Employee's Original Painting Helps Stock Food Pantry

Duc Bui, left, was the winner of the original painting by Christina Volz. The painting helped employees raise more than $440 for the North Central Family Resource Center's food pantry.

When it comes to raising money to stock the food pantry at the Health and Human Services Agency’s North Central Family Resource Center, employee innovation and talent is the key.

The food pantry is an emergency option that employees tap into to help clients that either have a delay in getting benefits or a determination of eligibility cannot be made right away.

“It’s a resource we use to give them something until they can access their benefits or other community services,” said Susan Gengor, a supervising human service specialist who oversees the food pantry. “It’s used to provide for someone who would otherwise go hungry that day.

“It’s about giving a hand to your fellow man and woman.”

The pantry is stocked entirely by donations of food and money from employees of the resource center and the public health center housed in the same facility on Ruffin Road.

“We use their time, talent or cash and make the most of it,” said Gengor.

Employees have done a variety of fundraisers over the years. They have sold homemade egg rolls, had drawings for hand-made afghans, sold fast food coupon books and auctioned off a variety of gift baskets.

The most recent fundraiser was a drawing for a painting done by employee Christina Volz. The painting, called ‘Monarch,’ helped raise more than $440.

“I just took up painting a few years ago in night school,” she said. “I did a painting and brought it in to work and people liked it.

 “I’m still learning, but I just finished the one I donated and my teacher thought it would be a good one to donate.”

Volz, who used to oversee the food pantry and has remained heavily involved, said the need is always there and she was glad to offer up an original painting.

“I know some of our clients really need help and I just wanted to do a fundraiser to help out,” Volz said. “I used to do client intake and I know the need is there and it’s important to help people out.” 

HHSA Employee Gets Speeders to Stop...Literally

The speed limit is 25 miles per hour, but vehicles used to whiz by at much higher speeds, putting pedestrians and pets in danger. Not anymore.

Two stop signs have been placed on Central Ave. at the intersection with Dwight Street in City Heights and Lourdes Sandoval couldn’t be happier. Her community is now safe and it is also easier for people to walk in their neighborhood.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” said Sandoval, who has worked as a social service aide for the County Health and Human Services Agency for almost 13 years. “They are more than stop signs. They’ve helped me understand that I have a voice in what goes on in my community.”

Sandoval, who lives four houses away from the intersection, got together with leaders of some local community organizations and Cherokee Point Elementary School to get the stop signs placed at the busy intersection, which she said has been the site of many collisions between pedestrians and vehicles.  Drivers also raced down the street on weekends.

“A lot of kids walk to school; elderly people ride their electric wheel chairs in the area, but the drivers did not care who was in the way,” said Sandoval.

She has witnessed the deaths of motorcyclist and a pedestrian along Central Ave., a wide street with no stop signs in an eight-block distance until the two new ones were installed recently. They had petitioned for speed bumps, but they were rejected because of the high number of cars travelling through the area.

Sandoval’s neighbor also got hit by a car when trying to aid a dog that had been run over. It’s been almost one year since the accident and she is barely starting to walk again.

The stops signs, Sandoval said, not only make her community safer but also make it easier for people to walk and be more physically active, a goal of the County’s Live Well, San Diego! initiative.

“It fits in with what Live Well hopes to accomplish,” said Sandoval, who, in spite of a bad hip, goes out for walks with her mother, who lives across the street.

The racing has almost stopped and the noise has decreased. She hopes two more stop signs they have requested will make the area safer.

 “Children used to dart across the street to avoid getting hit. Now they can walk. People can walk more safely,” she said.

County Employees Grow ‘Staches, Raise Cash for Men’s Health

Team Noblest MOtive included (back row, left to right) Tim McClain, Bob Spanbauer, Jeff Collins, Luis Monteagudo, Sterling McHale and Dustin Steiner. (Front row, left to right) Josh Ramirez, Daniel Melgoza, Greg Murphy and Chris Champine. Here they pose with a photo of the ultimate mustachioed man, Tom Selleck pictured acting in the '80s TV show Magnum PI.

They got weird looks and lots of questions. Sometimes, people just flat out laughed at them.  

