In this Week's Newsletter | |
- Inspiring Inclusion: October is Filipinx American History Month
-
Featured CanDo Project: Volunteers Dig CanDo’s Garden, Part 1
- Spotlight on Local Nonprofits
- Highlights from CanDo's Community Calendar
- Community News: Napa County COAD - Disaster Preparedness
- Quick Tip: City, County, and State Info in Multiple Languages
- Be an Informed Voter: Helpful Inof from the League of Women Voters of Napa County
- Bits & Pieces: Fat Bear Week 2024 dates are here!
| |
|
 | |
October is Filipinx American History Month.
Representing the second largest Asian American group in the United States, and the second largest ethnic group in California, this is a time for Napa to reflect upon and celebrate the history, contributions, and culture of our Filipinx American neighbors here in the valley.
In 1896, the Philippines began their fight for independence from Spain who originally colonized them. In 1898, their declaration of independence from Spain was not recognized, and instead, control of the Philippines was transferred to the United States as part of the negotiations to end the Spanish American War. Now fighting against the US in the Philippine American War, it took until the end of WWII in 1946 for the Philippines to finally be recognized as an independent nation.
During the early 1900’s and through the aftermath of war, many Filipinx began migrating to the United States, driven by opportunities in agriculture and labor. Napa Valley’s agricultural industry helped to attract many migrant workers who played a significant role in farming the land and vineyards, especially during the labor shortages following WWII. To learn more about the specifics of how Filipinx came to California, read here.
Some Filipinx worked in challenging conditions at local canneries and labor camps, and like many immigrant communities, Filipinx Americans in Napa engaged in advocacy for labor rights and social justice, reflecting the broader struggles faced by Filipinx Americans throughout California. You can hear more about this in NPR’s 4-minute listen of The Grapes of Wrath, The Forgotten Filipinos Who Led A Farmworker Revolution.
Over the years, the Filipinx fight for freedom spread to encompass freedom of the press, and in 2021, the Nobel Peace Prize went to Maria Ressa. A Filipinx American activist, Ressa advocated for freedom of the press and the courage to stand up against authoritarianism. Click the link to hear the official Nobel Peace Prize video interview with her.
Overall, the influx of migrant workers helped to contribute to the struggling post-war economy, and moreover, establish a Filipinx presence in our community.
Today, Napa has a vibrant Filipinx American community that contributes to the region's diversity. Filipinx restaurants and food trucks, cultural festivals, and events like Manila Munchies celebrate this diverse heritage. Younger generations, supported by organizations such as FLAGG, continue to engage with their roots, balancing traditional Filipinx customs with American life, and contributing to a dynamic community identity.
This month, we invite you to explore ways to celebrate the challenges, contributions, resilience, and rich culture of the Filipinx Americans rooted here in our beloved valley.
| |
|
Inspiring Inclusion topics are researched and presented by Pro-Inclusion Napa (PIN), CanDo's new project. This addition to the CanDo Connection focuses on diversity, its significance, and the way it is celebrated and supported locally.
Kelly Renda, one of PIN’s founding members, is the main contributor for Inspiring Inclusion, sharing ways that Napa inspires inclusion to assure that every person in our community feels included, needed, and valued.
| |
Filipinx or Filipino?
The term "Filipinx" is sometimes used as a gender-neutral or gender-inclusive alternative to "Filipino.” It's also a generational term, used more by younger people. We’ve used whichever term was originally included in each resource we cite.
| |
“He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.”
~Jose Rizal
| | |
|
Filipinx in Vallejo and Mare Island
Reprinted from Early Filipinos On Mare Island by Mel Orpilla, with gratitude.
…The year was 1898 and the United States was at war with Spain. Halfway around the world, General Emilio Aguinaldo and his men were fighting for independence after over 300 years of Spanish rule. These two conflicts triggered the immigration of Filipinos and led to the emergence of the Filipino community in Vallejo, California through Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Mare Island became the gateway and economic engine that brought thousands of Filipinos to Vallejo after the turn of the last century.
| |
…George Washington Carter Jr., was a Buffalo Soldier from Louisiana who was assigned in the Philippines. After the Philippine-American War, he met and married Maria Martinez in Cavite, where they started a pig farm. However, the crocodiles that inhabited the area at the time kept eating their pigs. As a result, George Washington Carter decided to return to America when he was offered a carpentry job at Mare Island. In 1912 he moved his wife and young daughter to Vallejo. His second daughter, Alice, was born in 1915, making her the first Pinay* born in Vallejo. Read more here.
