Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting, 6/6/19

 

    • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Roxanne Koopman, Marilyn August, Gus Letona, Sam Drake, Woody Collins, Ron Horii, Guillermo Martinez, visiting Park Interpreter Kelsi Ju.
    • No meeting in July. Next meeting August 4.
    • Park Interpreter Kelsi Ju came to talk about events at the Bernal Ranch. She will have youth volunteer days for middle schoolers on Thursdays from 9-12. They will do cleanup and garden work around the ranch house. Kelsi and trained volunteers will supervise. Kelsi met with Dr. Jamal Splane, principal of Bernal Middle School to talk about piloting it with Bernal students. The events will be 1-2 days per month after school. It will be open to all middle schoolers, including home-schooled kids. There will be 1 adult contact per school for signups. Volunteer hours are accumulated by school. Signups are by group. Students can drop in, but it requires an adult to sign the waiver form and be present. Mike pointed out that Martin Murphy Middle School is also nearby. Kelsi will contact them. 
    • Kelsi talked about her Raptor Route program for 5th graders. It will start in the fall during raptor migration season. There's no fee. It will be in English and Spanish. The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory people will be coming to the Saturday adult raptor programs. 
    • Kelsi has a program for K-1 called Pieces of the Past, starting in the fall. It's about what human need to survive: food, fire, and water. It will cover the Ohlone period, the 1800's-1900's, and agriculture.
    • Volunteers are needed for the school program. They need to go through the docent training classes, be fingerprinted, and have special training for the classes. Mike signed up.
    • The La Fuente (formerly Fandango) event is on October 19 from 12-4. Planning meetings are starting. September 19 will be the deadline for exhibitors to sign up. They want presenters to interpret the period from 1850-1910. The folklorico dancers will be coming. The National Parks Service will have displays on the Anza National Trail. FOSTP will have a booth. The Muwekmas have been invited.
    • Martial Cottle Maintenance will be handling maintenance for Santa Teresa Park.
    • Jason Gormon of Park Maintenance is looking for help to water the trees in the Pueblo Area weekly. This requires hauling a long garden hose around up there. Greg may be able to do it.
    • The chickens at the Bernal Ranch have been cared for by 4H members, but they are busy. They are looking for neighbors to adopt the chickens. They need to come weekly, collect the egss, which they can keep, and water and feed the chickens. 4H will train them.
    • Middleschoolers and interpretive hosts will take care of the garden boxes at the Bernal Ranch. Volunteers are needed for weeding.
    • Carolyn Schimandle is the park program coordinator for programs at the Bernal Ranch and Martial Cottle. She approves programs there.
    • Bernal School has a restorative justice program. Kids get service hours.
    • For Boy Scouts looking to do an Eagle Scout project at the Bernal Ranch, send them to Kelsi. She is at the ranch on Fridays and Saturdays. The rest of the time, she's at the Casa Grande.
    • There are 6 full-time park interpreters and 3 park program coordinators. Unlike rangers and maintenance workers, interpreters are not eligible for on-site housing.
    • Kelsi requested some events supplies for La Fuente. She needs 2-4 Day of the Dead sugar skulls, which cost $5-$8 each. She also needs 1 Day of the Dead bread, which costs $24 and decorative plastic flags. For Christmas decorations, she needs artificial garlands and 1-2 wreaths. The wreaths cost $22. We approved up to $400 for the requested expenses (if they are eligible expenses under our Beautify San Jose Grant).
    • There is a new ranger, Christopher Shears. He is assigned to the Hellyer unit and is based at Martial Cottle. He will be coming to our National Night Out.
    • Robin Schaut is retiring as manager of the interpretive/outdoor rec. department. There was a retirement party for her at Vasona on 5/23/19. Beeny Sander, who is a senior management analyst and once managed the volunteer program, will be acting manager of the department until a permanent replacement can be found.
    • There will be Fire Department training by the archery range at the end of July.
    • For our November 7 meeting, Kitty will do a presentation on New Almaden. We need to put out flyers to advertise it.
    • On May 31, there was a free concert at the Santa Teresa Golf Club's Upper Banquet Facility (where we have our meetings). It was standing room only. People brought their own chairs. Future concerts are on 6/21, 7/19, 8/16, and 9/20.
    • National Night Out: Marilyn will donate ice cream. She can't come to the event, but will get someone to help out. Gus will be bringing his kids and can help with the booths. Kitty will be at the New Almaden NNO. The Koopmans will be throwing their own NNO. Sam and Elaine may be able to come. We need to see if Debi Porras can help with the table games/crafts. Come around 3:00 to help setup. Use the raffle tickets to get a head count. We don't need to ask for sign-in's, except for requests for more information. Kim contacted safety agencies. Gus has friends with freezers to store the ice cream. Marilyn has ice chests. We need plastic table covers. The Koopman's will deliver 2 pizzas to us (with warming bags) for the helpers, not for the visitors. (We're not allowed to give unpackaged food to visitors.) Mike will hand the pizzas out to volunteers.
    • Gus will be getting a table runner and banner. The banner will be 7' X 24"-30". It can go in the back of a tent. The total will be <$100.
    • Ron showed pictures (he couldn't show pictures at our May meeting in the golf course's restaurant): spring wildflowers, Ron's photo class and wildflower hike on 4/27, our Stile Ranch hike on 5/11, wear on the signs on the Nature Trail, over-growth on the Ohlone and Nature trails, origami event at the Bernal Ranch, Muriel Wright Center construction (see next), Norred Trail fire recovery, Robin Schaut's retirement party.
    • Construction is done at the Muriel Wright Center. In June, the contractor running the center will be moving in. Patients will be moving in in July.
    • Ranger Bryan Lu is is leading hikes to Coyote Peak. We should help with one or more of them: "Saturday June 29, Sunday July 21, Sunday August 4, Sunday August 18, 2019, What's "Shaking" in Parks? 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM, Santa Teresa's Pueblo Day Use Area.Trek to the highest peak in the park to view fantastic vistas and explore local geology formations. Meet in 2nd parking lot (on left by yellow call box) with hiking shoes, layered clothing and water. Questions? (408) 225-0225."
    Return to the Friends of Santa Teresa Park Home Page

       Created 6/24/19 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park