Volunteers
Tine Gildersleeve - Volunteering for Common Ground is one of the many delights of living and playing in the abundance of this wonderful and generous community. There is something special about volunteering..., being 'a part of'..., being of service.... sharing the love of organic gardening. For me volunteering has become the gateway to an effortless flow of giving and receiving - of abundance! I appreciate the opportunities available to assist with and attend valuable and interesting workshops such as the 'Gardening is for the Birds', 'Grey Water Systems, 'Garden Based Herbalism' - and so many more coming up! I'm very happy to be part of the Edible Landscape Tour committee, and I'm looking forward to seeing lots and lots of you on your bikes this coming August 1st!! It's organic stone soup, rich with all the delicious and nutritious flavors and spices of everyone here. I am grateful to all my fellow travelers along the path. (Especially Patricia's beaming good vibes!) Good times, Peace, Tine
Sergey Tsybanov - you can see him here Saturday afternoons as he
helps with whatever is happening on those busy days to make
the center run more harmoniously. For many years, he updates our website, helps with
accounting, loads fertilizer bags, and receives orders. He has planted tree collards and
placed bare root strawberries on display. He makes our drinking water runs, as well gifting our plants with
their Saturday waterings. He is our center's treasure.
Darcie Vasquez - Last September I started an internship at Common Ground which fulfilled credits for my school, the Academy of Art University. I chose Common Ground, because I whole-heartedly
believe in its mission statement and admire its goal of bringing together and educating a community. Being a fashion major with an emphasis in visual merchandising and store display, I was taken by the challenge of working in a non-conventional retail space. Common Ground has a charm that I did not want to compromise, but I also wanted to make the store more fluid and shoppable.
For four months I had the privilege of working with the staff and volunteers
at Common Ground and coordinating displays that highlight the high-quality garden products and informative literature that it is known for. I was able to work on my merchandising skills, develop effective display solutions, and flex my creative muscle. I will greatly miss their staff, customers, and community that I was surrounded by.
Kristen Barta - As an avid container gardener, I have had
the joy of growing several varieties of herbs and flowers to brighten the balconies of the apartments I've lived in over the years. As a culinary school grad and enthusiastic home chef, I fi nd having fresh herbs on hand makes me more creative in the kitchen. A sprig of fresh rosemary, oregano, or thyme is only a few steps away! I've always loved the experience of nurturing green life, and finding Common Ground has been one of the best things that has happened for me this past year. My marketing and computer skills are being put to good use, and I love venturing deeper into the world of organic gardening. Everyday here is an inspiration, and I always take away new ideas
and plans for the next container. I'm thinking sage, catnip, and some patio
tomatoes!
Volunteer Spotlight: Theresa Fremon
A few years back, while in an Environmental Biology course, I missed an assignment on the syllabus, and was left scrambling for extra credit. Luckily after joining members of the green community for a few Saturdays of habitat restoration, their optimism and encouragement renewed my childhood passion for the environment! Though I was about to graduate with a degree in psychology, I dreamed of studying sustainability in graduate school. My more rational side, however, cautioned me not to apply on a whim; it was hard enough to choose a school and career path in a field I was familiar with. The thought of jumping into this vast, budding environmental field left me feeling a bit petrified.
As I researched, it became clear Common Ground stood out as a pioneer and leader in the Environmental Community, and I eagerly applied to volunteer. My time at CG has been a magnificent introduction to the green community, but working with Patricia, River, and Don is a privilege which has taught me more than I anticipated. It is imperative to value efficiency, team work, education, conservation, and sustainability as well as making time to "smell the flowers," and all that that entails. I also think that to seek out and cultivate an environment, at work and home, like Common Ground, is a priority I cannot do without!
Bob Niederman: when Patricia asked me to write about being a "volunteer" at Common Ground I was surprised. "I'm NOT a volunteer!" I thought. Volunteers are things that show up unwanted in the garden. They just come up by themselves in the wrong place. And that's not at all how I feel! I feel like I'm in exactly the right place because what I do fits so perfectly with what I want to happen in the world, in this community, and on my little part of it, my Palo Alto lot. So I don't feel like a volunteer at all. Besides that, a volunteer suggests that a person is doing something he or she doesn't particularly want to do but they are doing it anyway, because they committed themselves to do it during some weak moment when attention lapsed. This is also not how I feel. I feel like what Common Ground does is live up to its motto: "Creating Abundance in Community." And that's what I want to do too! Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I think, "How can I create abundance in my life?" The best answer for me is gardening. There is nothing like planting lettuce seeds or seedlings, tending to them, watching over them as they become a radiant green glistening in sunlight, or seeing the yellow and orange tulips sprout and bloom right in front of you! This is magic.
