www.montereycountyweekly.com november 9-15, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 School teaches students all sorts of things. Why not also teach them how to be philanthropists? That’s the logic behind an initiative of the Carmel Valley Rotary Club. The club gives plenty of donations directly, but they decided to add a step, investing in the next generation of potential Rotarians or simply charitable community members: Let kids decide which local nonprofit to donate to, then cut a check at their direction. “Giving the money away is really secondary to the whole process,” says Rick Shea, a Rotary member since 1987. “My target audience is middle school—the world ends somewhere from the tip of their nose to somewhere about six inches away. This gets them to figure out there’s a lot going on. They research it, then they have to analyze it and determine: ‘Where do we want our grant to go?’” Since the Carmel Valley Rotary launched the Partners in Community Service (PICS) program 25 years ago, they have given away—or rather, let the kids give away—over $130,000 to more than 100 local nonprofits. The Rotary teams up with schools (Carmel Middle, Carmel High, River and Tularcitos in Carmel Unified School District, and All Saints Day School). A class in each participating school undergoes a process that starts with the basics of learning what a nonprofit is, then researching organizations. Students break up into small groups, and make the case for why classmates should support their top pick to send a donation of $2,250. The students vote on the recipient of that Rotary check. “I tell teachers, Rotarians and parents, ‘You need to butt out, it’s up to students to make a decision.’ There is no wrong answer, it’s about the process,” Shea says. That process comes with a few rules from the Rotary Club: The recipient must be a Monterey County group, and may not focus on animals. (“Not that animal groups are not worthy, but we want to be more people-oriented,” Shea says. “One time we had a representative from Meals on Wheels, then the next group was bunny rescue. That’s not a fair fight.”) Carmel Middle School teacher Liz Wells has done PICS with her leadership class of seventh- and eighth-graders for about 20 years. It begins with research, mostly online. As a final step, students invite representatives from the finalist organizations into the classroom to present, and students ask questions. The kids develop knowledge, and more importantly enthusiasm, while making the case for others to vote for their organization of choice. “I had students last year write a rap trying to convince the class their nonprofit was best,” Wells says. That group did not win—it tends to be personal connection more than presentation style that prevails. The Cachagua Fire Association was selected after the River Fire destroyed several students’ homes in 2020. After a student died from brain cancer, Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services was chosen. Last year, student Abby Frey—now a freshman at CHS— successfully made the case for the Breast Cancer Assistance Group, motivated after her mom’s dear friend died from breast cancer. “I did not know how much nonprofits helped people, the amount of services they offer,” Frey says. “PICS really helps students acknowledge how much other people do for the community, and how hard they work.” The nonprofit sector plays a variety of essential roles in Monterey County. The Weekly’s annual Monterey County Gives! issue, a partnership with the Community Foundation for Monterey County and Monterey Peninsula Foundation, is out today (you can find the glossy guide inside this paper, or at mcgives.com), this year describing the efforts of 206 local nonprofits to make our community a better place where all can thrive. I encourage you to give if you can (in any amount, no matter how small), and if not, to still spend some time reading about these organizations. As Wells says of her students, learning about the roles of nonprofit groups is enlightening— and helps them to understand somebody else’s needs. “The PICS program really opens their eyes and makes them think outside of themselves,” Wells says. Any opportunity for us to see that—both the need, and the many efforts to fill it, from MCGives! to PICS and beyond— is good for all of us. Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com. Gift Economy As year-end giving begins, we can learn something from middle-schoolers. By Sara Rubin Owl or Nothing…Squid sympathizes with those Catholics who still believe firmly in the Latin mass. Similarly, Squid favors sticking to Latin or Greek names as the names for species. Squid belongs to the order Teuthida, Greek for “fierce.” A fitting name, no? Using non-scientific or descriptive names leads to problems, especially when attaching the names of people who later turn out to not be such great examples of humanity. Squid is embarrassed for a sea worm found in the Atlantic Ocean, who was named the Bobbit worm, due to how it snaps its prey in half. It’s named for Lorena Bobbit, who, uh, separated her husband John’s member from his body. Squid learned there is now a campaign to remove bird names after people who are now identified as racists, slave owners or perpetrators of genocide. It was started in 2010 by a group called Bird Names for Birds and recently the American Ornithological Association announced it would officially rename birds like the Audubon’s shearwater, named for James Audubon, the famous bird illustrator, who was a slave owner and adamantly opposed abolition. Birds will be renamed for habitats or physical features. Squid is inspired to start Worm Names for Worms, in hopes that one day that lowly worm will have a more dignified name. How about the Whipper Snapper? What’s in a Name…Squid oozed over to a Salinas campaign event for U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles, who is running for Senate. Schiff is quite the political celebrity, but a bunch of attendees Squid talked to were there to see another powerful politician, Speaker of the California Assembly Robert Rivas, D-Hollister. Rivas announced he is endorsing Schiff, and a bunch of other politicians joined in, including Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, and retired U.S. Rep. Sam Farr. Not only did Farr endorse Schiff, but he threw shade at one of his leading Democratic opponents in their run to replace Dianne Feinstein, RIP. “If you look at Adam Schiff’s endorsement list, it’s the longest in history,” Farr said. (Squid has not factchecked this claim.) “He happens to have an opponent—she is good at speaking, but she isn’t good at getting endorsements. I am not talking about Barbara Lee, who is my good friend, but the other lady.” The Other Lady, of course, is Katie Porter. Squid’s not sure what makes Farr reluctant to even say her name—Lee, Porter and Schiff are all left-leaning Democrats—but the point of the day was just to make that long endorsement list even longer, and it worked. County Supervisor Mary Adams joined in, telling Squid’s colleague she was impressed “up the wazoo” by Schiff. “Then I was thinking, what’s a wazoo?” Adams continued. “But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we get him elected.” the local spin SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “It really opens their eyes.” Send Squid a tip: squid@mcweekly.com
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