enjoyed free ice cream!

[By Sabina Frison]

 

On April 26^th, CVI employees from Doylestown volunteered their time with Fisherman’s Mark, an organization that seeks out fresh food whenever possible so they can offer healthy options, along with nonperishable food, to those in need. Cassie Galster reached out to the organization and coordinated the activity.

Together, the team unloaded a food truck for the organization’s food pantry. The delivery included pantry items like pasta, canned foods and cereal, as well as household items. The team also unloaded a shipment of fresh milk and eggs which will be valuable to the pantry.

Brent Alwood, Justin Bowers, Evan O’Donnell, Tim Brooks and Cassie Galster quickly unpacked the truck and organized the items on the shelves. Food with a longer shelf life and food in surplus, was stored away to be used in the weeks to come. The team at Fisherman’s Mark tries to manage this process in the most efficient way so no donation goes to waste.

Since the group finished their task early, the team went outside to help clear off the back deck which was going to be getting a fresh coat of paint in a few days. There were some old shelves that were falling apart and needed to be moved off the porch. As Fisherman’s Mark does not waste anything, they asked if we could help break up the shelves so they could be used for firewood. The guys had lots of fun with this task and released some steam tossing the shelves over the deck to break them apart.

[Photo above: Brent Alwood, Evan O’Donnell, and Justin Bowers helping break apart an old piece of furniture by throwing it off the deck!]

[Photo above: Tim Brooks and the guys using their muscles to break up shelves for firewood.]

Fisherman’s Mark’s mission is to support healthy living, educational and employment needs to those not effectively served by existing organizations. Since 1980, Fisherman’s Mark has been dedicated to strengthening the community by meeting the needs of an evolving population in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition to their food pantry, Fisherman’s Mark also provides other outreach programs to promote health and wellness for everyone.

The team had a great time and plans to help again in the future.

[By Cassie Galster]

On April 20^th Lisa Slen, Sabina Frison and Diane Frate volunteered at Person-to-Person for their National Association of Letter Carriers’ Food Drive.  This food drive benefits Person-to-Person in stocking their food pantry.

In four hours, they succeeded in bundling/tying/stapling fliers to over 6000 brown grocery bags. They counted and tied more than 60 bundles of 100 bags each.

The Letter Carriers leave a grocery bag in each residence’s mail box, attached with the flyer suggesting groceries the Food Pantry needs.  On May 13^th, the groceries are picked up by the carriers.

Last year, P2P provided clients with groceries for 248,010 meals!  The Darien CVI Team is aiming to exceed this!

[by Diane Frate]

On April 19th, sixteen CVI employees – Elena Aranda, Terri Yurkovich, Nina Litvinchuk, Joe Elquez, Kelly Wong, Francisco Ramirez, Jaime Farrar, Mary Rhoades, Steve Jones, Justin Barry, Anthony Reta, Meghan Peddicord, Christian Stephens, Dominic Marquez and Charlotte Kobayashi, volunteered at the Pleasanton Ktotal AH facility.

The Bay Area team packed 6480 meals in 1.5 hours; the highest number of meals packed by CVI team in a session. Total meals packed in 2017 is 31,480 – 14, 000 at Kick Off, 11,000 on March 18th in Corte Madera plus 6480.

Here is the team taking a short break:

[Photo above: from left to right: Nina, Joe E, Jaime, Katie, KAH volunteer, Meghan, Kelly, and Elena]

[Photo above: left to right- Mary, Christian, Anthony, Joe E, Francisco, and Terri]

 

Watch for fundraising for KAH coming up soon, in conjunction with cross country bicycle ride by Hugh Bishop.

[By Charlotte Kobayashi]

 

Fabiana LaBauve and Leela Newman joined Store to Door on April 5th to grocery shop for 90+ homebound seniors and people with disabilities and provide them with the groceries, prescription medications, and household items they need.

Grocery shopping is a familiar errand for most people, but many Portland residents are too frail to shop for themselves and rely on Store to Door to provide them with their weekly groceries. Besides providing direct service, Store to Door volunteers interact personally with clients. The agency is in the unique position of having weekly phone contact and visits to the homes of people who often live isolated lives, providing them with much-needed service and support.

[By Leela Newman]

 

March 8th set the beginning stages to support music in elementary schools – especially providing and teaching 4th and 5th graders to learn to play the Ukulele.

Narada Michael Walden’s foundation provided the instruments and Corporate Visions to raise funds for “Teach the Teacher Ukulele Program” to begin later in 2017.

