Last year, when the Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe was doing its annual Rotary at Work Day building planter boxes in front of Bijou Community School and cleaning up Bijou and South Tahoe Middle School, club members decided to do more than one day a year.

Rotary Clubs worldwide have an annual Rotary at Work Day. This year it is April 30.

At the start of the fiscal year in July 2010, the local club began monthly R@W days. Some of our projects include cleaning up El Dorado Beach, helping at the Bijou Bash, doing the River Clean Up at Cove East, planting trees at Bijou School, painting, cleaning and repairing the ceiling at Boys and Girls Club, and working for Christmas Cheer assembling and distributing toys and food.

This week Rotarians will help at the Drug Store Project.

“What we have noticed is that we often have friends and family join us on these days and the work is obviously done quicker and is more fun,” event organizer Kathy Haven said in a statement. “So, we thought we really should try to find more community members who would like to help out so that we can do bigger and better things for our community.”

Project dates:

• April 30 — Planting trees for Sugar Pine Foundation in Angora burn area at 9am

• May 21 (dependent on weather) — Building picnic area for Tahoe Heritage Foundation at Taylor Creek Visitor Center at 8am

• June 4 — Build-A-Park at Bijou Community School from 8am to 4pm. Tools needed: shovels, brooms; rakes; wheelbarrows; electric chain saws; hammers; screwguns; cordless hammer drills.

Kathy Haven may be reached at khaven@gmail.com for people wanting to volunteer or who have a project idea.

Lake Tahoe Unified School District’s Performing Arts Program will present Spring String Fling Concert on March 23 at 7pm in the South Tahoe Middle School multipurpose room.

The concert will feature more than 100 students in grades 4-12.

The concert is free, although donations will be gladly accepted at the door to help the LTUSD string program.

Professional snowboarders Jeremy Jones, Nick Visconti, Ralph Backstrom, Iris Lazzareschi and Moss Halliday will talk climate change with nearly 1,500 Truckee-Reno students March 22-28.

As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide continue to rise, the Sierra Nevada is beginning to feel the effects.

Hot Planet/Cool Athletes aims to educate and mobilize the generation that stands to lose the most by presenting engaging science and solutions on climate change with leading pro snow sports athletes.

Lake Tahoe Community Colleges’ Haldan Gallery is hosting the closing reception for Black & White Photography by Jim Hildinger on March 20 from 2-4pm.

Silver gelatin fine art prints, some framed, some matted are available as well as Hildinger’s book “Tahoe in Black and White”.

This is a silent auction to benefit the Haldan Gallery with photography donated by Hildinger.

Refreshments will be served and final bids entertained.

Harveys Lake Tahoe and Another Planet Entertainment are bringing country music star Miranda Lambert to the Lake Tahoe Summer Concert Series at Harveys Outdoor Arena on Aug. 19 at 7:30pm.

Tickets go on sale March 28 at 10am via Ticketmaster outlets.

Also appearing with Miranda Lambert is country vocal quartet Little Big Town.

Lambert recently kicked-off the Revolution Continues tour with two sold-out shows at the iconic Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth, becoming the first artist to sell out back-to-back shows in the history of the venue.

She is fresh off winning a 2011 Grammy Award for Female Country Vocal Performance for “The House that Built Me.”

Tickets are $39.50, $59.50, $69.50, $89.50 and $125.50, plus applicable fees.

Unity at the Lake is hosting a Peace Vigil on March 21 at 6pm in front of the Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

The Tahoe Peace Vigil is being held in support of a candlelight vigil on the same day in Afghanistan (Afghan New Year’s Day), organized by the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers who wish to “live without wars.” The Afghan youth will “light fiery candles of grief for all the youth and children of Afghanistan and the world who have been killed in conflict and in wars.”

This meaningful event is an opportunity for people to make a difference in the world and to foster healing and wholeness.

For more information about the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers and their “Live Without Wars” project, go online.

By Kathryn Reed

Positive adult intervention can put young people on a course of success. Four students who are part of the A Team – a group of South Tahoe and Mt. Tallac high school students — delivered that message.

“Many of us grow up too fast,” Alexandra Salinas told Soroptimist International Tahoe Sierra at the group’s March 17 meeting. “It’s hard because we’re asked to take on a lot of responsibility.”

Alexandra Salinas on March 17 tells SITS about the A Team. Photo/Kathryn Reed

The A Team has created to form a bond between students who otherwise may have dissed one another, who could be in rival gangs, who may never have spoken to each other. It sprouted from the gang issues that were going on in the South Shore a few years ago.