*Pinay: a woman of Filipino origin or descent; a Filipina.
| Photo: Maria Martinez - arrived in Vallejo in 1912. She was married to George Washington Carter, Jr. | |  |
|
Join in the Celebration!
What: Manila Munchies Food Night with food trucks, vendors, entertainment, kids’ corner, and more!
When: October 5, 2024 from 3-9pm
Where: 200 Antonine Avenue in American Canyon
|  | |
Local Resources for Filipinx American History Month and Beyond
Fil-Am Association of American Canyon
The Filipino-American Association of American Canyon (Fil-Am) was formally established during a gathering of friends as a social, non-profit, non-partisan organization in September 2002. It is a cultural, educational, charitable organization. Fil-Am seeks to appreciate and cultivate values that will enhance unity and solidarity through cultural heritage, family, and community service.
Filipino Life and Generation Groups (FLAGG)
FLAGG members form small discussion groups which meet 1 day a week during the school year, and allow youth to share their life experiences, feelings, and Filipino culture. It is an intergenerational project of the Napa Valley Education Foundation and Napa County MHSA Innovations. Membership is open to High School and Middle School Students in Napa County who identify as Filipinx (i.e., Filipino, Filipino-American, or students with any amount of Filipino ancestry).
Kasaysayan Pilipinx American Learning Community at Napa Valley College
A learning community at Napa Valley College that envisions a Bayanihan, Kapwa Community spirit that grows, creates and cultivates agents of change in the Pilipinx American Community and our allies.
Filipinx Heritage Month at Napa Valley College
Offers free downloadable Zoom Backgrounds. One of them features the Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (A Glorious History, A Golden Memory) mural in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, by the Filipino American artist, Eliseo Art Silva.
| |
National and Online Resources
Books
| |
|
Volunteers Dig CanDo’s Garden, Part 1
By Carol Dick, who has volunteered in CanDo’s Garden since day one
| |
|
2014
In 2014, CanDo’s Garden for the Food Bank was brought to life by Karen Garcia, Betty Labastida and other UC Master Gardeners who had attended Napa’s Food Day the previous fall. They asked, “Why can’t we grow fresh produce for locals who have little access to it?”
We can. Early on, each garden year began with weeding. Waist high weeding. I used to side-eye volunteers who appeared after that work was done. Fortunately, the original crew of five or six volunteers, all retirees led by Karen and Betty, had to tend only a 20’x20’ corner of the Napa Community Garden, located at the corner of Trower and Jefferson. (I could write a separate article about that entity and why it should be restarted and replicated all over town.)
We didn’t have weed eaters or soil tillers; we had only shovels, trowels, buckets, and a few pairs of bypass pruners. Where’s the hammer? Is somebody using the scissors?? Our second-hand tool shed was small, plastic and so low we were constantly bumping our heads.
We met on Wednesday mornings, planned the layout, amended the soil, laid out drip irrigation, planted, tended and harvested. The garden was productive in its first season; we took boxes of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and basil to the food pantry every week of summer— a total of 853 pounds.
We also hosted small groups of teen students to show them how to garden, and larger groups of corporate volunteers who in a single day of enthusiastic team-building could clear out all the weeds along the fence, add another plant row, and spread bark mulch in all the aisles. We had a gopher—and a volunteer who brought a different homemade brew to poke down its tunnel each week. They all involved pepper sauce, I remember, and one was neon orange. Despite the gophers, for three years we gardened successfully in that spot.
| |
2017
Sadly, the summer of 2017 was the Community Garden’s last. We wondered if we would be able to continue our work for the Food Bank. But just as we were disassembling our “garden shed” and wondering what to do with the pieces, an email arrived in CanDo’s inbox offering the use of some land in North Napa to any local nonprofit that would like to establish a garden on it. The email was signed by Barbara Pahre of Covenant Presbyterian Church.
We immediately contacted Barbara and were overjoyed when we were offered the space. We were thrilled that this quiet, bucolic, much larger space was to be ours to use, thanks to the incredible generosity of CPC. All of us drew up our ideal plans for our new garden, and we chose our favorite (Betty’s). But there was work to be done.
| |
|
So, while still harvesting at Jefferson and Trower, we began the hard work of prepping the hard-packed, weedy field at CPC. Karen and Barbara coordinated a wonderfully large field-clearing crew that also included a few hours of a backhoe (operated by Scott Sedgley before he was mayor). Many volunteers with shovels eliminated the weeds, slightly turned the soil, and layered cardboard and compost from NRWS in preparation for the coming rains.
