Category Archives: Essays

Features and essays

East Sacramento Science is Alive

Posted on 06/02/2011 by admin

Little green creatures are terra-forming East Sacramento. They are not from Alpha Centauri and they don’t speak Martian, but they are members of a Green Team.

The small beings are students at Theodore Judah School. They dig, collect and process more than 50 pounds of compost and maintain multiple gardens on the elementary campus.

The Science Alive program at the school makes this all possible with the student Green Team.

Shannon Hardwicke is their fearless leader.

Hardwicke cultivated the program in 2008. The school’s principal approached her with a simple garden plan that grew and grew.

“Now we have a whole campus science and green program with a multi-zone garden,” Hardwicke said.

Hardwicke loves the mess of country life and so do the children.

“I have three kids at the school. This is the perfect place to work,” Hardwicke said.

Hardwicke is the only paid employee of the program. She receives a small salary from the school’s PTA. All the other adult coordinators are volunteers.

The program is a lunchtime optional class. Kids eat lunch and then hit the dirt. They are part of the school’s Green Team that works the land. It’s a commitment for the pint-sized farmers.

“It’s a lot for a seven year-old to give up lunch free time,” she said.

Hardwicke watches a batch of children chew, as they hurry eating so they can get to work.

“We started with just a few kids and now we have more that 45 students on the Team. At first it was just the elementary pupils. Today the primary, pre-kindergarten and pre-school are involved,” she said.

The pupils study science lessons and manage multiple stations in the operation. There are several vegetable plots, a compost operation, a green house, butterfly pavilion, and the students participate in a nationwide study.

Science Alive is also a pilot program for Sacramento City Unified School District.

Harvesting Dirt

A rangy girl with turned backwards, adult-sized gloves, (on the wrong hands, too) held up a wriggling line on her palm, “Look, it’s a worm!” she crowed. A smiling circle gathered to stare at the worm and then enthusiastically began to mine for more.

“Okay let’s put the worms back!”  A volunteer gently steered the group back to work.

It’s dirt season and the kids love it. On a cool school day a cluster of pupils moved earth. They dug, sifted, and bagged pounds of fresh, rich compost.

Students labeled lunch bags with crayon and lined up the soil stuffed sacks on a table.

“This is harvest time. They’ve been prepping, turning, adding to and ripping biodegradable lunch trays for the compost all year. Now we’ll be selling it at a fundraiser,” Hardwick said.

Tap and Stack

“I guess you could call me a waste manager,” Yolanda Milken smiles.

Milken is one of the volunteer parents.

Garbage mounts up quickly at a school. Milken figured out a way to cut the pick up days and use more waste in the compost heap.

Students now empty milk cartons before throwing them away.

“With the milk out of the carton the garbage doesn’t stink. This cuts garbage pick up from five days a week down to two,” she says.

Each student also carefully taps food leftovers from their trays into a collection can. This is added to the compost.

Flight

Behind a group of portables, stands a tall, black mesh tent. This is the Butterfly Pavilion.

Monarchs and other types of butterflies are nursed here. The students raise the wild things from eggs, through babyhood to adults, and then release them.

The pollenizers help the kids complete the growing cycle and teach them about the circle of life.

Scientific Inquiry

A tripod with a mini solar panel crouches over a broccoli patch.

Science Alive was awarded $20,000 from Hidden Valley and selected to be one of five American schools to participate in an agricultural study.

A solar camera watches one section of the garden and the growth is measured and compared to four other student gardens across the country.

“We’ve had a slow start with the odd weather, but we’re still participating,” said Hardwicke.

The Classroom

One half of the project is practice and the other half is theory. The project’s science lab gives teachers a hands-on area to teach conservation principles and green technology.

Kindergarten teacher Audrey Marshall is a teacher-partner.

“I’m part of the Green Team. Several teachers and I bring students to the class,” she said.

The Community

“I never envisioned all this when we started. Our kids learn real science and conservation techniques,” said Hardwicke.

The Green Team is a group effort. Dozens of volunteer parents help at the school.

“The adults all work together and shuffle responsibilities to sustain the Green Team.” Hardwicke said.

The community also pitches in. Seland’s restaurant is one of the local waste-contributing vendors.

Compton’s Market hosts an annual fundraiser for the school. Students sell bags of super dirt (compost) to neighbors at the event and enjoy a festival with a BBQ and other fun activities.

The women have gone far beyond sustaining the Team. They’ve created a nationally recognized pilot program. They’ve got the ‘green’ stuff and they are growing.

2011 Theodore Judah Fundraiser and BBQ

When: Saturday June 11th 12:00 –  4:00

Where: Compton’s Market, 4055 McKinley Blvd.

Green Team organic compost for sale!

Food   Games   Music   and a Raffle

Shop at Compton’s and support your favorite school.

Five percent of the store’s proceeds during the fundraiser will go to Theodore Judah.
Posted in Essays, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

East Sacramento’s Happy Tails Serves the Community

Posted on 05/19/2011 by admin

Tarzan

The longhaired, blue-eyed punk scaled a 30-foot tree and got himself stuck in the canopy for eight days. He made the evening news. A tree-trimming crew bagged the bad boy and rappelled him down. He then spent time in the pokey until Happy Tails bailed him out. With three of his nine lives ticked off, he is one lucky kitty.