It gives them a family in the sense of being there emotionally for one another that many of them have never experienced. It has given them hope for a future filled with optimism.

Salinas presented the PowerPoint that had been prepared by fellow student Alberto Caballero. Joining them were students Luis Enrique Perez and Ricky Molina, and adult coordinators Amy Jackson and Jean Beemer.

The A Team got its name from the three original collaborators who started it – Jackson, Aaron Barnett and Adrian Escobedo. Their names start with A.

About 14 students are part of the group.

“Not one girl is pregnant, not one girlfriend is pregnant, not one is in jail,” Beemer said. “Every one of them is a productive member of Tahoe. Each is a strong, loving kid.”

Salinas has earned her dental certificate at the high school and now wants to become a dentist. She credits the A Team for giving her that drive and bringing out her ambition.

Molina said being introduced to sports through the A Team channeled his energy into something positive. He’s hoping to go to college.

Perez used to show up for school about 1pm. The A Team helped him realize an education is important. He’s not sure what he wants to do in the future. Last year is participated in Generation Green with the U.S. Forest Service and this week he interviewed with UPS.

Caballero is considering joining a branch of the military.

Beemer admitted it’s hard for some young adults to leave Lake Tahoe because their families need the income they bring in from whatever job they have now.

One of the outcomes of the A Team is instead of students resolving issues through fights, they are seeking resolution through trusted adults. They are being proactive instead of reactive.

If funding weren’t an issue, about 100 students could be in this program.

“With losing so much staff, I’m not sure how we continue. It’s one of those things we might lose,” Jackson said in reference to the A Team.

The group she and Beemer are working with now is the second generation of A Teamers, with the third generation having meetings once a month and wanting more time together.

But the budget for Lake Tahoe Unified School District doesn’t have the extras for programs like this – for the adults, for a room to meet, for a little bit of food to entice participation.

“I’m so glad for this program, but so sad it’s about money and not people,” Wendy David said. She is a member of the Soroptimist and on the LTUSD board.

Jackson admits with this being a preventive program it’s hard to have concrete measurements in regards to it success. Though, the comments made Thursday by four students seemed to convince the women listening that the A Team is working.

Project Learning Tree, the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, has named South Lake Tahoe’s Joy Barney one of five 2011 National PLT Outstanding Educators.

Barney is the Conservation Education Program specialist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

PLT’s Outstanding Educators are selected for their commitment to environmental education, exemplary use of PLT, and exceptional teaching skills.

Barney will be honored at PLT’s 25th International Coordinators’ Conference in Montgomery, Texas, June 6–9.

Barney was recognized for creating conservation opportunities for the children and adults in five counties around Lake Tahoe and for forging creative and productive partnerships, such as the South Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition. She created Generation Green of Lake Tahoe, a program in which high school students learn job skills, teamwork, and an understanding of natural resources. Many of these students have used this experience as a foray into other volunteer and paid opportunities.

After the Angora Fire, Barney received a PLT GreenWorks grant to create the Angora Burn Tree Education and Planting Project. Using PLT lessons, Barney engaged the community in the post-fire healing process. Generation Green and younger students also learned about and helped reforest the area.

In addition to attending the PLT International Coordinators’ Conference, Barney is invited to attend the World Forestry Center’s International Educators’ Institute July 10–16 in Portland.

Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration for all things Irish.

The world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade occurred March 17, 1762, in New York City, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military. This parade became an annual event, with President Harry S Truman attending in 1948.

Congress proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995.

The number of U.S. residents who claimed Irish ancestry in 2009 was 36.9 million. This number was more than eight times the population of Ireland itself (4.5 million).

Irish was the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German, in 2009 reports.

Twenty-four percent of Massachusetts’ residents in 2009 said they were of Irish ancestry. This compares with a rate of 12 percent for the nation as a whole.

By Jason Hildago, Reno Gazette-Journal

It ain’t exactly hugging a tree. But it’s pretty darn close.

While solar, wind and hybrid technology typically get most of the attention for going green, using reclaimed lumber and construction materials is one green trend that tree huggers still will appreciate.

And apparently, it’s a trend that’s growing.

Scott Gillespie, principal designer for Tahoe City-based design firm Sandbox Studios, has seen a significant uptick in the demand for reclaimed materials like lumber among his clients.

In the past two years, the percentage of the firm’s projects that use reclaimed materials jumped from about 10 percent to 15 percent to 50 percent, Gillespie said.

“A lot of people like the aesthetics of it,” he said. “They also like the fact that there’s a story behind it — we’ve used reclaimed wood from things like railroad trestles to an old water tank. Then, there’s the socially redeeming value from preserving our natural resources.”

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