- Companions in CanDo's Garden: Plants and People
- Upcoming Pro-Inclusion Napa Event/Poster Display
- June 14 is CanDo's Next Napa Food Project Collection Day
- News from 🌸 FLOWER POWER 🌺
- Inspiring Inclusion: Gay Pride
- Spotlight on Local Nonprofits
- Highlights from CanDo's Community Calendar
- Compost Corner: Napa Recycling Launches New Glass Collection Program
- Quick Tip: CANV Coffee – Brewing Community, One Cup at a Time
- Bits & Pieces: Behold! 2024’s Most Stunning Space Photos
- Words Matter
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Featured Project
Companions in CanDo's Garden: Plants and People
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We will again plant green onions in the late summer along with broccoli. Broccoli is known to have aphid issues and we can expect the onions will curb this and we will have a beautiful and healthy crop to give to our food bank.
It is important that we keep both our Earth and the people that need more fresh food in our community in our thoughts and plans as we plant and harvest.
You can help!
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If you ever have excess garden fruit or vegetables that you’d like to donate, call the CANV Food Pantry.
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If you have excess tree fruit (enough for several families), contact CanDo’s Gleaning Team.
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Interested in helping out at the garden on Mon., Wed. or Friday morning? Email Chris: chris@nvcando.org
| | Upcoming PIN Event/Poster Display | | |
CanDo's Pro Inclusion Napa’s goal is to transform Napa Valley into a place where everyone feels included, safe, and accepted in the community. The group acts in positive ways to remind the community that Napa County welcomes everyone and does not tolerate hateful rhetoric about marginalized groups.
One of the ways the organization builds bridges of understanding is by inviting guests who are part of marginalized groups to speak at monthly meetings where they can educate members about their concerns and issues, and suggest ways the community can be more aware and inclusive. Guest speakers at have included Dr. Patricia Moonsammy, Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Napa Valley College; Muslim Imam Brother Anwar; JT Thompson, a professor from Sonoma State; and Esmerelda Gil, Director of Administration and Operations at Puertas Abiertas.
Additionally, the group facilitates the Positive Poster Project in various Napa Valley schools and within the community at large. The group asks community members to make posters focused on kindness, respect, and acceptance; we provide the posterboard and art supplies. Once done, they are gathered up and laminated into “quilts” that are then displayed on school campuses and other locations throughout the Valley, including in Mentis’ newly-opened campus on Hayes Street.
The City of Napa has recently invited us to bring a display of Positive Posters back to City Hall. You can see the exhibit from July 1 - August 15.
| | A display of Positive Posters will return to City Hall, July 1 - Aug 15. | Watch this brief video and find out what PIN is doing to promote respect, acceptance, and kindness for everyone in our community, and how you can help. | | |
Coming up: June 14 is CanDo's next Napa Food Project collection day!
Powered by passionate CanDo volunteers and their signature green bags, this simple yet impactful project makes a real difference, fighting hunger right here in our community. Supported by our Neighborhood Coordinators and Food Donors, Napa Food Project provides the Napa Food Bank with nonperishable food equivalent to over 60,000 meals every year.
Ready to help address food insecurity? Get involved today!
nvcando.org/food-project (sign up online)
email: napafoodproject@nvcando.org
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News from 🌸 FLOWER POWER 🌺*
Susan reports that she now has 5-6 regular volunteers who deliver donated flowers to her home and help her clean, revive and arrange the blooms. Another volunteer picks up all the leftover floral odds and ends, and composts them.
Recently Susan received 27 dozen roses! She has a special method for breathing new life into roses; after the treatment they are “good to go” for many more days.
Want to learn more or volunteer? Contact Susan: grapeheartknits@gmail.com
| A group of local Veterans and their families received bouquets from 🌸 FLOWER POWER 🌺 in honor of Memorial Day | *🌸 FLOWER POWER 🌺 isn’t a CanDo Project, but it is a spin-off of CanDo's Food Rescue Team. As such, we are supporting Volunteer Susan Blake as she accepts donated slightly over-the-hill flowers from local retailers, rehabs them in her home, and then gifts them to people and places all over Napa. We think this is a wonderful endeavor! | | |
Donated flowers arrive at Susan’s house
| Susan loads sunflowers into her cart. They were gifted to Farmers Market vendors. | | | | 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. | | |
Gay Pride
By Hannah Wallenbrock, CanDo’s Pro-Inclusion Napa
Napa Pride 2025 is here! For the entirety of June, Napans will celebrate queer joy, visibility, and resistance, including a full Day of Solidarity on June 14th in downtown Napa!
