California Coastal Commission cleanup sites reported that 28,751 volunteers scoured over 750 cleanup sites removing over 254,772 pounds of trash.

Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, which serves Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, is reporting an increase in requests for home delivery of free groceries, as more people are forced to isolate due to exposure or illness related to the omicron variant.

I have previously written about the various groups in the community that must play key roles in preserving, protecting and enhancing our parks and trails. These parties include neighborhood associations, service clubs, youth groups, church groups, schools, businesses, corporations and others. Another key component is that of citizen volunteers.

Due to flat tax revenues and escalating pension costs, the city of San Jose has been forced to cut library hours year after year as well as make million dollar sacrifices in all other city departments. Even with all of the eliminations, San Jose continues to have a budget deficit. We need to re-examine the current delivery model for San Jose libraries and seriously consider how we can incorporate volunteers to fully maximize the hours of operation at all of our libraries.