Fortunately, the experiment in humiliation came to an end last week. That’s when a group of brave, mustachioed County employees shaved off their facial hair after a month of letting it grow. They had accomplished their goal: raising awareness and funding for men’s health by sprouting “mo’s” or mustaches during the month of November. The effort was organized through the international nonprofit Movember.

In all, the mustache-growing team, made up mostly of Board of Supervisors staffers, raised $5,566. That total surpassed “any of our expectations,” said Dustin Steiner, chief of staff for Supervisor Bill Horn and a team member.

The funding will go toward prostate and testicular cancer initiatives organized through Movember and its partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the LIVESTRONG Foundation.

Another group of County employees, made up mostly of Office of Emergency Services (OES) staffers, also grew out mustaches for a good cause last month: to raise money for the San Diego County Employees’ Charitable Organization (CECO). Mike Davis, a senior emergency services coordinator for OES, organized the effort, dubbed CECOvember. Modeled after Movember, eight employees also refrained from shaving their upper lips last month. Davis expected the group to raise about $300.

Movember got its start in Australia in 2003 with “two guys who wanted to bring back a past fashion trend – the (mustache),” according to its website. Its US presence has grown tremendously in recent years. In 2007, Movember’s first year in this country, 2,127 participants raised over $740,000. By last year, more than 850,000 people participated in the US, raising more than $126 million. This year, 21 countries hosted official Movember campaigns.

Here at the County, a 23-member team called “Team Noblest MOtive” tracked their progress on a web page. Group members didn’t take themselves too seriously, though. Someone put up a photo of the mustache-wearing movie character Ron Burgundy, played by Will Farrell, in the 2004 movie Anchorman. Team members held up a photo of Tom Selleck’s character in the ‘80s TV show Magnum PI in a group shot, as though he was their mustache-growing idol.

The team’s top fundraiser and recruiter was Jeff Collins, Chief of Staff for Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

“I was the muscle,” he joked.

Collins said he knew from the start that the hair in his mustache may not be as abundant as in others'. He used that prediction to encourage others to join, telling them, in effect, don’t worry, my mustache will be the worst.

“I raised the most amount of cash and had the least amount of ‘stache,” Collins said, laughing.

Bob Spanbauer, a legislative assistant in Supervisor Dianne Jacob’s office, spearheaded the effort, after taking part last year. He said the first week was the most awkward.

“Most people had to do a lot of explaining,” he said. After that, it got easier.

Because the movement has gained so much momentum in recent years, some people knew what the mustaches were about right away. Other times, team members explained the backstory. Either way, they said they got support and thanks.

For Steiner, the transition to a mustache was especially dramatic. Steiner had a goatee for 12 years prior to this. But he had to say goodbye to it and start the month off “clean shaven,” as required under Movember’s rules.

It was a “huge change,” he said.

To raise funds, team members sent emails, made calls and asked nearly everyone they knew to donate. Sometimes they included photos in the emails showing their progress.

Collins said Supervisor Jacob asked him to send her a photo of his budding mustache.

“She said she would donate at some point but that she couldn’t stop laughing,” he said.

Certified Legal Intern Honored as Volunteer of the Month

Michael Hernandez is one of the lucky ones. He has an internship at the San Diego County Public Defender’s office where he not only gets to learn about the law but also practice it in front of a judge and jury.

On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors honored Hernandez as a Volunteer of the Month for volunteering more than 1,200 hours in 16 months for that office.  

“He’s put in more hours than any other volunteer in the office,” said David Lamb, volunteer coordinator for the Public Defender’s Office. “He’s very rapidly becoming one of our finest interns.”

Hernandez, 25, who is in his last year at the California Western School of Law, has worked as a certified legal intern for 16 months and finds inspiration among the public defenders.

“I think criminal defense attorneys are the most warmhearted people,” Hernandez said.

The public defenders are trying to help people accused of a crime who don’t have the means to hire a private attorney.  Despite this, public defenders often get a bad name among the public who think they are only trying to free criminals.

Hernandez said public defenders are in fact helping the less fortunate and making sure their rights are defended. That’s what drew him to his career path.

