Please tell us about residents / students in our Tri-Valley area, who have exemplified the character traits of Responsibility, Compassion, Self-discipline, Honesty, Respect and Integrity. We'd love to hear about Random Acts of Kindness. We'll also include nice quotations you've heard.
Please send them to: PleasantonCommunityofCharacter@gmail.com
Compassion:
So grateful to the gentleman who bought us a gift card while we were standing in line at cold stone tonight. It was a belated back to school treat for the boys. I had just finished telling them that they could only get a "kids size" because that was all I could afford, that they needed to be grateful for what they were getting. Amazing how Heavenly Father is aware of even the smallest things, and how generous people are. (Heather Hamby, Sept 2013)
Random Acts of Kindness:
Had two random acts of kindness today...one as I was putting out my Open House signs a sweet lady drives up & rolls down her window with a big smile & says "you look great today"! I told her thank you & that makes my day! Second one was my client picked up my Open House signs for me after the Open House. Two simple things that meant a lot to me... Makes me just want to pay it forward. (Sue McKinley, Pleasanton, CA, Sept 2013)
Honesty:
After cheer practice my teammate handed me a wallet that someone found on a lunch table. Being captain, I was expected to deal with this, so I asked my mom to drive me to the address on the driver’s license. The woman thumbed through the wallet, thanked me and shut the door, still tense. Baffled by why she wasn’t more thankful, I was still proud of my teammates for turning in the wallet. The next day some of the cheerleaders told me they heard the wallet had originally held over $200. The rest of the day I hunted for information. Eventually the four girls responsible confessed. It took three days to collect the money and no one understood why it was so important to give back the money. When I returned the money, it was obvious from the look on the woman’s face, that she was very relieved. (Diane Hadley, Juanita Haugen Scholarship Award Winner, Class of 2014)
A Random Act of Kindness
As I was getting ready to go into the post office carrying three packages I lovely petite Lady offered to assist me. She was so kind.
I had several packages to send and went back to the car to get my heaviest packages. This is when a tall gentleman wearing cowboy boots asked if I needed help and he carried my two heaviest packages into the post office for me!
Such caring people! It really makes my day!
then once inside at the machine a lady was struggling with getting her stamps. I ended up helping her and people were so pleasant and kind!
It warmed my heart and brought a big smile to my face!
Heather Haugen Rizzoli
Amador Valley Baseball Team plays with Challenger Little Leaguers
A memorable match up this weekend has left dozens of Tri-Valley area kids beaming in the East Bay. The Challengers Baseball program is for kids with a wide range of special needs. The coach did something that made their season totally unforgettable. Amador Valley High School's varsity team is used to dominating the baseball field, but on Sunday they were asked to play a different role. All 25 players came to a Challengers Little League game to act as mentors. The Little Leaguers have various disabilities some are in wheelchairs and others, like 11-year-old Ryan Berry, have autism. See the entire story at: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Feast_bay&id=9480277
Random Acts of Kindness:
I was just leaving the library with a collection of papers and started to drop them as I was leaving...four people of various ages all stopped to help me and one man , Lorenzo King, an engineer on break for the City of Pleasanton actually carried my load of papers to my car. Wow! This IS a Great Community!!! All of those people came right to my help and they were showing such positive character and kindness. (Heather Haugen Rizzoli, Pleasanton, CA, Oct 2013)
Winston Churchill:
"We make a living with what we get,
We make a life with what we give"
Anonymous:
“ The real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if you lost all your money”
Ken Babcock
"You can tell the value of a man by the way he treats his wife, by the way he treats a subordinate, and by the way he treats someone who can do nothing for him."
My Name is Rose
REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a
Living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give.
Winston Churchill
"An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity."
Amador Valley Boosters host 2014 Special Olympics
We had a great Special Olympics Track Meet, it would not have been a success without such great volunteers, many have done this for years...
.There were 400 athletes comprising 15 Track Teams and 12 Volleyball teams.
A highlight was the appearance and talk by Eddie Hart, gold medalist in the 4 by 100 at the Munich Games where 11 Israeli athletes were massacred. He gave an inspirational message to the athletes.
And of course the running of the torch and recitation of the Olympic Oath are touching "Let me Win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt".
.Ellen Slater said "This event still has moments that bring me to tears, and I love every minute of it! We had a great day and we were so happy to help out".
Many Thanks to the Amador Valley Athletic Boosters for hosting this event for 11 years, providing funds for the T-Shirts for over 700 volunteers for the Basketball, Volleyball and Track events, to the PUSD and AVHS Administration for providing facilities, volunteers and support.
Most of all, thanks to the volunteers who give of their precious time and energy to help these special athletes and their parents. You've made a difference in our community and done a little more to show that we are a "community of character"