Cats like Tarzan are “second chance cats” and they are Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary’s specialty.

Rescued from an uncertain fate at the Sacramento City Animal Shelter, he was brought to Happy Tails on Folsom Boulevard for a second chance at adoption. He was cleaned up, chipped, checked, vaccinated and neutered.

Happy Tails always tries to help. “But first do everything you can to help us out,” says Cathryn Rakich, events coordinator. “Ask everyone if they’ll adopt the cat. Try to find the owner. People should know that we are bursting at the seams.”

Established in 1993, and located at 60th and Folsom Boulevard, the Sanctuary is a no-kill facility (all cats are kept until adoption or death, no euthanasia). An all-volunteer team of 300 people, with 50 foster homes, moves a continuing cycle of cats, like Tarzan, through a careful adoption system.

From cage cleaner to board member, there are no paid positions.

Volunteers can work from one to 20 hours a week. There are no set requirements for volunteers. People do what they can.

About 70% of the felines come from the Sacramento area community and about ten percent are rescued from other shelters. These are cats like Tarzan–lots of character and pizzazz that deserve a second chance.

Happy Tails also has an adoption partnership with Pet Smart. The store provides a holding room, bank of cages, food and litter for adoptees. The Happy Tails team maintains the location and shows animals for adoption Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 11-5 at Arden and Watt.

Kitty out!

A brindled tabby squirmed quickly through an open condo door.

“Kitty out!” several volunteers shouted. The crew hustled to secure the middle and exterior doors to catch the escapee. Speed saved the day and the cat (with a surprised look on his face) was returned.

The Folsom Boulevard site includes exam and intake rooms, a sick bay and a triple secure door system: interior, middle and exterior door.

The residents aren’t kept comfortable in cages, instead there are seven glass walled enclosures, or condos, that divide different populations. One is for the more senior residents, two are for adults and four are for special needs cats.

Special needs include positive tests for cat leukemia, FIV, or social challenges and provides sick cats ‘assisted living’ until they’re back on their paws.

Every room is decorated with toys, cat trees and ample bedding. Cleaners keep the rooms clean and the cats are relaxed.

Kitten season

The saddest time of the year for cats may be spring.

“Traditional kitten season kicks in when the weather warms up,” Rakich said. “It used to be primarily May through July but now it runs late April through September.”

This is the time when unsprayed mom cats give birth to kits that are very hard to place in good homes. The cat population swells, as do deaths and abuse.

Happy Tails kittens are kept in foster homes. On the day this writer visited there was a wiggling carry bag on the floor.

“A homeless man found four abandoned kittens and put them on the conveyor belt at Pet Smart,” said Joelle McChesney, Adoption Center Coordinator. She gently poked a rubber nipple into a grey kitten’s protesting mouth. “These are young, maybe three weeks old.” McChesney will be a surrogate mom, feeding and loving the babies, until they are old enough to be put up for adoption.

The bag of kittens was on its way to a foster home because the sanctuary is not equipped for kitten needs. “Each kitten takes more than $100 to move through the adoption process,” said McChesney.

Life on the edge

Feral cats also fall under the protection of the shelter.

“We have two secret feral cat colonies in Sacramento,” said Rakich. “We practice catch and release – spay and neuter, and feeding. The sites are secret so people won’t dump cats near the area.”

“A hard life does not make a grumpy cat,” Rakich continued, stroking and hugging a chubby black tom named Bronco. He was moved into the sanctuary from the feral population. Purring and limp, Bronco carries a ragged neck scar from a collar that had grown into his skin. His frayed ears and nicks made him look like a hardened felon.

“We have to have thick skins,” said Rakich. “We never get used to (the cruelty). We want all cats to be safe, sound, nurtured and have a home to blossom in.”

We need help

Happy Tails needs any help Sacramento can offer, but it especially needs homes for the cats.

Potential adopters are screened carefully and some balk about the shelter’s no outside cat rule. All new owners must pledge to keep the cat indoors, no exceptions.

“It’s just safer for the cat,” says Rakich.

Rakich ponders the plight of the animals.

“People say it’s not their responsibility… I just found it… or I’m just helping to get it to the shelter… I believe it’s everyone’s responsibility to help these animals.”

By the way, Tarzan, the bad boy acrobat, he’s happy, fluffy, reformed and waiting at Happy Tails for a loving forever-family.

Action

You don’t need to adopt a cat to help. Happy Tails welcomes all kinds of support. Here are some ideas.

  • Donations (any amount)
  • Join the volunteer program
  • Tell a student about the Junior Program for community service credit
  • Donate goods, vehicles or make a bequest
  • Come to the Barking Lot Sale May 21st 8-2 at 6001 Folsom Blvd.
  • Visit the Kitten Adopt-A-Thon, Saturday June 18th 10-2, 30th and B streets

The website at www.happytails.org has complete details. All donations are tax deductible. Happy Tails is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

 

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