CPOM Kendra here: “I want to make it abundantly clear we are not writing this page and it's contents to merely toot our own horn. We do want to acknowledge the Rotarians in our club who heard the call for help & showed up to do the work that was needed by our neighbors and community.
But also The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club's Board of Directors feels that transparency in what we do in our community, both during the good times and the bad is necessary.
Since the community at large donates to our efforts (both via direct donations for specific projects and with support of our fundraising events like the Beer Booth and Pickleball Tournament) for the work we do in "Y/OUR Community" we want to be very clear on the activities we do and support, both monetarily and via our physical labor/boots on the ground approach.”
Special Storm Cleanup Edition of The Hub
January 26, 2023
Date: Saturday, January 21, 2023
Location: Aptos Hills and Soquel Village
CPOM Kendra did a fabulous job organizing teams for our volunteer cleanup work. Unfortunately she out-organized the volunteer center which waited until late Friday-early Saturday to assign us and instead of cleaning up the beach or a creek 7 of us ended up at a private residence in the Aptos Hills owned by a 66 year old woman. Her driveway was flooded by a seasonal stream that dumped tons of mud and debris and moved her large wood she about 50 feet off its foundation. The driveway was passable and the rest of the work required a bulldozer, not shovels and wheelbarrows, but the stalwart Rotarians moved mud and debris to widen the path for an hour or so and achieved as much as we could by hand. Kendra has some before and after photos. Some irony in that the owner asked for assistance in part because of her age and Kendra was the only one of us who doesn't have an AARP card.
Our second job of the day that The Volunteer Center assigned to us was in Soquel, near the Soquel Creek and homes on Soquel Wharf Road that were flooded/mudded out.
Kendra, Eric and Bert volunteered shoveling out mud from the residences. The more mud we shoveled the more mud appeared!
Date: Sunday, January 22, 2023
Location: Capitola Village
Sunday our small but mighty group of 5 club members joined a swarm of volunteers to clean up Capitola Village and move mountains of washed ashore trees, limbs, fence posts, decking, and in general storm debris. The volunteer descended upon the chaos like an army of ants among huge amounts of interlinked pick up sticks. We filled a humorous "green organic" dumpster to the top. While this was a great accomplishment, looking at the beach there is still lots to be done. Watch for more information about the ongoing efforts that are needed and our opportunities to help.
The Volunteering Storm Clean Up Team are real Troopers! Everyone was very busy working this weekend. Thanks to all our Rotarians who gathered together to help the community, Kendra, Ken, Eric, Laura, Dr Art and Grandson Noah, Lowry, Kelly, Becky, Becky's Husband Ed, Julie, Nelson, Paul and Rotarian Bert, you guys rock!
CPOM Kendra again:
“At the January Board Meeting club our club has pledged $4000 to go directly to our Emergency Storm Fund, but one thing we have learned from living through the ‘89 quake and the‘95 Levee breach and the ‘98 El Niño, is that cleanup will be a marathon not a sprint.
The only stipulation the board put on the committed funds is that it needs to be spent on or in conjunction with a project where we Rotarians are “boots on the ground” involved, we will not just be cutting a check to another organization and hoping they use the funds for storm response.”
“At the January Board Meeting club our club has pledged $4000 to go directly to our Emergency Storm Fund, but one thing we have learned from living through the ‘89 quake and the‘95 Levee breach and the ‘98 El Niño, is that cleanup will be a marathon not a sprint.
The only stipulation the board put on the committed funds is that it needs to be spent on or in conjunction with a project where we Rotarians are “boots on the ground” involved, we will not just be cutting a check to another organization and hoping they use the funds for storm response.”
March 2023 Edit:
If you like the work we are doing on the ground here in Santa Cruz County and want to support us by adding to our Storm Fund, you can donate via PayPal at this link:
or via Venmo or PayPal through this QR code. (On Venmo please put with the payment that you want the money added to our Storm or Flood Relief fund.)