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NEWSLETTER: October 2014
In this issue:
Pumpkins in the Park
Pumpkins in the Park, a fun, family friendly harvest fair with a strong environmental education component, is designed to promote awareness of the Guadalupe River Park and celebrate the fall season. Join us on Saturday, October 11 from 10 AM to 4 PM for a giant pumpkin patch, a costume parade, tons of free kid's activities, a children's concert and so much more. Click here to read more about the event. Children's Discovery Museum is returning with their popular costume swap!
Event Sponsors - Dan Caputo Co., Children's Discovery Museum, Cisco, City of San Jose, Cortese Brothers Farms, eBay inc, Pacific Gas & Electric, Martinelli's, Mix 106.5, NBC11, San Jose Downtown Association, Watershed Watch, Whole Foods
GRPC Partners - Adobe, Mike & Christy Akatiff, Cosmopolitan Catering, Hugh Stuart Center Charitable Trust, SanDisk, San Jose Sharks, San Jose Water Company, Santa Clara Valley Water District, The Sobrato Organization, ValleyCrest Landscape,West Valley Construction
Event Supporters - Air Systems Foundation,
AJ Auto Detailing,
The Alves Family, The Austen Family, Sheryl Hinshaw,
Kaiser Permanente, Sam's Downtown Feed & Pet Supply,
South Bay Construction, and The Steene Family
New Field Trip Registration
We will launch our new online field trip registration process soon. Based on the Salesforce platform, it allows classroom teachers to search and select available field trips by date, register online, and immediately receive confirmation and follow up material. This will streamline the scheduling process for teachers by eliminating phone tag and allowing 24-hour access. We are grateful to the Michael Lee Environmental Foundation for underwriting the development costs of this custom application.
Trail Update
Count
We participated in the 8th San Jose Trail Count on September 24th and registered a whopping 50% increase in users over 2013. Many thanks to volunteers Greg Hernandez, Mike Hammes, Mary Holte, Donna Snodgrass, and Caroline Woodhouse for staffing the table. San Jose Trail Manager Yves Zsutty compiled a report on the citywide counts; click here to view it.
Future Construction Project
Per Yves, "In 2015, the City of Santa Clara expects to make pipeline repairs. Their contractor will work near the Lower Guadaupe River's paved trail (east side) for about two weeks. The area of work is near the Phillips Lumileds sports fields." Stay tuned for updates.
Three Creeks Trail
Also from Yves - "Please visit the linked web page to view the final draft master plan and related Initial Study - scroll down half way down the page, and look for the "New" message under Planning Documents."
Rotary Playgarden
The entry walls have been poured! Construction is moving right along, and we will share the ribbon-cutting date as soon as it is set.
Coastal Clean Up Day
Over 30 people joined us September 20th for the annual fall river clean up. Volunteers collected 21 bags of trash, covering the area from the railroad trestle north to Hedding. Thanks to our monthly clean ups, the single-use bag ban, and greater Park Ranger and Fish & Wildlife Warden enforcement, there wasn't nearly as much garbage to remove as in previous years. We have Scouts helping out in October for our monthly clean up, but there is space available on November 15th from 8:30 -11:30 am. Sign up here.
Volunteer Corner
A hearty thanks to all the volunteer groups that toiled to make GRPG a more beautiful place this past August:
Bellarmine College Preparatory
California San Jose Mission
Cisco Systems
Johanson & Yau Accountancy Corp.
Linkedin
Mission Bay
Morgan Autism Center
Moss Adams
National Charity League
San Jose State University
And that is only the groups! We also appreciate the scores of individuals who come out weekly to make a difference. We logged more than 1500 volunteer hours overall in August.
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunties
- Rose Garden Workdays
Weds. and Sats. 8:30-11:30am. More info.
- Historic Orchard Volunteer Work Day
Sat. October 4, 8:30-11:30am. Sign up.
Meet a Volunteer
Katie Pouliot joins us from West Valley's Park Management program. Katie is one semester away from graduation and has joined us as a restoration and education intern. She works in our orchard weekly and develops homeschool lessons. Her love for parks and for being outside drew her to our park. "I liked the idea that GRP was such an accessible park; instead of having to go to the mountains to enjoy the outdoors, GRP is conveniently located in the middle of downtown," says Katie. When Katie isn't interning with us, she is busy working full time at Chipotle, balancing her school schedule. Every so often, you can find her hiking at Big Basin, her favorite park. Thanks for all your hard work Katie! |