YMS L Rancho Newslet t er
Decemb er 201 6
Presi dent ' s Message
Ni cole Goodwi n
Greetings YMSL Rancho !
The holiday s eas o n has arrived and I wis h yo u peace and
joy with yo ur friends and lo ved ones . I ho pe yo uhave a
chance to work with o ur partners and help s pread the
holiday s pirit to tho s e les s fortunate. I als o enco urage yo u
to take the time to reflect o n yo ur experience with YMSL, s o
far. When life gets bus y, we may fo rgetwhy we made this
commitment. For me, I value the time with my teenage s o n
and my heart feels full when Is ee him wo rking to help
o thers . I als o feel o ur bo ys grow s o much by feeling valued,
feeling part o f acommunity, demo ns trating res po ns ibility,
practicing their co mmunicatio n s kills , and feeling a s ens e
o f purpo s e.I was s o impres s ed to s ee the bo ys running their
meetings and working to gether at o ur chapter wide event
atGras s ro ots Ecology. Well done!Pleas e s tay s afe and
enjoy this holiday s eas o n.
Warmes t wis hes ,
Nicole Go odwin
Pres ident YMSL Rancho
“Yo u make a living by what yo u get. Yo u make a life by
what yo u give"~Winsto n Churchill
Import ant Dat es
Moms Meetings
Young Men Meetings
Tuesday January 24 (#4)
Tuesday March 21 (Last)
Sunday January 29 (#5)
Sunday February 26 (#6)
Sunday March 26 (Last)
YMSL Rancho website
Quest i ons and Answers
Q u e st i o n: If I participated in the chapter event at Foothills Park, how do I log the time?
Answer: Moms earn 1 meeting credit and 2 philanthro py ho urs with Gras s ro o ts Eco lo gy;
Young Men earn 1 meeting credit and 2 philanthro py ho urs with Gras s ro o ts Eco lo gy
Questio n: W h a t i s th e Pr e s i d e n ti a l Vo l u n te e r S e r v i c e Awa r d ?
Answer:
This year the YMSL Rancho Chapter has been appro ved as a certifying
o rganization fo r the Pres ident's Vo lunteer Service Award (PSVA), which is a natio nal
recognition pro gram that encourages all citizens to live a life o f s ervice. YMSL members
are eligible for bo th the Group award and Individual awards . Pleas e lo g into the chapter
webs ite fo r mo re information.
Questio n: I h a v e a n 8th g r a d e s o n wh o wo u l d l i ke to j o i n YMS L n e x t ye a r . I s h e
g u a r a n te e d a s p o t?
Answer: Yes . All current members , who are in go o d s tanding, will have the o ppo rtunity to
enroll their 8th grade s ons before we take new members into the chapter.
Questio n: I kn o w a mo m/s o n wh o mi g h t b e i n te r e s te d i n j o i n i n g YMS L n e x t ye a r .
W h a t a r e th e n e x t s te p s ?
Answer: Yo u will be receiving an o verview s lide deck and email within the next few weeks
thatyo u can fo rward on to all Pro s pective Members . There will be mo re details in that email.
Anima l Assist ed H a ppiness
by Max Lopez, Class of 2019
Animal As s is ted Happines s is a organizatio n that pro vides animals fo r children and their
family members to interact with to bring happines s and s miles . This is es pecially des igned
for s pecial needs kids . They have been o pen s ince 2 009 and their go al o f “1 millio n s miles ”
is on it’s way to becoming a reality. Their s electio n o f animals ranges fro m go ats to pigs to
birds . Their mo s t po pular s ectio n is arguably their bunnies and guinea pigs , which
cons tantly have vis itors co ming to s o cialize with them. They are als o the mo s t po pular jo b,
as the o nly requirement is to s o cialize with them by ho lding them in s mall pillo w like
holders .