We were now on a well so two faucets were installed, with 2 very long hoses to use until we could install drip irrigation from the coils of blue line and spaghetti hose we toted from the old garden. Over time, we fumbled with mismatched drip systems, leaky emitters, fittings only Pam Madsen had the muscle to make work, and lots and lots of spaghetti tubing. That I was in charge of maintenance and repairs, a retired English teacher and home gardener, tells you a lot. We regularly arrived at the garden to find some rows had received no water, while a broken emitter had sprayed a large area that wasn’t planted.
| |
That changed in 2023 when CanDo funded us to hire a professional, George Lao, to replace our clunky system with one beautiful, functional one. On timers. Solar powered. Life is good. Thank you, George.
The first year in this garden, our yield was low, marred by a huge infestation of cucumber beetles. We didn’t battle them with chemicals but with hand-picking, row covers, and diatomaceous earth. In a photo of us from Oct. 2017, we’re wearing masks against the smoke of that fall’s wildfires.
Being great admirers of the prolific St. John’s Lutheran Mission Farm, we visited it to get pointers from their volunteers; only half-joking, they suggested we abandon our plans and join their crew! They do great work. So do we. We believe that gardens like these should be established in all corners of our valley.
Soil management improved enormously as we learned more over the years. First we needed to start using cover crops in winter to give back what the previous year’s crops had taken from the soil. Thanks to advice from Carrie Strohl (the School Garden Doctor), Lauren Buffaloe-Muscatine (Napa County Seed Library) and our Master Gardener volunteers, we also adopted a no-till system. Okay, tiny till. At season’s end, we don’t pull out crops by the roots; we cut them down to the ground to minimize soil disturbance, which helps maintain the soil's carbon storage capacity.
(To be continued!)
| |
|
Dear Readers:
That’s all the space we have this month to tell the story of CanDo’s garden. Our next turn to be CanDo’s Featured Project will be in Feb., 2025, when you can read the exciting second half of the tale.
In the meantime, here’s a video that explains more about why we don’t pull out old, spent plants by their roots. It’s all about Regenerative Gardening.
| | | | |
|
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. | |
More Opportunities to Support Our Community | |
|
Volunteer Opportunities & Events to Support Local Nonprofit Groups
Tell 'em you heard about it through Wednesday!
| |
|
WATER-WISE WORKSHOP: SMART WATER STRATEGIES
Sponsor: City of Napa, Napa County RCD, UC Master Gardeners
| |
|
|
DAY/DATE/TIME:
Four separate sessions, each on a Wednesday from 6:30-8:30 PM
- October 9 - Soils, Compost, and Mulch
- October 16 - Water-wise Plant Show
LOCATION:
Pelusi Building, Kennedy Park, 2296 Streblow Drive, Napa
FFI:
Email ashley@naparcd.org, call 707.690.3117 or visit their website
| | |
|
A PRESENTATION ON ALTERNATIVE "FINAL DISPOSITION" OPTIONS
Sponsor: OmniGrace/NVUU Death Positive Event Series
| |
|
|
DAY/DATE/TIME:
Thursday, October 3, 6-8 PM
LOCATION:
Napa Valley Unitarian Universalists, 1625 Salvador Ave. Napa
FFI:
Email anne.jungerman@gmail.com, call 707.738.6271 or visit their website
| | |
|
HAPPY HOUR FOR HOPE: A FUNDRAISER FOR NEWS
Sponsor: News, Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Services
| |
|
|
DAY/DATE/TIME:
Wednesday, October 2, 6-8 PM
LOCATION:
697 First Street, Napa
FFI:
Email AndiG@NapaNEWS.org, call 707.252.3687 or visit their website
| | |
|
P18TH ANNUAL LOBSTER FEST FUNDRAISER
Sponsor: Soroptimist International of Napa
| |
|
|
DAY/DATE/TIME:
Saturday, October 19, 6-10 PM
LOCATION:
1st Presbyterian Church, 1333 3rd Street, Napa
FFI:
Email soroptimistnapa@gmail.com or call 480.815.7307 or visit their website.
