- Featured Project: Free Student Field Trips to CanDo's Garden — Sign Up Now!
- Napa Food Project needs YOU — and it's easier than you think!
- Give!Guide's 14th Season Is Off to a Flying Start
- Inspiring Inclusion: Disability Pride Month
- Spotlight on Local Nonprofits
- Highlights from CanDo's Community Calendar
- Quick Tip: Prepare for Napa's Peak Fire Season
- Bits & Pieces: The Hatt Building & Napa's Historic Mill
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Teachers, Dig In!
Free Student Field Trips to CanDo's Garden — Sign Up Now!
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In June’s CanDo Connection we told you about the educational field trips to CanDo’s Garden for the Food Bank that were organized by volunteer Glenn Lustig this spring. 90+ students came to dig, plant, observe, and learn— and all came away with a new understanding of the science of growing plants.
Since we began the trips in 2022, 16 lucky classrooms of students from K-12th grade have visited our garden with their teachers and parents. They have picked beans, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, and more; they have planted, composted, irrigated, fertilized, and learned about pollination, photosynthesis, mulch, monarch butterflies, gophers, and food insecurity. Probably the most popular activity is the Taste Test, where they get to try out the deliciousness of the products we grow, maybe discovering that they do like cucumbers, after all!
Teachers must apply for the trips, which are approved on a first-come, first-served basis. We finance transportation and substitutes (if needed) through a generous grant from the Zunin Family Trust. CanDo’s garden team looks forward to hosting more classroom field trips in the Fall of 2026/Spring 2027. Interested teachers should get their names on our waiting list by emailing info@nvcando.org — the sooner the better!
| | Napa Food Project needs YOU — and it's easier than you think! | |
The need for food donations is growing, and we're looking for more Neighborhood Coordinators to help meet it. Here's the secret: this isn't a huge commitment. You canvass your neighbors or coworkers, sign a few of them up as Food Donors, then coordinate pickup just 6 Saturdays a year (second Saturday of every even month). That's it!
You'll knock on doors, share why the Napa Food Project matters, hand out some nifty green donation bags, and watch your neighborhood come together around something good. Most people say yes right away — turns out folks want an easy way to give back.
Curious what it's like? Come to our orientation session and we'll walk you through everything:
📅 Tuesday, July 21 at 6:00 PM
Bring your questions, bring a friend, and help us build a stronger, more connected Napa. 💚
RSVP or ask questions: napafoodproject@nvcando.org
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Give!Guide's 14th Season Is Off to a Flying Start
~ by Nancy Fireman, G!G Coordinator
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CanDo's 2026 Give!Guide is off to a wonderful start! Approximately 150 nonprofit representatives attended this year’s orientation meeting, and many have submitted applications to participate in the upcoming Guide.
During July, our Application Committee—composed of dedicated Give!Guide team members and community volunteers—will carefully review each application. On August 3, nonprofits will be notified if they have been selected to participate in this year’s Give!Guide.
The enthusiasm and commitment shown by our nonprofit community is truly inspiring. We are excited to kick off our 14th Give!Guide season and look forward to working together to make an even greater impact. With the incredible support of our donors, sponsors, volunteers, and participating nonprofits, we’re hopeful that 2026 will be another record-breaking year for giving in Napa Valley.
More info: candogiveguide.org
| | | | You can volunteer for one of our dynamic projects, even for just an hour or two, or help one of the many local organizations we support. Each individual action connects to others. Together, we‘re making our Valley and world better. | | |
Disability Pride Month commemorates the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. It honors the history, culture, and achievements of the disability community while challenging outdated stigmas and promoting accessibility.
One interesting and little-known fact is that the official Disability Pride Flag was collaboratively redesigned after the original version's high contrast lightning bolt design accidentally triggered visually induced seizures.
The updated version, designed by Ann Magill, a writer with cerebral palsy, features straightened parallel stripes and muted colors to protect users with photosensitive epilepsy and red-green colorblindness. The flag is entirely in the public domain, representing the community's spirit of collaboration.