When yo u volunteer there, there are plenty o f different jo bs to do . There is go at walking, the
aforementioned bunny/guinea pig s o cializing, s table cleaning, amo ngs t o thers which I
have yet to try mys elf. The go at walking can either be fun o r it can be o ne o f the mo s t
difficult jobs there. If you get a go at that is ready to walk, it will happily run alo ngs ide yo u at
an alarmingly fas t pace. But o n the o ther hand, if yo u get a s tubbo rn go at, the walk is
going to be s hort, tedio us , and lots o f nagging at the go at. Of the two times I have do ne it,
o ne goat was mos tly willing to walk, and the o ther was extremely s tubbo rn and hardly
walked anywhere before we decided to return him to the res t o f the go ats . Cleaning the
s tables is a quick jo b, but it has a few do wns ides . Yo u have to bend o ver during mo s t o f
the proces s and it expectedly s mells pretty bad.
Overall, working at Animal As s is ted Happines s is a fun time. It has multiple, no t to o difficult
jobs that have a lo t o f variety. I wo uld reco mmend giving it at leas t o ne try, even if it
does n't s eem like your thing. I went in uns ure my firs t time and I ended up really enjo ying it.
They are us ually o pen on weekends , and are always o pen to new vo lunteers .
Su nda y F riends
by Shane Mujica, C lass of 2019
Sunday Friends is a philanthropy that helps
under privileged families . They meet o n
Sundays at vario us s cho o ls . The parents
take clas s es on finances and rais ing their
kids . When you vo lunteer, you do crafts
and indoo r games with the kids . With the
games they learn things like math and
writing. You als o help them co ok fo o d that
everyone s hares while they are there. There
is als o time to go outs ide and run aro und
and play s o ccer and bas ketball.
When
the kids s pend time with the vo lunteers
playing or co oking o r learning, they earn
tickets . At the end o f the time, they s pend
the tickets o n items they need fo r their
hous e or for s choo l. I like going to Sunday
Friends becaus e I get to wo rk directly with
kids !
Lessons from G ra ssroots Ecology:
Stevens Creek Wa ter Monitoring
by Kelly Chen, VP Communications
The s o und and s ight o f running water were great
ways to s tart a Sunday, while helping s uppo rt
Gras s ro o ts Eco lo gy in mo nito ring the water quality in
Stevens Creek. Alo ng with fello w bo ard member Terri
Ettinger, o ur s o ns and ano ther YMSL yo ung man, we
enjo yed a fun and educatio n mo rning. Mo nito ring
the creek water is impo rtant to the eco s ys tem, s ince
many native animals depend o n the water fo r
drinking. Lo cal fis h that are “threatened” (o ne s tep
away fro m “endangered”) becaus e o f decreas ed
water s upply include the Delta s melt, s almo n, and
s teelhead and rainbo w tro uts .
We learned abo ut the many s o urces o f po llutio n in
o ur natural creeks :
1. Fertilizers : Exces s runs into the water and pro mo te
algae to gro w. When this plant dies , it co ns umes
o xygen needed by lo cal fis h
2 . Pes ticides : Exces s run into the waters and kill
macro invertebrates s uch as the dams elfly and
drago nflies
3. So ap fro m car was h water runs o ff into the creeks
and o cean
4. Dro ppings fro m pets co ntaining bacteria fro m the
gut can caus e illnes s in native animals . Sea o tters
s pecifically are beco ming s ick fro m bacteria in cat
dro ppings , as many breeds o f cats (and do gs ) are
no t native
After this intro ductio n, we were mo re than mo tivated
to help o ut. We vis ited many s po ts alo ng Stevens
Creek, s tarting with Mo s s Ro ck, a relative co zy little
area pas t Stevens Creek Res ervo ir, to McClellan
Ranch. Alo ng the way, we co llected data abo ut the
water pH, turbidity, o do r and o ther qualities .
Gras s ro o t Eco lo gy and its predeces s o r have been
co llecting this impo rtant info rmatio n s ince 2 004. They
have pres ented this data to the lo cal water dis trict to
minimize further damage to the creeks o r to co ns ider
preventative actio ns . Jus t as valuable as helping o ut
to day, we left feeling empo wered to educate
o urs elves and o ur co mmunity abo ut the impo rtance
o f creating a healthy eco s ys tem.
"O u r Mi s s i o n : As s i s t, s e r v e , and s u p p o r t tho s e who are in need in o ur co mmunity,
develop leaders hip s kills , and pro mo te mo ther-s o n relatio ns hips "
YMSL Rancho | P.O. Box 3581, Los Altos, CA 94024
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