It is rare for certified legal interns to have an opportunity to speak in court, but San Diego County is one of those governments that permit it under supervision. He has spoken in court and even argued motions for various cases.

In the spring, he worked between 20-30 hours each week at the juvenile court in Kearny Mesa.  This summer, he worked more than 40 hours a week downtown as part of the misdemeanor unit. Now, he is working felony court cases downtown for 16-20 hours a week.

Hernandez said he knows people depend on him doing a thorough and good job.

“I’ve had some cases where I go home at night and I think about how to write a better motion,” Hernandez said. “I just do everything I can to help the attorney I’m working with or help the client.”

Ring and Run – A Childhood Prank or a Blessing?

Ever answer the doorbell and find no one outside? Rotten kids! But what if you answered the doorbell, and found presents outside? Lots and lots of presents when you had no idea how you could afford the holidays this year. The work of Santa? No, kids! Wonderful kids!

The youngsters who rang the doorbell and quickly ran off giggling, pushing and shoving to get away from the door aren’t real pranksters. The teenagers are from the leadership groups at the Spring Valley and Lakeside Teen Centers. Their Ring and Run program (see 2010 video below) is now in its 12^th year and they’re asking for our help in making the holidays brighter for another six families this year, three in Spring Valley and three in Lakeside. Combined, those low-income families include 15 to 20 children.

Being kids, the eighth to 12^th graders know how important the holidays are to other kids. That’s why they’re asking for new unwrapped gifts for children of all ages and donations for a festive holiday meal.

The families were all chosen by third party referrals from local school counseling offices or groups such as the Youth and Family Coalition, San Diego Youth and Family Services, Lakeside Community Collaborative and others. The families are documented as being in financial need and are not being served through other outreach projects. Over the years, the program has served more than 70 families including more than 200 children. The teens don’t know the families and don’t get any recognition; any prize, card, thank you or reward.

The donations are a boon to the needy families, but the youngsters in the leadership program get something out of it too and it’s not what you think. Yes, it’s fun to ring and run, and there’s that warm, fuzzy feeling from helping others, but there’s more to this story.

“The idea is to teach them about civic responsibility, to give them leadership skills to help them succeed in the future and show them a way to give back to the community,” said Lakeside REC Club Recreation Program Coordinator Ryan Flickinger.

The leadership groups meet on a weekly basis for team building exercises and community service projects. The teens volunteer at community events, take part in tree-planting projects and conduct canned food drives. Flickinger says the goal is to keep them busy during the critical hours after school when kids have the highest tendency to get into trouble.

This home away from home prompts the youngsters to stay in the program year after year.  “Most of our leadership kids graduate from high school and move on to college,” said Flickinger. “We help with resume building and college applications, giving them the next steps for when they disconnect from parents and schools.”

But not disconnect completely. For example, twin brothers who started going to the Lakeside Teen Center in sixth grade joined the teen leadership group, went on to be valedictorians at El Capitan High School and now attend USD as freshmen. The brothers moved on, yet they still keep in touch. 

Ring and Run draws kids in to begin with but then they become more than after-school participants. They learn to think outside the box, interact with the community and succeed in school. The youngsters grow up and see the importance of becoming educated, caring and responsible adults. 

And all this starts with a childhood prank; a chance to ring and run!

If you’d like to help the teens in their campaign to help needy families, here’s what is needed:

• Cash, checks or gift cards
• Frozen hams or turkeys
• Boxed mashed potatoes
• Gravy packets
• Stuffing
• Canned food
• Dinner Rolls
• Unwrapped new gifts for children of all ages

Items can be dropped off at the Spring Valley Teen Center at 838 Kempton Street in Spring Valley, the Lakeside Teen Center at 9911 Vine Street in Lakeside or Parks and Recreation headquarters at 5500 Overland Ave., Suite 410 in Kearny Mesa. Donations must be received by December 21 so they can be delivered the next evening. For more information, call (858) 966-1308.

Customer Service is the Culture

Ida Bell, left, Lemon Grove FRC manager, and Ariel Saluta, a human service specialist that receives many accolades from the public, pose in front of the "Lemon Tree" where employees can internally post compliments about the good service they receive from other employees.