| | |
|
PATRICK DRAKE MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
Sponsor: Providence Hospice Napa
| |
|
|
DAY/DATE/TIME:
Saturday, October 5, 7:30 AM-2 PM
LOCATION:
Kennedy Golf Course, Napa
FFI:
Email golf4patrick@yahoo.com or call 480.678.9868
| | |
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.
| |
|
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.
| | |
Upcoming Events, Volunteer Opportunities, and Other Ways to Support Our Local Nonprofits | | |
Highlights from CanDo's Community Calendar | |
|
September 23, 7:30am – 3:00pm
Molly’s Angels Golf Tournament
SPONSOR: Molly’s Angels
Eagle Vines Golf Club, American Canyon, CA
For more information, or to register for Molly’s Angels Golf Tournament, please visit mollysangels.com. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Devereaux Smith or Jill Jorgensen at 707.224.8971 or email mollysangels@mollysangels.com.
October 4, midnight
Deadline for CanDo’s 2024 Give!Guide Hilary Zunin Spirit Award applications.
SPONSOR: Napa Valley CanDo
This application has two parts, one for the nonprofit employer (nominator) and one for the employee (nominee).
Details here
October 5, 2024, 3:00pm - 9:00pm
Manila Munchies Foodie Night
SPONSORS: American Canyon Arts Foundation, Fil-Am
200 Antonina Avenue, American Canyon
Come to a food festival highlighting cuisines from different regions of the Philippines!
October 5-6, 2024
California Native Plant Society Fall Plant Sale at Skyline Wilderness Park Saturday, Oct. 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m
Oct. 12, 10:00am - 2:00pm, Napa City Fire Station 1, 930 Seminary Street
It’s Fire Season: Come to Fire and Life Safety Day Open House
Come learn about fire safety and meet your Napa City firefighters! Tour the fire station and see what a day in the life of a firefighter is like! Tour the Dispatch Center to see what it’s like to be a 911 operator! See firefighters in action using the jaws of life!
October 12, 9:00am - 12:00pm
Napa Food Project Pickup Day
SPONSOR: Napa Valley CanDo
CANV Food Bank Warehouse, 938 Kaiser Road, Napa
October 12, 10:00am - 6:00pm
Berkeley INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY POWWOW & Indian Market
SPONSOR: City of Berkeley
(There will be no powwow in Napa this year)
MLK Civic Center Park, Allston Way, Berkeley
| |
|
Napa County COAD: Disaster Preparedness
In October the COAD Calendar focuses on The Great ShakeOut and Home Fire Prevention Week. This is a great month to start your household Emergency Stay Box or to cycle and replace items before they expire. Check the batteries in your devices and make sure any medicines are also exchanged with some from a new bottle. Walk through your house and move or secure any items that might block an exit after an earthquake. Check out the COAD Preparedness Calendar for more helpful tips.
| | |
City, County, and State Info in Multiple Languages | |
County of Napa and City of Napa websites - All information is available in multiple languages, including Tagalog. Using Google Chrome, on these websites there is a small white bar at the bottom right of the homepage that says, “Select Language.” Click on that and a menu pops up with a list of dozens of languages from which you may select.
State of California website - All information is available in multiple languages, including Tagalog. Click on “Translate” in the top blue bar on the first 2 pages. Then click on the small white box in the center that says “Select Language.”
| | |
From the League of Women Voters of Napa County | |
This has all the information you could possibly want at this point in the election season:
- Upcoming local candidate events and forums
- How, when and where to register to vote
- Pros and Cons of the 10 CA Ballot Propositions
Make sure your addresses and signature are valid and your registration is up to date.
| | |
Big News—Fat Bear Week 2024 dates are here! | |
Mark your calendars! The Katmai Conservancy, explore.org, and Katmai National Park partner to kick off the festivities with Fat Bear Junior from September 26th - 27th, then dive into the main event, Fat Bear Week, from October 2nd - 8th. Cheer for Brooks Falls' chunkiest bears. Vote in exciting matchups, support your favorite burly bears, and learn how these incredible animals prepare for winter.
Stay tuned or visit katmaiconservancy.org for updates and details.
| Photo courtesy of Katmai Conservancy "32 Chunk July 2024" | | | |
|
|
No dreams can have barriers
when we are all here together.
– Indigenous Youth voices from the II Session of the UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum, held at the UN Food & Agriculture Headquarters in October 2023. Watch the video.
| |
|
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.
| | | | |
