Blog Updates

Two Larkspur Office Corporate Visions expert gardeners, Geoff Kinnaird and Charlotte Kobayashi, spend an afternoon at The Redwoods in early August…

[Fred Mulheim, Garden Coordinator, Charlotte, Geoff with Resident]

The Redwoods is retirement community, established in 1972, known for their beautiful campus, just a mile outside of the hub of downtown Mill Valley. This diverse community of residents lead very active physical and intellectual lives, supported by staff and embraced by 400-plus core of volunteers.
Volunteers are frequently asked to help in the garden area to work with the physically challenging tasks such as digging, weeding, moving soil, etc. Geoff spent 3 hours digging out an area to place layers of gravel for easy access of garden tools, while Charlotte helped to level out the gravel with a hoe for a segment of her time. [see photo] She also helped to remove invasive weeds in their herb garden to make room for new herbs to be planted by the residents.

The garden has 4 sections – fruits such as apples, pears, tangerines, plums, persimmons, and lemons. Vegetables include squash, lettuce, tomatoes, summer kale, pumpkins plus a section with a variety of herbs. Flowers include blue bachelor buttons, cosmos, sunflower, star gazers, roses, dahlias, and shasta daisies. Here are some of the lovely flowers…

The Redwoods welcomes volunteers to join in before the winter season arrives…

[Photo of two other volunteers on the left with Gabriel Barkin [beard] and Leela Newman on the far right]

Stone Soup of Marin in Northern California is a loosely-tied group of friends and Facebook connections; most of the people involved don’t know too many of the other folks; it is just a real grass-roots network thing. Each month, a volunteer crew of about 12-15 Stone Soup people (whomever shows up that month) prepare a gourmet, “home-cooked” meal, in a fully-stocked professional kitchen, for 60+ folks at Marin County’s only emergency adult homeless shelter. The folks at the Mill Street Shelter get a lot of frozen Costco lasagna (and the like) donated throughout the month – they don’t starve, but to counter the culinary boredom, it takes CVI volunteers like Leela Newman and Gabriel Barkin to provide meals that offer big love, positive attention, and especially a full dose of DIGNITY. (And of course, flavor! Oh, and nutrition too.)

Stone Soup provides meals that are served at the Mill Street Shelter in San Rafael, California on the first Thursday of each month. Volunteers help to cook the night before, which is a Wednesday, of each month – this was on July 31st, 2013. (FYI and full disclosure: Gabe and his wife, Janna, help to organize and coordinate the crew every other month, swapping off with the Stone Soup Marin founders.)

Interested in a turn at the stove? It’s fun, free, you get a meal, and you might learn some cool cooking tips. And it also is for a REALLY great cause – there’s nothing more awesome than feeding people!

You may read more about Stone Soup of Marin: http://novato.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/stone-soup-marin-serves-the-needy. By Gabriel Barkin, an abbreviated version

And now, for a preview of the scrumptious gourmet dishes:

[Ben Crawford, Paul Hennessey and Beth Boone taking a short break from stuffing packets]

BayGroup’s [a division of Corporate Visions, Inc.] Beth Boone, Ben Crawford, and Paul Hennessey volunteered for the 51st Marin Century and Mt. Tam Double, a major cycling event which hosts over 3000 riders and supported by over 300 volunteers.

The proceeds from this event help support youth and community organizations, sports groups, senior citizens, and health advocacy organizations in the surrounding Bay Area.

The trio worked with a team of volunteers preparing registration packets to be mailed to the 3000 riders.The Century and Double Century riders greatly appreciate starting their ride (between 4-5am) without standing in a long registration line on event day. This is a vital step in making this one of the most popular rides in the Bay Area, which helps attract more riders and subsequently, raise more $$ for charity.

Beth coordinated the volunteer recruitment effort. In his follow up note to volunteers, Doug Henningsen, Chairman of the Marin Century, gave “Special thanks to Beth Boone for organizing the volunteers. ~ by Paul Hennessey and Beth Boone

[Full volunteer force for the evening at Mill Valley Community Center]

(Above photo: Jaime Farrar on far left with members of the Pleasanton Senior Center)

(Joe Terry with a few Senior Members)

Volunteering at the Pleasanton Senior Center went well! Tyler McDonald, Julie Dean-Lawrence, Joe Terry, Jaime Farrar, Korey Krueger, Nathan Parrott, all had an opportunity, during the last week in June, to serve lunches provided for the seniors, as well as served them coffee, entrees, desserts, etc. We really enjoyed chatting and joking with everyone as we served the lunch, and everyone was really appreciative for the help and support of this great cause!  Joe Elquez and Korey Krueger will be volunteering on Friday, July 5th.

During Joe’s and Jaime’s shift, they were celebrating one of the men’s birthday’s, which was fun- they had live music and sang  “Happy Birthday”  a few times. It was nice to be a part of his “party”. ~ Jaime Farrar

Ron D’Andrea, Executive Vice President who works out of the Connecticut Office, is a Board member of the Darien Land Trust.  Their mission is to preserve open space in Darien which is 98% built up.  Darien Land Trust owns, or has conservation easements on, almost 200 acres in our small town.  Our office is surrounded on three sides by a 50 acre park made of Selleck Woods and Dunlop Woods (which is Land Trust property.)