“She’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”

That’s all the customer comment card said, but that was all it needed to say. Comments filled with superlatives are commonplace at HHSA’s Lemon Grove Family Resource Center (FRC).

It’s made for some long all-staff meetings.

“The staff here prides themselves on their customer service,” said Ida Bell, FRC manager. “I read off all the comments they receive from customers and fellow staff at our all-staff meetings.”

Some employees have received as many as 15 in a single month. Human service specialists Morris Lazard and Ariel Saluta always seem to be at the top of the list.

“They keep it up monthly,” said Bell.

That’s because great customer service has become a part of the culture at the FRC.

“We talk about the needs of customers at our all-staff meetings,” said Bell. “The staff here really cares.

“They have family and friends who could be in those lines (of people applying for assistance) and they understand how hard it is out there with this economy.”

The attention to customer service begins in the lobby of the FRC. Gone are the old metal benches and tables, replaced by more comfortable seating and a sense of openness. A staff member at an “ambassador station” greets customers and hands out numbers so people can avoid standing in lines for service.  These are the types of improvements underway in several family resource centers to improve the customer experience.

The FRC sees as many as 1,200 people a day come through the door.

“The staff supervisors here put a lot of effort into the lobby since it’s the first point of contact,” said Bell. “There’s always a supervisor monitoring the lobby to make sure people aren’t waiting too long and they will call more staff to the front to help if necessary.”

Many of the compliments staff receives now come from the lobby and first point of contact experience, but they also get kudos from contact with customers over the phone and people who come in for pre-scheduled interviews.

 “Good customer service is just so routine now,” said Bell. “They take it as part of their job.”

A Taste for the Unexpected

County employee finds inspiration in Thrive Across America healthy recipes

HHSA Associate Accountant Yuncie Danque celebrated her birthday in February with a special "birthday cake." Co-worker Therese Riis constructed the cake out of jumbo shrimp and salad because she knew Danque was trying to limit her carbohydrates and eat healthy.

Yunice Danque already eats light. She tries to avoid processed foods and instead chows on raw, healthy fare. Lettuce and tomato salads are a staple in her diet.

The 53 year old HHSA associate accountant is quite active, too, taking Zumba, swimming and other classes at her Pacific Beach gym five to six days a week.

Still, like many, she’s always looking for new ways to improve her health, after being diagnosed with high cholesterol and high blood pressure a few years ago. Earlier this year, Danque signed up for the County’s Thrive Across America program. She hoped to find inspiration when it came to exercise—and she did. Through the program, participants traveled from Maine to Hawaii on a virtual route based on the amount of exercise they logged in online. The program ran from July through September. She made it across the country a few times.

What she didn’t expect was to pick up so many new ideas for healthy eating. Each day, the Thrive Across America program sent her an email with a new recipe. She has tried most of them, printing them out and collecting them in a binder that she keeps at her desk at work. When she wants to try a new one, she makes a copy and brings it home.

Danque said she especially liked the recipes with unexpected ingredients. Her favorites? Chicken and blueberry pasta salad and artichoke and ripe olive tuna salad. She now makes both regularly.

“They’re unusual and really good,” she said.

Danque wanted recipes for high fiber foods, because of their ability to lower cholesterol. The chicken and blueberry pasta salad calls for whole wheat pasta, for example, and the artichoke hearts in the artichoke and ripe olive tuna salad are both high in fiber. Sometimes Danque wraps the tuna salad in lettuce instead of bread to cut down on carbohydrates.

The recipes have pushed her to explore new foods too. She hadn’t ever cooked with herbs like thyme or tarragon. And she’d never used kale or char, a type of fish, before this. 

Danque’s aim was to “maintain (her weight) and keep food interesting and not boring,” she said. And healthy.

How does she plan to eat healthy through the holidays?

For Thanksgiving, Danque brought a healthy dish to her family gathering: oven roasted grape tomatoes, prepared with salt and pepper, chive and rosemary and drizzled with olive oil. She found the recipe on Martha Stewart’s website.

Sure, Danque said she still likes foods like mashed potatoes and gravy. She just doesn’t eat as much of it anymore.