See photo above of kids from San Pedro Elementary in San Rafael after playing “Can’t Stop that Feeling in My Bones ” by Justin Timberlake. Narada Michael Walden accompanied with drums. Learn more about Narada’s foundation: www.naradamichaelwaldenfoundation.com

[By Charlotte Kobayashi}

[Photo left to right: Laura Vollbrecht, Michelina Jones, Mary Pacell]

The CVI team in Doylestown and videographer, Brad Magnus,  generously donated their time and efforts to make a video highlighting a concept for a high school life skills/education program for low income students called Ready, Set, Roll (RSR). RSR is in the planning stage. It needs grants and funding, thus the need for a video explaining the concept for the program in order to run focus groups and reach out to potential donors to fund it. RSR is intended to be an extension of an existing program: Willowbrook Corner, which currently serves children in grades K-8th.

In recent years, the Willowbrook Corner Task Force has become increasingly aware of the need for a high school program that would encourage students to think beyond high school and provide the opportunity for students to have post-secondary choices. This will be accomplished by offering assistance, not only with school work/grades, but also helping students develop interpersonal skills, and provide opportunity and exposure to experiences and people they otherwise would not easily have access to.

“The video speaks for itself – it is dynamic, engaging and spot-on with what we are trying to convey, both to the students we serve and to our donors to help fund the program.
Thank all of you who worked on this project, the entire creative team from Mary Pacell, Laura Vollbrecht, Justin Barry, Brad Magnus [videographer] .  They took what was little more than a loose outline, focus group questions and a video created by high school volunteers as background, and turned it into something we could never have imagined!

This is the video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/emgsndbbfkaqgfr/ReadySetRoll-final-cut.mp4?dl=0

We would not be where we are today in making this very important program a reality without the generous help and support of CVI – we are beyond appreciative. Abundant thanks to a company who shares its people, time, talents and resources to benefit the lives of others!”

By Matt and Alyssa Guido

[Photo above: left to right: Tom and Patti Goepfert; Francisco Ramirez, Charlotte Kobayashi, Teresa and Peter Kwan]

On Saturday, March 18, 2017, Corporate Visions Larkspur Office – Teresa Kwan and Peter her husband, Francisco Ramirez and Charlotte Kobayashi, along with 3 other CVI friends, helped San Francisco Rotary pack 11,000 meals to be shipped to the Philippines.

The event was held at Redwood High School gymnasium, sponsored by SF Rotary, the organizer, Ron Gin, who committed to have 100 packers for one and a half hours.

Additionally, CVI invited Laurel Botsford to partner with SF Rotary to share information on Sex Trafficking, the second highest, illegal industry throughout the world. All of California, Denver and Atlanta are some of the hot spots in the United States and Laurel was able to make additional connections with individuals to collaborate with them going forward. It is an extremely serious problem, globally, where young gals and some boys, ages 12-14, are being coerced to enter the world of underground slavery.

[Photo below left to right: Peter Kwan, Francisco, Charlotte, Ron Gin of SF Rotary, Teresa and Laurel Botsford of SharedHope-Sex Trafficking]

[Photo below: Laurel Botsford in white packing, to her right is Patti Goepfert CVI guest]

The reward after packing 11,000 meals was a nice barbecue lunch which the team enjoyed while having extended conversation with Laurel Botsford at her informational table.

For more information on this highly sensitive topic, please refer to the film Chosen [plus].

[Below photo left is Laurel Botsford, right is Charlotte]

For more information on KAH and their schedule, please go to www.kahbayarea.org or call: 925-400-7201

[By Charlotte Kobayashi]

[Photo above left to right: Molly Schmidt CVNL; Sue Roberts NAMI; Jo Ann Haseltine of Marin Village; Charlotte Kobayashi CVI; and Katelyn Willoughby CVNL]

Members from three organizations attended the workshop to help team leaders for the Bay Area Human Race to create a compelling one-minute messages to attract individuals and companies to take part in fundraising for this Bay Area Human Race. This walk, run, or dog walk takes place on the Marin County Civic Center grounds, circling around the duck and geese pond, with music groups strategically placed on the side of the walking/running path.

Corporate Visions, Inc. will be partnering with San Rafael Elks Lodge 1108 to raise funds for mutually agreed causes i.e. music and music education in elementary schools and two other areas of interest to be finalized in the next few weeks. Selection of causes to fund will fall in line with CVI’s Power Foundation mission — which is to support health, music education and well being of youth & adults.
{By Charlotte Kobayashi]

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, on February 13, 2017, Roxanna Yuen in Hong Kong joined an outdoor activity with Fu Hong Society (an organization serving people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities or those with autism).
The group went to the famous “Wishing Tree”. Legend has it that if someone gets a bundle of bright red papers caught in its branches, they will be granted a wish. We wrote our wishes on red paper “josses”, the josses are then bundled and tied onto oranges with pieces of string before being thrown onto the Tree. We made a wish to everyone for healthy and happy Year of Rooster.
A student was assigned to Roxanna who is unable to walk and unable to communicate. During the trip, Roxanna sat next to her and took care of her all the way. They had lunch with games and a dance performance. It was a fun day for all.

[By Roxanna Yuen]