Part of our mission, as volunteers, was to remove invasive non native plants that choke out native plants that support beneficial birds and insects.

On June 11, 2013, members of the Darien, Connecticut office helped to remove ARTEMISIA  (sometimes called Mugwort ) from the butterfly meadow which is made up of milkwood and butterfly plants that attract butterflies etc.

Everyone worked hard, sweated, and was followed by lunch with Erik Petersen.  It was a great morning. (by Ron D’Andrea-June 12-2013)

[Left to right: Lisa Slen, Sabina Walters, Sibley Law, Ron D’Andrea, Stacy Kopald, and Diane Frate and Chris Filmer, Bill Van Loan from the Darien Land Trust)

Three Twins Organic Ice Cream is the best local ice cream outlet in Larkspur Landing, near Corporate Visions headquarters.  I chose this vendor as they donated over 500 scoops of ice cream for the annual ZeroBreast Cancer Dipsea 6 mile hike/run in September of 2012.

I arranged to sit outside during one of their busiest time on Sunday May 19th, which was from 2-4 pm. I sat outside with my ukulele and music book playing songs that parents and children would enjoy as they waited in line.

The first customer, a young gal, who came out of the shop smiling and looking around for the donor or a camera hidden somewhere. Others, stared at the clerk bewildered and a few placed tips in the tip jar. A mother with a 9 year old son was most vocal and expressive as she stomped out of the shop shouting, “This is amazing!” as her young son continued to enjoy his ice cream in a waffle cone.  They both hung around until they finished eating their ice cream, expecting to learn about the donor. I kept on playing the ukulele, acting as though nothing unusual was happening.

40 free scoops for ice cream were served which took about two hours.

It was a pleasure seeing the smiling faces, puzzled expressions and bringing joy to so many of their customers.

Charlotte Kobayashi – CVI Headquarters in Larkspur, CA

I was just thinking I needed to find a cool new charity to donate to.  Then out of the blue, someone from Wipro sent me a connection request on LinkedIn.  On his profile was info on a charity he volunteers for and rides his bike to raise money for.  http://www.holeinthewallgang.org/Page.aspx?pid=471 summer camps for kids with serious illnesses like cancer, hemophilia, etc.

Growing up I loved summer camps.  Meet new people, explore new hobbies, have fun and be a kid.  I can’t imagine not being able to go because of a disability or because I needed special medicines on a daily basis.  This camp makes it all possible for the very children who need a break from the painful lives they are living.  How awesome!

In little old Incline Village, there is one locally owned ice cream shop connected to a toy store with an old fashioned barber shop in the back.  Yep, you can get your hair cut and enjoy a cool treat.  Very strange, but the ice cream shop and toy store are popular among locals.  Spring has sprung early in Tahoe and 60 degree weather is almost like summer here.  Time for some ice cream!

Last week I tried to pay $100 for ice cream so the next however many people could have theirs for free.  The young high school girl behind the counter just couldn’t figure out how to do that and said she would need to ask her boss if that was ok.  Ha!  Even good deeds are hard to pull off sometimes….they are just so far out of the norm.

Yesterday I stopped back by the ice cream shop and the owner was in.  I was able to purchase $100 worth of ice cream and put a lot of smiles on kids (and adult) faces.  The message to customers was “someone bought your ice cream for you – have a great day and pay if forward!”

Our path is paved with more than good intentions.  At VHS we strive to act with integrity and honesty. Decisions are based on sound judgment and careful reasoning.  The mission of the Valley Humane Society is the prevention of cruelty to animals, the enforcement of animal cruelty laws, the relief of suffering among animals and the promotion of humane education. The facilitation of the adoption of the homeless animals that are seeking forever homes spreading community awareness of animal issues, and the prevention of pet overpopulation through spay and neuter programs.

Thank You Joe!!

The goal for the trip to Tully’s was to purchase a gift card for $100 and use it anonymously toward others as they walked In. When this Challenge was presented to the team, I hesitated a bit only because I wanted to do it, but not because I was mandated to. I wanted to WANT to do it. So in my rebellious way, I went to Tully’s and bought a $40.00 card. The first recipient of a free beverage was a gentleman who was very grateful and left a nice size tip in the jar for the employees. As people began to file in line, I wanted to give more, so I left my debit card and purchased another $60 gift card. IT WAS THE BEST 100.00 I’VE EVER SPENT. The woman who said that she was having a terrible day left with a smile on her face. The overwhelmed mom who said she just wanted to do something JUST FOR HERSELF today (I can relate) left feeling like she mattered a bit. The man who said “I didn’t think there were still people in the world like that” left with a different realization. Crazy Enough!!! I wanted to give even more! It was something about making someone smile that just did it for me. For the recipient, it only took $3 to make them smile. For me it was priceless.

IT GETS BETTER:

For every $10 spent on the card, a free drink is generated on the card. The gift just kept giving, I donated it to the store.

I will definitely do this again.

Michelle White