 “My focus has changed,” she said, saying she is “healthier altogether and more active.”

Plus, when it comes to dishes like roasted tomatoes, “you don’t have to work them off as hard.”  

Here are two of Danque’s favorite new healthy recipes:

Artichoke and Ripe Olive Tuna Salad

Makes 5 servings

Active time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Course: Lunch/Dinner

Ingredients:

•          1 12-oz. can (or two 6 oz. cans) of chunk light tuna, drained and flaked
•          1 cup of chopped, canned artichoke hearts
•          ½  cup of chopped olives
•          1/3 cup of reduced fat mayonnaise
•          2 tsp. of lemon juice
•          1 ½ tsp. of chopped fresh oregano or ½ teaspoon dried

Directions:

Combine tuna, artichokes, olives, mayonnaise, lemon juice and oregano in a medium bowl.

Chicken and Blueberry Pasta Salad

Makes 4 servings

Active time: 30 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Course: Lunch/Dinner

Ingredients:

•          1 lb. of boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of fat
•          8 oz. of whole wheat fusilli or radiatore
•          3 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
•          1 large shallot, thinly sliced
•          1/3 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth
•          1/3 cup of crumbled feta cheese
•          3 tbsp. of lime juice
•          1 cup of fresh blueberries
•          1 tbsp. of chopped fresh thyme
•          1 tsp. of freshly grated lime zest
•          1/4 tsp. of salt

 Directions:

1. Place chicken in skillet or saucepan and add enough water to cover; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool. Shred into bite-size strips.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until just tender, about 9 minutes or according to package directions. Drain. Place in a large bowl.
3. Meanwhile, place oil and shallot in a small skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, 2 to 5 min. Add broth, feta and lime juice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the feta begins to melt, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the chicken to the bowl with the pasta. Add the dressing, blueberries, thyme, lime zest and salt and toss until combined.

Turning the Corner on Cholesterol

County employee discovers exercise, healthy food and takes control of her health

 

Debbie “Pixie” Saiz had never been an exerciser.

A probation aide in the County’s Probation Department, Saiz remembers going dancing when she was in her 20s and early 30s. But she never carved out time to work out. Until this year.

The 52 year old mother of three realized she was going to have to make some big changes about a year ago. She’d put on a lot of weight and felt sluggish, with neck pain and a lack of motivation.

“I was drinking lots of soda,” Saiz said.”I was not being mindful of what I was eating. I was getting junk food, chips. I just started doing a lot of quick meals.”

A doctor diagnosed her with high cholesterol after hers came back as 245 mg/dL, putting her at more than double the risk of coronary heart disease as those with levels of 200 mg/dL or less, according to the American Heart Association’s website.

Through a combination of regular exercise and changes to her diet, Saiz has dramatically dropped her cholesterol level. Her most recent reading, taken last month, measured at 225 mg/dL, a full 20 points lower than a year ago. She plans to keep dropping it.  

The doctor hadn’t prescribed Saiz with medication, instead suggesting she try making lifestyle changes. At first, she wasn’t sure where to start. She tried to cut out carbohydrates, but that barely made a difference.

“I got discouraged, but didn’t give up,” she said.

Then, some of Saiz’s co-workers started inviting her on walks at lunch. They were enrolled in the County’s 10,000 Steps program, a 12-week walking program that encouraged employees to walk 10,000 steps, or the equivalent of five miles, each day. Saiz didn’t enroll or keep track of how far she walked, but it gave her a taste of what it felt like to exercise regularly. The walking made her feel better, providing her with an energy boost and, surprisingly, less neck pain. The exercise felt like a “breath of fresh air,” Saiz said. She realized she enjoyed it.

“Initially, I’d do 15 minutes,” she said. “Then 20 minutes. Then I’d do 30 minutes.” 

Then, she added Jazzercise to the mix too. She started taking classes at lunch with her co-worker Deputy Probation Officer Casey Ryan, who teaches them.

When the County’s Thrive Across America program launched this past summer, Saiz signed up as part of a team of co-workers. Under that program, participants traveled from Maine to Hawaii on a virtual route based on the amount of exercise they logged in online.

