Yes, There Will Be Frogs

June 28, 2008

A Westside Rain Garden Story

Yes, There Will Be Frogs

Westside Neighbor Patrick D. was hard at work on a perfect June day. The garden was dug, the rocks were laid, the plants were planted. He was standing there admiring thehandiwork of all the volunteers, enjoying a vision turned reality. He stood there contemplating all that was to come.

Patrick, sensing that someone was watching him turned to see a young lad watching, the boy’s gaze alternated between him and this muddy, rock laden wallow strewn with spindly green spikes.

He didn’t see what Patrick saw, a rain and butterfly garden teeming with critters –hoppers and crawlers and creepers and flyers, 2 legs, 100 legs, no legs, wings and shells. Patrick saw an outdoor learning center with kids learning to have the same kind of passion he had about all the astounding things of nature.

The young boy finally mustered the courage to ask the strange man, "What are you making?" It was the youth’s undoing he was trapped. Patrick lights up like a Christmas tree at the opportunity to teach and share and opening young minds. Patrick launched into an animated lecture about natural habitats, ecco-systems, conservation, responsibility of caring for the earth, its’ creatures, our role in the universe and more. Patrick stopped for air. The young man finally broke the silence by asking Patrick, "All I want to know is, are we going to have frogs?"

Patrick asked him if he liked frogs, the boy nodded. Patrick admitted that he too liked frogs. The two of them stood side by side staring into the rain garden seeing the garden as it was going to be, a rain garden haven filled with frogs.

To learn more about frogs andtoads native to Missouri go tothe State of Missouri/Dept. ofConservation’s web page.

http://www.mdc.mo.gov/nathis/herpetol/frog/id.htm

Monday, January 21, 2008

Monday, January 21, 2008

It’s cold and cloudy again; we have about 50 laborers, men who are hoping against hope that there will be work today. For those renting houses or apartments rent is coming due, utilities are coming due, as it is for all of us. Unfortunately, most have not had any substantive amount of work since before Thanksgiving. Some have caught a few hours here and there. I know they’re looking forward to a warm spell and people get out and work on their yards. The men hope to pick up a little work then.

The donated cold and cough medicine has been a huge help. In such confined spaces with so many people we’ve been sharing coughs and colds since November. The DayQuil tablets have been big hit, as have the cough drops. It was a blessing that most of the men, the officers and I all received our flu shots thanks to the KCMO Health Dept. and the extraordinary sheep-herding talents of Maria Reyes/GCI. The Health Dept. is coming next

Remarkably their spirits are good and hopeful. We’ve had a lot of venison donated to the WCAN Center this winter season. Some of it has come directly from hunter’s whose own freezers are filled, some has come from processors when hunters don’t pick up or take all of the processed meat. The meat has truly been a blessing. One week we had about 5 deer donated. Venison is all protein with little cholesterol so it’s very good for you. We’ve kept some of the meat for communal meals and the rest we’ve let the men take the meat home or to their camps.

Our Police Officers, Chato Villalobos and Matt Tomasic have been pro-active in several of our schools, Cristo Rey, Our Lady of Guadalupe Elementary School, Foreign Language Middle and Alta Vista. We’re seeing a lot of middle-school aged boys succumb to the lure of the gang culture. They are making decisions that will affect them the rest of their lives. We wish more parents would check to see what their kids are doing on-line. Computers should be in a communal room with lots of traffic, not in their bedrooms or inner sanctums where you never darken their doorways. A number of boys have become discipline problems in school, at the library, at the Tony Aguirre Community Center and a nuisance in the neighborhood. We hope that you, our neighbors will let us know if you see neighborhood youth behaving inappropriately so that the Officers can meet with their parents or guardians to help these kids pick a better path.

In the former Casa Grande, former Café Seville and former California Taqueria there is to be a new venue, the Jared Allen Sports bar. (700 Southwest Boulevard, directly north of La Bodega.) This will add to the eclectic mix of the neighborhood.