Festivities are made possible with support from the Napa Tourism Improvement District, Napa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and spearheaded by LGBTQ Connection. LGBTQ Connection is an initiative fueled by emerging leadership to fosters a healthier, more vibrantly diverse and inclusive community. Each year, LGBTQ Connection engages 3,500 LGBTQIA+ people, their families, the community at large, and 500 providers from local organizations across Northern California in training to increase the safety, visibility and well-being of queer Napa Valley residents.
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Napa’s Pride celebrations have evolved from backyard watch parties for the Academy Awards in the 1990s, to much larger events beginning in the 2000s that drew famous entertainers — including RuPaul and the Village People — and raised thousands of dollars for charities. In 2023, the Napa Queer Leaders Coalition stepped in to help organize future Pride events. The coalition held a community organizing meeting in March that drew three dozen LGBTQIA+ advocates from across Napa Valley, and created five years’ worth of Pride-related activities for the community to celebrate.
For a listing of this year’s Pride events across the Valley, click here.
Sources:
| | More Opportunities to Support Our Community | | |
Volunteer Opportunities & Events to Support Local Nonprofit Groups
Tell 'em you heard about it through CanDo!
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ONE BOOK NAPA
READ-ALONG
Sponsor: Napa Valley Writers' Conference
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DAY/DATE/TIME:
Thursday, June 7, 11:30 AM - 12:30PM
LOCATION: Decant Napa, 2999 Solano Avenue, Napa
FFI:
Email lorinarlock@gmail.com, or visit their website
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ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN MISSION FARM VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Sponsor: St. John's Lutheran and CANV Food Bank
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DAY/DATE/TIME:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Each week beginning June 2 , 9:30 - 11:30AM
LOCATION: St. John's Lutheran Church, 3521 Linda Vista Avenue, Napa
FFI:
Email revtbz@comcast.net or call 707.294.2033
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LIFE AND DEATH EXPLORATIONS WITH JONI DITTRICH, PH.D
Sponsor: OmaiGrace/NVUU Death Positive Event Series
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DAY/DATE/TIME:
Thursday, June 5, 6-7:30PM
LOCATION: Napa Valley Unitarian Universalists, 1625 Salvador Avenue, Napa
FFI:
Email anne.jungerman@gmail.com, call 707.738.6271or visit their website
| | | If you represent a local nonprofit, you may submit a SPOTLIGHT EVENT or VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY by completing our online form. | | Space permitting, posts run up to three weeks prior to your event. Flyer or image is required and must be sent as a jpg. | |
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sunday, 6PM for the following Tuesday's edition.
FFI: Learn more and submit your event here.
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Looking for Local Volunteer Opportunities?
VolunteerNow.org, maintained by the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership (CVNL) connects local community members with the causes they are passionate about.
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Upcoming Events, Volunteer Opportunities, and Other Ways to Support Our Local Nonprofits | | | |
Compost Corner
Napa Recycling provides answers to your questions about recycling, composting, and the like.
Napa Recycling & Waste Services in March was awarded $913,700 from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, CalRecycle, to start up a pilot collection program that the company hopes will provide a cleaner stream of source-separated glass for local end markets.
| | | | Napa Recycling will begin collecting glass separate from other single-stream recyclables at restaurants and other businesses, in a pilot project aimed at increasing the quality and value of its marketed glass. Read more here. | | | |
Quick Tip
CANV Coffee – Brewing Community, One Cup at a Time
We think this is a brilliant way to support Community Action Napa Valley, with whom CanDo partners on a number of important projects.
Experience the rich heritage and unwavering spirit of Napa Valley with CANV Coffee, a blend crafted for those who believe in the power of community.
This specialty roast isn’t just about bold flavors—it’s about making a difference. With every pound purchased, 20 meals are provided to those in need through the Napa Food Bank and Meals on Wheels programs.
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Bits & Pieces
Behold! 2024’s Most Stunning Space Photos
From Scientific American, Dec. 19, 2024
See the year’s most striking images from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, NASA’s Mars rover and the best sky watching on offer.
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Everyone needs to be in. Being included is a basic human need.
- Peter Bates
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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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