Local HEROES Clean Water

OPTIMISM - cont’d from page 7 HEROES cont’d from page 18 - www.westcountygazette.com -1/15/09Another benefit to staying local is theone I remind readers of all the time. Theseare our neighbors running businesses andhiring employees. The stronger they are,the stronger we are. You want all the factsand figures about why supporting whereyou live works better for everyone? Logon to www.GoLocal.coop for details. Itsimply makes sense.State of MindThis one is harder to control because itinvolves how you think. Optimists haveit easy. For pessimists it’s a struggle. Idon’t know how you turn the light on inyour heart if it’s not there to begin with.But I will advise you to think YES insteadof NO. Think OPPORTUNIY instead ofOBSTACLE. Think LIGHT instead ofHEAVY.The easiest way I know to boost yourself-esteem and therefore state of mind isto accomplish something, then blow yourown horn. No one has to be listening. Thisis something you do for yourself and withyourself. Accomplish anything – evenwashing the dishes. Look at what youdid and pat yourself on the back. Clean aroom then sit in that clean chair and lookaround at how much more pleasant yourenvironment has become.Walk out the door and tour the streetswhere you live. Look up instead of down.Look out and away to distances. Turnthe corners of your mouth up even ifthey feel like turning down. Try it. Eventhat simple act can change the way youfeel. My Dad always said “Attitude iseverything.” I believe that to be true.There IS a Better WaySo much of life is what we makeit. When we stop blaming others orlooking to others for support or evenconfirmation that we’re good people, weare taking charge of our own lives. Thissimple effort means the WE are in control– not someone else. Being dependent onothers for anything is a weight on boththem as well as ourselves. The moreindependent we can be, the lighter onour feet we are. Life starts looking likesomething we can do something about!That makes us feel positive, optimistic,hopeful – and well – light on our feet!Remember that old advertising headline?Try it – you’ll like it!”While one personhesitates because he feelsinferior, the other is busymaking mistakes andbecoming superior.“ –Henry C. LinkThe Little Red Hen Foundation, hadjust donated $15, 000 at a time when thePantry’s coffers were nearly empty. Thesecretary’s duties involve sending thankyou notes for all donations, and so wesent one to an address in Sebastopol. AGoogle search produced some tracksand traces of this heretofore-unknowngroup. ‘Little Red Hen’ has a historyof mysterious good works and theInternet produced very little specifichistory; in the last few years The LittleRed Hen Foundation has donated tothe Sebastopol Center for the Artsand Social Advocated for Youth in ourCounty.It takes several thousands ofdollars each month for the SebastopolInterchurch Pantryto serve all our clients. We usedto help about five hundred peoplemonthly, and now it is more muchmore (see November 19). The mortgagecrisis and inflated prices of grocerieshave produced record numbers of localpeople unable to feed their familiesthrough the second half of the month.By the end of December, the Pantrystores were depleted again.The Interchurch Pantry of Sebastopolwould like to publicly thank andack nowledge the Kiwanis Club,Sebastopol Realtors ThanksgivingFood Drive and The Little Red HenFoundation. We function with thecooperation of several SebastopolChurches: St. Stephens EpiscopalChurch, Communit y Church ofS eba stopol, S eba stopol Un itedMethodist, First Church of Christ,Scientist, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church,and Sebastopol Christian Church.We hope that the good people of WestSonoma County will remember theirneighbors this season and in the comingyear, 2009 and send donations as theyare able to The Sebastopol InterchurchPantry, c/o Diana Godwin, Treasurer,500 Robinson Road, Sebastopol, CA,95473.