Each color on the flag symbolizes a different aspect of the disability experience:
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Red: Physical disabilities
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Gold: Neurodiversity
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White: Invisible and undiagnosed disabilities
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Blue: Emotional and psychiatric disabilities
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Green: Sensory disabilities
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Black Background: Mourns victims of ableist violence and inaccessibility
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Napa’s Better Together Ball: An Inclusive, Disability-Friendly Prom Event
Hosted by Napa is Better Together, a Napa nonprofit whose primary purpose is to hold community events promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities, the Better Together Ball was held on Feb. 19, 2026, at Justin-Siena. It’s one of the highlights of the year!
To volunteer or participate, you can sign up through their Napa Valley is Better Together Facebook Page or Napa Valley is Better Together Instagram.
| | Napa Resources for People with Disabilities | | Did we forget something? Let us know at info@nvcando.org | | More Opportunities to Support Our Community | | |
Volunteer Opportunities & Events to Support Local Nonprofit Groups
Tell 'em you heard about it through CanDo!
| | If you represent a local nonprofit, you may submit a COMMUNITY EVENT or VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY by completing our online form. | | Your event will be posted to the CanDo website upon receipt and will be published in the next newsletter, published the first Tuesday of every month. | | |
Flyer or image is required and must be sent as a jpg or png (NOT PDF).
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 6PM on the Sunday prior to the publication day.
| | Looking for Local Volunteer Opportunities? | | |
Local community members can connect with the causes they are passionate about.
Go to VolunteerNow.org and type in Napa or your zip code.
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Explore volunteer, event, and action listings to discover ways to make a positive impact in your community.
Go to Idealist.org and type in Napa or your zip code.
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Highlights from CanDo's Community Calendar, July 14 - August 4
Please note: we are not responsible for errors in these listings. We take this information directly from promotional websites, usually the sponsoring site.
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Quick Tip
Prepare for Napa's Peak Fire Season
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July marks the start of Napa Valley's highest wildfire-risk period. CAL FIRE reports that Northern California wildfire activity is trending above normal this year, and local agencies are urging residents to take simple preparedness steps now.
Helpful Resources
The Napa Valley Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) develops and enhances partnerships for communication, coordination & collaboration amongst the whole community including non-profit & faith-based organizations, government agencies, and the private sector during all phases of disaster.
Give your household the best chance of surviving a wildfire by being ready to go and evacuating early. Being ready to go also means knowing when to evacuate and what to do if you become trapped.
Prepare yourself, your family, your property and your pets for evacuation.
Creating defensible space helps slow fire spread, reduces ember ignition risk, and gives firefighters a safer area to defend your property.
| | | The Hatt Building & Napa's Historic Mill — Bricks from the River that Built a City | | |
At the end of Main Street in downtown Napa stands the Hatt Building, the oldest surviving industrial structure in the city. Built in 1884 by German immigrant and river captain Albert Hatt, its distinctive red bricks were made from clay dredged directly from the Napa River.
Hatt purchased the riverfront property from Napa founder William H. Coombs for just $1 and operated a bustling shipping and supply business serving local vineyards. The building's second floor even housed a popular skating rink that entertained Napa families until 1930.
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In 1912, the Keig family transformed the site into the Napa Milling Company, which operated for decades before the property fell into disuse. A major restoration in the 1990s revived the complex as today's Historic Napa Mill, now home to the Napa River Inn, shops, restaurants, and a spa.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1977, the Hatt Building remains one of the last links to Napa's once-busy industrial waterfront.
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PO Box 855
Napa, CA 94559
Email: info@nvcando.org
Phone: (707) 225-8942
Tax ID: 46-2670379
| | | | New to CanDo? Want to receive this nifty eNewsletter? It comes out bright and early the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month, full of ways you can volunteer and connect with community. | | |
You Want to Help. We Make it Easy is a registered trademark of the Neighborhood Food Project. Used by permission.
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