Saiz then added more exercise to the mix: circuit training. Her co-worker, Deputy Probation Officer Heather Lacroix, started leading workouts, also at lunch.

Saiz got hooked. Today, she exercises every week day at lunch, five days a week. Sometimes she does Zumba on the weekends too.

Along with the new exercise regimen, Saiz changed her diet and eating habits. She eats more vegetables, fruits and grains. She starts her day with oatmeal and takes Flax seed oil supplements. She’s gotten lots of healthy recipe ideas and tips from daily Thrive Across America program emails. So far, she has shed eight pounds (one pant size) and hopes to lose another 60 lbs.

The healthy influence has rubbed off on her children too. Her youngest son, a ninth grader, now buys healthier snacks, and her middle son, a tenth grader, just started boxing at a gym.

Even though the County’s Thrive Across America competition officially ended in September, Saiz and her co-workers haven’t stopped logging their daily exercise into the online program. The daily emails continue to keep Saiz on track too, she said.

“I attribute a lot of (my progress) to the emails and what the county has offered,” she said. “What they did has helped put the fire under me.”

Elderly and Disabled Clients Need Your Help

Terrance Corrigan poses with some of last year's donations.

You can help the Public Guardian’s Office bring holiday cheer to clients who wouldn’t otherwise receive gifts.

“Our clients have no friends or family to spend time with during the holiday season,” said Terrance Corrigan, Assistant Public Administrator/Public Guardian, who manages the holiday gift drive. “It’s a good time of year to go out and present them with a small gift for the holiday.”

The recipients are generally older, frail, and vulnerable adults who are at risk or have been victims of abuse or neglect. They live in nursing homes, board and cares and independent living facilities in the county.

The following new and unwrapped items are needed:

• sweaters and hooded sweatshirts (all sizes)
• slippers (larger sizes and with rubber bottoms)
• pajamas (all sizes)
• toiletries
• gift cards (Target or Walmart or other department store)
• large print books (new or used)

Donations may be dropped off at 5201-A Ruffin Rd. San Diego from 8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m through December 11.

In addition to donations from County employees, the Public Guardian’s Office receives a generous donation from Eunice and Ed Horn and the members of the Tierrasanta Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The Horns collect items throughout the year to provide 100 bags with toiletries and snacks.

“It’s a real sacrifice that she and her husband make,” Corrigan added. “We really appreciate it.”

All of the donations will be delivered to about 150 clients in the week of Dec. 17. For more information about the gift collection, call (858) 694-3500.

Turning Trash into Organic Gold

Take banana peels, melon rinds and brown lettuce leaves. Plan on eating them? Didn’t think so. You’ll throw them in the trash. Okay, at least most of us would, but kitchen staff at three County cafeterias are now recycling that food waste for compost, that rich, dark substance full of nutrients that gardens love.    

The County Operations Center (COC) cafeteria joined the County’s food waste recycling program in September. Polinsky Children’s Center and the County Administration Center cafeterias began taking part after the County Board of Supervisors approved the composting program last March.

Consider that the CAC serves an estimated 150 meals each day and the COC about 300 meals a day during a regular work week. Polinsky serves breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, about 400 meals a day. Altogether, the kitchen scraps add up to an astounding 1.5 tons of food waste each month that is being recycled into rich organic soil. Put it another way, the County is diverting more than 18 tons of food waste from the landfill every year.

Sounds like a lot of banana peels but the kitchen food scraps – not customer leftovers – also include other items. “Lettuce trimmings, vegetable peels, coffee grounds and even coffee filters,” said Laura Freitas of General Services. “It all goes toward reducing our carbon footprint.”   

The kitchen food prep waste goes to the City of San Diego’s Food Recycling Program at the Miramar Landfill where it’s ‘cooked’, aerated, watered and screened before the scraps turn into the organic gold of landscaping, compost. 

The substance is so rich; gardeners sometimes call it black gold because the material can improve the health of the soil, save water, control erosion and weeds plus reduce the use of fertilizer. 

So the cast-offs from plants that came from the earth go back to the earth and the cycle starts all over again with just a little help from us. Seems fair and almost as if nature intended it that way . . .