For those in the Sacred Heart area who haven’t ventured north of Southwest Blvd. in a while, we have a new panaderia at the corner of Summit /21st Street/West Pennway. They have Mexican bread, menudo and burritos. Miguel’s Panaderia.

We’re going to have a meeting of our WAY Coalition on Wednesday, 1/23/08 at 3:30pm at the Ruiz Branch Library. We’re going to plot out our neighborhood activities for 2008. Agencies, businesses, residents interested in planning family and youth activities are welcome to join us. Or, if you have any ideas we’d love to hear them.

We’re going to being working on our Back To School Celebration since that is our biggest activity and requires the most fund-raising. Additional definite activities will be our Westside Old Fashioned Family Fall Festival, our Westside Family Campout and we help with the KCMO Mayor’s Christmas Party. We will be looking at doing an Easter Egg Hunt, perhaps a Westside Family Halloween party and who knows what else we’ll come up with.

We will also be expanding our Monarch Butterfly Way Station Garden in front of the Tony Aguirre Center. Last fall we saw quite few butterflies and Monarchs; we hope to attract even more this year.

You are welcome to volunteer or donate goods or donate cash to make our neighborhood, the Westside, the Bestside

Lynda M. Callon
Director

A Westside CAN Center Christmas

A Westside CAN Center Christmas

It’s Christmas Day, perhaps a little quieter than your house right now but Christmas Eve day was a happy chaos.

Christmas at the WCAN Center really began on Sunday with Matt Tomasic along with several of the day laborer regulars rode out to the farm to pick out two hogs to butcher for our holiday feast of the Mexican favorite, carnitas. In the past we’ve purchased the hog from a well-known meat market but by buying the pig-on-the-hoof we were able to buy two pigs for practically the price of one.

We’re going to skip over some details here and begin with the cooking of the pork meat. Carnitas are made by cooking the meat in boiling fat in a cauldron or caso that sits atop of a hot steady fire. A long wooden paddle stirs the meat. This begins in the darkness of the early morning of Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is the special day in Mexico – so we were celebrating Noche Buena.

Knowing we were going to have a full house, we sent some of the guys to borrow tables and chairs from the community center. At ten o’clock the first of the volunteers arrived. Soon the men took to the out-of-doors to get out of the way as the squad of volunteers came pouring through the doors carrying packages and boxes, guitars and poinsettia, steaming pots of frijoles charros and pans of rice Mexican style.

In a flurry, table cloths are flapping onto the tables, Mrs. Melgoza, the Commandant of the kitchen arena issues orders and instructions, knives become blurry chopping and slicing tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro for the pico de gallo and pineapples for the agua fresca Salsa is poured into bowls and someone is appointed to warm up mountains of fresh tortillas. The music is plugged in, the beans and rice are set on the stove to stay hot.

One more trip to the store for more tomatoes, a trip to Abuela Melgoza’s house for more pots, another takes a trip for more paper plates. Aromas of home fill the air, invited guests begin to arrive. And, we wait for the cocinero de las carnitas to pronounce that the meat is ready.

Music from Uzziel Pecina and friends eases the wait, music of Christmas and music of Mexico and a little rock’n roll. Santa Claus suddenly appears to oversee a raffle where everyone is a winner of a gift brings a smile and memories of childhood Christmases.

With great fanfare, Fernando makes the official announcement; the aluminum lined storage tub filled to the brim with succulent morsels of pork meat is carried with great deference from the caso to the table. Mouths are watering; all eyes are focused on the tub.

The men are treated as cherished, invited guests; their awkwardness fades under the genuine warmth, caring and regard of the Christmas volunteers. The packed room becomes silent. We miss Mr. Tomas Melgoza, he usually says grace but he is under the weather. Two of the men say grace. The Christmas meal can begin.

Fernando disappears back to his cauldron to continue cooking the rest of the meat. These were two big pigs. Guests popped up to watch the process. The kids were fascinated with the pigs heads perched on the table.

