April 15 begins Volunteer Recognition Week, honoring those who volunteer in their world. If only taxes were voluntary, many folks would sign up for that one. However, volunteers ” never enough ” are alive and well in University City. Here are three stories with happy endings that highlight the importance of volunteering. You don’t need a fancy résumé, nor do you have to make an impossible time commitment. It’s true what Winston Churchill said: “You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.”
For instance, last Memorial Day, Pam Ingersoll and Anne Bolton sat down at Starbucks with two members of the University City Community Association beautification committee to talk about a jacaranda tree project sponsored by the Village Garden Club of La Jolla. Bolton, a Village Garden Club of La Jolla member and former principal of University City High School, was instrumental in connecting Ingersoll and her co-chair of the jacaranda tree project, Pat Miller, with the beautification committee of the UC Community Association to talk about the Village Garden Club’s wish to donate trees to University City.
Since the San Diego City Council designated the jacaranda the official tree of San Diego in October 2000, it is only fitting that UC join other communities such as Point Loma in planting these gifts from the Village Garden Club of La Jolla.
Gary Rotto, deputy director for Supervisor Ron Roberts, nominated University City Community Association for Community Projects funds for this beautification project for Governor Drive. The $3,000 grant will pay for planting, feeding and watering the trees for the first year. Rotto attends UCCA board meetings and learned of the community’s need for trees.
Madeleine Baudoin, our liaison with District 1 City Councilman Scott Peters, brought the city’s urban forester, Drew Potocki, on board, as well as Larry Fagot, California landscape architect of Cal Trans, and Camille Medina, median maintenance manager for the city. Aztec Landscaping Inc. maintains the medians on Governor Drive and the company’s account manager, Salvador Soriano, joined in. Hopefully, if the city and CalTrans sign off on the permits this week, UC should see eight jacaranda trees planted in medians along Governor Drive and three jacarandas planted at the Park and Ride near Interstate 805 around Arbor Day, April 28.
Many thanks to those volunteers involved, including UC’s own landscaping architect, Tim Pruss. Kudos to the Village Garden Club of La Jolla and its talented trio of Ingersoll, Bolton and Miller for honoring its commitment to UC after many months of working through the bureaucratic system of getting city and CalTrans approval. Without Potocki, Fagot and Baudoin, UC wouldn’t get the permits to plant. Aztec Landscaping has recognized the hard work of volunteers so much that Aztec will donate labor for the plantings.
The jacaranda is good for urban, street and boulevard plantings. It stays green year round and then explodes into electric blue, violet and purple flowers around May.
More good news has come the way of our community association. International City Bank CEO Jane Netherton has generously committed $5,000 for new street banners for Governor Drive, Regents Road and Genesee Avenue. It was Netherton who initially answered the call five years ago to get street banners up on these main streets when she donated $10,000 to launch street banners for community identity and beautification.
International City Bank, 3939 Governor Drive, has made a community commitment since 1984 when it first opened its doors. “We know our customers, understand their needs and work to help their businesses grow” is the philosophy. Netherton has always maintained that she feels it is important to give back to the community.
“I have always had the philosophy that supporting the community to the extent possible for a bank our size is important,” she said.
She’s been in the banking business for more than 30 years. Thanks to her generosity, UC will see some new banners going up this summer.
Finally, last week’s spring egg hunt at Standley Park was an all-around success and delight for both participants and volunteers. Sarah Anderson, director of Standley, has a terrific staff and a large group of volunteers. The children enjoyed hunting for plastic eggs and trading them in for candy prizes, as well as meeting the Easter bunny, who sometimes answers to the name Andy Freeburn. The kids enjoyed face painting, dyeing eggs all colors and releasing energy on the Jumpee.
What this columnist enjoyed was meeting an incredible group of volunteers from UC High School, especially five young men on the UCHS ASB who reflect all that’s good about youth today. One impressionable UCHS senior, Takeo Wendell, couldn’t have been nicer to work with. He anticipated what needed to be done, talked about the great events at UCHS that occurred because of the ASB this year, and approached the opportunity of helping out at Standley Park with enthusiasm and energy that only an ASB co-commissioner of athletics could show. He was proud of his high school, the ASB, the teachers and principal Ernie Smith. He saw two isolated negative events, the drug bust and stabbing, as just blips on the radar screen.
“This has been a great year at UCHS,” the UC Santa Cruz-bound senior said. “Our ASB has worked hard at providing activities for the kids. We’re having our prom at House of Blues this year.”
We didn’t get to talk about the all-night after prom party called Grad Nite at UCHS provided by lots of hard-working moms and dads in the community who volunteer to “ensure a safe and memorable evening to conclude the high school years.” No doubt Wendell and his friends will go on to accomplish great things in their lives and continue to volunteer.
Our street banners say that University City is more than a neighborhood, and the spring egg hunt proved that. Nine out of ten kids trading in plastic eggs for their prizes of bagged candy said thank you. The tenth one was reminded to do the same by her/his mom or dad. Like other communities, UC has problems, but it truly is a nice place to live with a lot of well-mannered kids.
Join in on volunteering. Standley Recreation Center and the rec council can use your help, especially this summer with concerts and UC Celebration on July 4. Call Sarah Anderson, (858) 552-1652. E-mail Hugh Pates ([email protected]), president of the UC Community Association, and help on the May 12 community cleanup sponsored by UCCA. Contact Freeburn at [email protected] to spend some time helping on July 4.
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Gandhi was right about that one.