Be Thankful and share your thanks

It's that time of year when no matter how rich or poor, we all begin to think about what we have and what we are thankful for. Each of us has something to give and to share. I'm taking this opportunity to repost an article I wrote for Joe Sacramento to remind everyone that there is something you can do today to make our community a little richer!

In this very moment, you can go to Joesacramento.com and chip in for holiday dinners for needy families. If you won't be having Thanksgiving this year because your family has hit hard times, email Joe and you may qualify for our help.

Loaves and Fishes-It doesn't take much to make the life of a homeless person a little brighter this season. Loaves and Fishes has a handy holiday wish list or you can donate online. It doesn't get much easier than that to help out and you don't have to leave your home.

Boys and Girls Club of Sacramento- Serving 6500 youth from ages 6 to 19 from all over Sacramento. They know what they’re doing and they do it well. You can volunteer with kids, teach classes, help with fundraising and auction materials and more.

Stanford Settlement- Right in our own backyard! Stanford Settlement is dangerously close to missing their budget required to stay open. Save a few lattes and help out the kids. They work hard to promote positive relationships for teens, give them a safe place to “hang out” and also provide emergency assistance, senior support and more.

Sacramento Children’s Home- Looking to meet a special child one on one and change the world one life at a time? This is it! Kids at the children’s home are lacking serious adult role models who can show them a way out of the horrid things they’ve seen. If that’s too personal, look at the wish list and buy something or volunteer for a special event.

Project Birthday- A one-time or repeat feel good warm fuzzy here! Throw a birthday party for a homeless child or a whole group! For $400 you can sponsor an entire party for 30 kids or you can donate supplies left from your kid’s last party.

Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services- Not just a food bank, SFBS provides family support, mother-baby classes, parenting classes, computer classes, clothing and supplies and much more. With over 800 volunteers, you know they’ll put you to work and value your committment. Can’t do it?

Hands On Sacramento- So it’s Friday and you have a few hours free tomorrow with no plans. What should you do? Visit this website and see who needs you right now for a few hours! Projects are short or long term and easily searchable by neighborhood, time and skills. If they don’t have something that fits your schedule, try Volunteer Match.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)- What happens when kids are caught in the middle? CASA steps in to find out what’s best for the child. You can be the first adult a child has ever experienced a positive relationship with. CASA provides the training, the materials and the support and you provide the loving heart to help.

Big Brothers Big Sisters- If you have a driver’s license, insured transportation and a big heart, you can be a big brother or big sister! Be the adult to hold an at-risk child accountable and you’ll see the rewards multiply.

Five Things KJ Needs to Do The First Month

Of course, high on the list is finally sitting in that fancy office chair! But let's get serious and discuss what really needs to happen in the very short term to start turning Sacramento around.

#1- Immediately hire an outside auditor: Yes, it'll be expensive but any good auditor worth their weight in excel spreadsheets will more than pay for themselves. We need an immediate accounting of excess, waste and lost goods. Progress will come quickly with a specific accounting and budget of every resource in the city.

#2- Make his schedule and work product public: By public, I do not mean hidden buried under five search engines on the city website. I mean open and transparent. Residents need to know who gets his ear and his time.

#3- Demand a meeting with all superintendents in the city: Get everyone around one table and lay it out. We need real education change right now. Tell the superintendents they do not get more money or more goodies but they need innovation immediately. Ask them to each identify two things that they can change in their districts right now. Then expect them to do it.

#4- Call true short-term moratorium on housing in North Natomas and call a meeting with all interested Natomas stakeholders: It's time to get the North Natomas Community Plan straightened out for once and for all. KJ owes the residents here who put our faith in him. We need a real plan that doesn't involve drowning us in all the low and ultra-low housing that the city feels like building. We need a new transportation solution, a revised housing plan and a serious discussion on police and fire services.

#5- Meet with the City Council and high ranking City staff. Demand a level of civil discourse and decorum in dealing with the public. KJ needs to show great leadership in how he conducts City Council and other public meetings. He should demand that residents be treated with respect, decency and a thread of compassion. Residents should not be scolded, chastized or publically embarassed because the City Council can't take the heat of their own decisions.

Yes we did... Now go do something amazing!

I feel like I'm floating on cloud 9 today. A new Mayor, a new President and a new sense of hope, prosperity and the American Dream. It's it an amazing feeling? Keep the feeling going today and allow others to see the new sense of America. Join my family on the Run to Feed the Hungry.

Thanksgiving Day, Sacramento will fill up with more than 23,000 runners who all know that sometimes we need a little boost, a kick in the pants to work for that American Dream. The Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services is that kick in the pants. This isn't just any old give them food forever kind of program! People in need are taught computer skills, ESL, parenting and so many other life skills to give them a hand up, not a hand out.

Through the magic of community participation, volunteers and corporate sponsors, the Food Bank can turn $1 into $10 worth of services. That is really putting your money, time and energy to good use.

Take that feeling of hope, restored faith in our country and a dawn of a new day and sign up to Run to Feed the Hungry with me. If you can't run, you can walk the 5K or be a virtual team member. There are no good excuses. You'll even be home in time for turkey.

Tomorrow is an historic day

It's time to vote again! Please don't forget! If you're discouraged because your candidate is polling behind in California or you think your vote doesn't matter because your candidate is polling far ahead, IT DOES MATTER! There are many down ballot issues that will be decided this election. It's important that you take your opportunity to make your voice heard. Take a book and some water and a snack and go be a part of history.

If you don't vote you will miss your opportunity to speak out on these issues:

• Sacramento Mayoral Race
• Community College Funding (Measure M)
• Utility User Taxes (Measure O)
  
• Numerous School Board seats
• State Assembly Races
• Congressional Race
• State Propositions including: High Speed Rail, Children's Hospital Bonds, law enforcement funding, renewable energy requirements and funding, minor abortion waiting period and parental notification, veterans bonds and redistricting

Those of you in Natomas, please make your choices very carefully. If you were my best friend and we were sitting down to coffee, I'd caution you on the school board election in particular. Do you really want someone who is an incumbent, who sat through all the land deal mess and said nothing? Who says she has "learned her lesson" at the expense of our students? Sue Heredia has had eight years to learn her lesson and improve schools in Natomas. No thanks. I'll be picking 3 new school board members. Bruce Roberts, Patricia Adams and Briza Trujillo Cardenas have put in the time, energy and effort to make Natomas better. It's time we give them a shot where they can make a difference.