Friends and supporters of the WCAN Center stopped by some stayed to eat, some to offer their Christmas wishes or bearing gifts/donations. Even the 2 dogs, Negro and Duchess and the cat Xena The Princess Warrior were remembered.

As many of the men wandered off to return to the shelters for a bed for the evening or their homes or their camps, the volunteers sprung into action to pack up and clean up to get to their homes to prepare for their own Christmases. As quickly as they came, they were gone.

The final clean up began, the borrowed tables and chairs are ready to be returned, the furniture arranged to their usual posts, the floor is swept. Tin foil lids sparkle over the leftovers. Christmas Day is going to be a feast as well.

It was dark and the moon was rising as I left Fernando and a small trusted crew of ayudantes, tending the fire and the caso – it was now time to cook the chicharones.

First thing this morning, Christmas Day, we placed Baby Jesus in our crèche outside, gently nestled in the straw between Mary and Joseph. Felipe who is deaf and unable to speak did the honor.

The men have dined and grazed all day and are watching movies. They’re taking turns using the phone wishing family members a “Feliz Navidad.” In turn their families are relieved that their loved one is not alone and not hungry and not cold.

And for tomorrow, they are hopeful that tomorrow will be a day with work.

Thank you again to the Melgoza Family and Friends for making a beautiful Christmas for the day laborers. Our sincerest thanks and appreciation to all who contributed.

Mayor’s Christmas Tree Party

December 13th, 2007

Re: Mayor’s Christmas Tree Party
December 8, 2007, Tony Aguirre Community Center

Dear Mayor Funkhouser,

On behalf of the children and families of the Westside, as well as those from other parts of the City who participated in the 6th Annual Mayor’s Christmas Tree Party at the Tony Aguirre Community Center please accept our thankfulness and appreciation.

Our party was held on Saturday, December 8, 2007 from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Here on the Westside, the Tony Aguirre Center works in partnership with the Ruiz Branch Library and the Westside CAN Center. We welcomed approximately 350 guests. Park Commissioner Stackhaus got there bright and early to help set up. Unfortunately, she could not stay long. In spite of challenging weather conditions close to 300 children received a terrific toy through the Marine Corps’ “Toys For Tots” program. Santa’s lap was well worn by the end of the day. Volunteer Mitch Elliot did a superb job as the real Santa’s stand-in. Elf David Orosco a twelve-year-old aspiring neighborhood thespian aided Santa. Through donations we rented David a bone fide elf costume for his acting debut. A fine luncheon of hot dogs and cookies and juice just hit the spot on a cold icy day. A bag of candy and a candy cane sweetened the end of the party.

Families played games with Party Masters and did crafts under the watchful eye of our Irene Ruiz Branch librarian, Ms. Julie Robinson and little ones bounced to the sky in the inflatable.

Ms. Sharon Gottschalk, Director of the Aguirre Center is a welcoming, well-organized hostess. A group of home schoolers who utilize the Aguirre Center decorated ‘Santa’s Toy Room’ for the children. Volunteers from EMBARQ commanded their posts with Christmas joy. Volunteers Cynthia Jaramillo and Son were official Santa photographers.

Parks Director Mark McHenry and Parks Commissioner John Fierro stopped by for some holiday cheer, a juice pack and a hot dog.

As we were cleaning up afterwards, two young ladies stayed to help. Sharon and I asked what ideas did they have to make next years Christmas party better. Jennifer, (not her real name) who can be a little melodramatic, said with arms sweeping out to embrace the universe “It was perfect just the way it was! It’s our tradition.” Jennifer is right; it is our tradition.

Jennifer was six years old for the first Mayor’s Christmas Tree Party at the Tony Aguirre Center, she is now twelve. Her home life is chaotic and dysfunctional and the kids are pretty low on mom’s list of priorities. The Mayor’s Christmas Tree Party is Jennifer’s Christmas tradition – a little food – a toy – Santa Claus – some fun and being with people who care about you. Another great thing about having the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Party in our community center is that Jennifer can walk to the Center. Most people in our neighborhood can walk to the community center. Children don’t have to be dependent upon an unreliable adult to bring them to the festivities.