I love working with Patricia and the Common Ground Steering Committee to spread the word about gardening. I believe that if we all become a little closer to the earth, if we each grew a few more things in our own yards that we ate and fed to our children, we would feel more like we belonged exactly where we are. We would want to care more for the earth that brings us so much. And this is what Common Ground teaches and helps everyone in the community to understand.
Glenda Jones designs and lays out our
newsletter and class schedule. She patiently makes
changes, and incorporates her fun artwork into the
newsletter. We love Glenda!
Gerard Lum, our wonderful webmaster, who,
magically and mysteriously, beautifies and organizes
our website! He spends hours upon hours making the
site user-friendly to new visitors as well as our regulars.
We can depend on Michelle Perkowski like we depend on
the sun coming up every day! She arrives every Thursday
morning and stays till 3pm and does what ever needs to be
done. She cleans, makes envelopes out of old calendars, calls
removes our name from mailing lists and does We adore
Michelle.
Maryanne Romanowski is starting us out
on Quickbooks accounting software to facilitate our
bookkeeping and ease co-ordination with other Ecology Action
functional areas. Her help is instrumental in streamlining
the business of Common Ground.
Collin Stone designs beautiful
flyers to advertise our Saturday classes. Collins colorful,
beautiful eye-catching flyers are each a piece of work on
their own. They help spread the news about our educational
programs. He makes the MOST gorgeous gardening class flyers
you have ever and will ever see. They are collectors items
for the teachers and us. We appreciate Collin very very
much.
Rich Tucker is our jack-of-all trades. Whether it's
securing the tomato cage display, or installing back-up power
supplies for our computer, he's our man, and we're thankful
to have him.
Judith Jacoby works part-time at the
store, taking care of the plants, ringing in sales, answering the phone
and helping customers, and in general doing anything and everything
that needs to be done. Judith comes to us with a background in
acupuncture, a special fondess for medicinal herbs, and a degree in
holistic health and applied ecology.
Evelyn Kmetovic gives great attention to detail. She graciously helps when needed on short notice at our center. She is very good with accounting procedures. She likes to represent Common Ground at outreach events. We like to call upon Evelyn when we have mailing parties.
Arnie Cornez hails from Portola
Valley and helps out on a variety of projects. He has
collected garden apprentices from the airport headed for our
research garden in Willits. Arnie offered to buy paint and
paint our lattice work on the fence. We had a 2 day painting
party. You may have noticed the beautiful lovely green color
that spiffs up the fence? He also helps us move those heavy
fertilizers from back stock to front stock! Thank YOU
Arnie.
Ann
Ercolani balances our books (thank goodness) She is a
CPA and likes to exercise and stay fit. She is the organizer
for her family. Imagine volunteering ...doing what you
normally get paid for!! That is what our beloved Anne does.
She is articulate, friendly and efficient...month in and
month out!!
Bob Griffin keeps our center, storage area, and
display areas safe and in good shape. His maintenance skills
and talents are a valuable contribution to Common Ground.
You may notice our rolling display cart that Bob made.
Susie Mader has been volunteering with Common
Ground since the beginning of Common Ground. Her
contributions include landscape design, and coordinating
with many local businesses for their contributions to our
Silent Auction. She also teaches very popular container
gardening and sustainable landscaping classes with us.
Heather Williams comes in two days a week and does
some artwork, takes care of our plants, and does various
other tasks as needed.
Irina Yegorova - you can see her Thursday at the
main desk doing much-needed and appreciated administrative
assistance. She is very fast and accurate.
And a special thanks to:
Dick Clark, designed the wonderful planting calendars that so many people used as a reference for what to plant when in the Bay Area. His excellent design sense made these calendars easy to read and use.
Robert Nissenbaum and his cute puppy Simba for leading the collaboration with Whole Foods in Palo Alto. Common Ground is selected as the Community Support/5% Day recipient, on Thursday, September 21, 2006. Three cheers for Robert!
A big cheer
for other volunteers, past and present, we
love you! You keep us going strong.
-> See
Photos of all of them in action.
Chuck McDonnell, William Mutch, Phillip Donnell, Pria Graves, Patricia St. John, Mike
Shannon, Preeva Tramiel, Sharon Pfaender, Frank Niccoli,
Karen Wheeler, Angela Gordon, Debbie Mytels, Sandy Gordon,
Craig Burns, Mike Kupfer, Ian and Carol Kiparsky, Carol
Vesecky, Sunia Yang, Lenore Chimes, Amy
Morris, Lea Feinstein, Mark Georgia, Susan Stansbury, and the
current regular crew.