HOBA Day and the Spirit of Volunteering together

How does it matter that on October 13th, I had beside me, in spirit, 900-odd fellow volunteers all across the Bay Area? Does it matter that they too worked on community projects, volunteering, like me, to feel powerful in that common "spirit" of volunteering? You bet, - it does matter.

These are times I ask myself why I do this - why be a part of HOBA, of LIFT and of the small but growing community of volunteers? Why am I trying to recruit more volunteers, spread HOBA's mission ? And for every creeping thought such as that, my true answer is HOBA helps me focus beyond myself.

I am glad to have this chance to meet with other like-minded people around me. In the Silicon-Valley, where the culture is so competitive and fast-paced, I love the chance to be able to pause and seek my core values. And to have an organization that supports that.

All right, on a glorious Saturday morning, my family (my husband, my two children and I) came to Palo Alto. Karen and Larry were project leaders for our "Save the Bay" project. More than fifty people slowly trickled down to the entrance. We had a feast of bagels, coffee cake and coffee spread out for us. We listened to a brief talk about how our San Francisco Bay has changed over the last few decades.


Save the Bay project leader talking about "Is it a Bay or is it a river?"

We walked down a muddy trail, adjoining a golf-course. On one side, the grass was green and lush and occasionally, I could hear the sound of golf balls "putting". On the other side of the trail, where we walked, we could see desert-like vegetation. I had never seen the Bay in such close quarters. Some mallard duck families floated down the water.

About a quarter mile into our trail, our area of interest stood before us. We were given instructions on how to plant native seedlings, weed and mulch. The next hour or so was silent activity. For me, personally, it was a chance to feel that I wasn't sitting on my couch and watching "The Inconvenient Truth". I was doing, thanks to HOBA, something about it.

Mission accomplished by the LiveOps and Karen's teams!

Meanwhile Holly's Team Nitty Gritty and the Tiffany's Accenture team worked at KIPP Heartwood Academy, a charter public school in San Jose.

Tiffany has the vision that I always admire. She is able to state facts so clearly and here they are for all of you to see:
90% of the students at KIPP are first in their family to graduate/attend college. HOBA's volunteer team helped them by
- Repainting school multipurpose room with an educational-theme
- Creating a formal school library by repainting, building shelves, and reorganizing books
- Repainting boys and girls restrooms
- Organizing music building instruments.

The existing library was a crowded portion of a classroom.
Library before and after


The team started by pulling everything off the wall. Then they created sections of books based on genre and reading level. See Holly having a ton of fun sorting through all of the books.

After the new shelves were put together, they went into hyper-speed and placed the books by category in their new locations. The library was much cleaner, easier to navigate, and more inviting for the students to come and explore.

Here is the entire Accenture team at KIPP. After painting, organizing and building, they are still in smiles ?!!!!!!!