This is a very powerful event, Mr. Mayor, it’s a tradition.

We also hope that next year, you or someone from your staff will be able to join us, also part of the Mayor’s Christmas Tree party tradition.

We realize there were funding challenges for this year’s party. Sharon judiciously scheduled staff so that no over-time was required depending upon our volunteers to help man the event. Through donations we were able to fill in the Christmas Tree Fund’s funding gap in order for us to have the event we had planned. We are optimistic that with your stewardship and the generosity of Kansas Citians there will be funding for the Mayor’s Christmas Tree Parties for years to come as long as we have children in need like Jennifer.

However, if by chance there is a deficit in the Christmas Tree Fund, perhaps the shortfall for the parties can be redirected from the Youth Advocacy budget which has grown immensely over the last few years.

Once again, thank you for continuing the tradition of the Mayor’s Christmas Tree party. Please extend our appreciation to those of your staff and City Hall employees who also contributed to our Christmas Party Tradition.

Sincerely,

Lynda M. Callon
Director

View Our Gallery:

http://www.westsidecan.org/html/mayor_s_holiday_party_2007_0.html

2nd Annual Westside Old Fashioned Family Fall Festival

2nd Annual Westside Old Fashioned Family Fall Festival

We had about 300 people for our 2nd Annual Old Fashioned Family Fall Festival this past Saturday. Drop by the Ruiz Branch Library to see Four Fabulous Scarecrows made by the kids. The weather was a perfect fall day. We estimate that we had about 300 or so people. The kids had sack races, 3-legged races, tug-o-war; played hopscotch, hula hoops, and jacks. They had a cupcake eating contest; they made candy apples, a Christmas ornament; they made miniature scarecrows (107); they painted pumpkins (105); they made 4 giant scarecrows now guarding the library and ate their way through 300 + hot dogs, copious amounts of popcorn and 10 gallons of 'witches' brew. A good time was had by all. And thank you to all the volunteers.

View Our Gallery

http://www.westsidecan.org/html/fall_festival_2007_0.html

Notes from the Monarch Butterfly Garden

Notes from the Monarch Butterfly Garden
9/3/07

Between the heat, the dearth of rain, incredible choking weeds and not enough time we’ve lost a number of plants, And, I must confess, our dog did dig up a few plants while trying to get at a rabbit who’s burrow was in the middle of a clump of milkweed.

However, the survivors are doing their best. The monarchs are ecstatic over the milkweed. We counted at least 10 on Sunday past. Others joined them; yellow and a monarch look alike. I think we need to get a butterfly chart to put up near the garden to help us study lepidopterology (the study of butterflies, moths etc.)

Kristy from the neighborhood has some community service to do for school so she has helped me the last 2 Sunday mornings, she’s a big help. She got everyone watered well. Also, much thanks goes to Kathy Blakely of the Tony Aguirre Community Center who helps see to the watering among all her other responsibilities.

Kristy thinks we should have some sort of decorative tower or trellis in our garden for architectural interest – maybe plant some morning glories or moonflowers – what do you think?

We’re still looking for a master gardener or landscape designer to help us pull the garden together aesthetically. We’ve started our list of plants to buy or request donations for next year. You can help us stretch our dollars and consider making a donation of seeds from your garden; we’d love coneflowers, Queen Anne’s lace, black-eyed Susans, and zinnias.
We want to designate the garden as a special place and are looking for donations to help build a small fence around it. We did get some wood donations from Gueier Fence of Blue Springs but it’s more misses than hits getting recycled fencing or lumber. So now we’re trying to find the money or materials to finish constructing and erect it.

Day Laborer Program

Day Laborer Program

We’ll be starting to collect sweat shirts/jackets blankets and winter clothing for the men for winter. To the men reading this – if the clothes fit too big or fit too small – they’ll fit just right for some of our guys. Also, if you have socks and sneakers or work boots you won’t wear anymore – we have just the right feet.