Choices We Make

Napa Valley CanDo seeks to inspire and facilitate action by alerting interested Valley residents about opportunities for service. If you participate as a volunteer in an activity that you learned about through Napa Valley CanDo, whether initiated by CanDo or another organization, please take personal responsibility for your involvement. Use common sense. Only you can determine whether the activity is a good fit, that is to say compatible with your interests and abilities.

 Napa Valley CanDo
A vibrant grassroots community service organization!
 

Napa Valley CanDo connects, inspires and empowers neighbors to take positive action in order to help our community thrive. We're strong, creative, all-volunteer and growing quickly. Through our weekly email newsletter, The CanDo Connection, we feature "done-in-a-day" and family-friendly volunteer opportunities. So many of you want to help; we figure it's our job to make it easy.

Some of these come at the request of local nonprofits seeking volunteers. Others are based on CanDo's own projects which grow out of the interests of our members as we identify unmet community needs. We also spotlight exciting community events. We have no dues and no required service hours.

Click here to see and sign-up for CanDo's weekly The CanDo Connection.

 

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CanDo's Napa Valley Give!Guide 2021

officially launched on Giving Tuesday, November 30.

 

Please go to the website CanDoGiveGuide.org

to learn about and donate to your favorite nonprofit(s). 

 

They need your support now more than ever.

 

Thank you for being part of a community of givers.

 

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CanDo's NAPA VALLEY FOOD PROJECT

 

Our community is strong and caring. We knew that already, but there’s further evidence in the pounds of food that has been delivered to the Food Bank in 2021! Amazing. And we start again in 2022 on the following days:

 

February 12   April 9         June 11   

August 13      October 8    December 10

 

On the six dates listed above the volunteer Neighborhood Coordinators of CanDo’s Napa Valley Food Project will again be driving by their neighborhoods to pick up non-perishable foods for distribution to the thousands in need throughout the county. Learn more about how the project works here.

 

Once again, we are grateful to see the CanDo community answer the call. Anyone interested in fighting local food insecurity with a cash donation may send a check payable to the Napa Valley Food Bank, 1766 Industrial Way, Napa, CA 94558.  Please write CanDo on the memo line.

 

If you would like to be a part of this wonderful project of helping stop hunger in The Valley please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Sharing food. Building community.

 

 

THE 2021 HILARY ZUNIN CanDo SPIRIT AWARD WINNER

 

TANIA CORONADO-BASULTO

of OLE HEALTH

 

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Another COVID year. Worse yet, we lost our co-founder, Hilary. She conceived of this award so we’ve renamed it to honor her legacy.

 

The CanDo spirit clearly shines through this year’s Hilary Zunin CanDo Spirit Award winner, Tania Coronado-Basulto of OLE Health.

 

Tania was inspired by the COVID pandemic to single-handedly design and implement a COVID testing project at the onset of the pandemic. Her program set up services in multiple wineries across the community to help test people who might otherwise not have access. Tania also organized a COVID mass vaccination clinic, ultimately helping thousands of Napans get vaccinated.

 

In her nomination of Tania, Shira Revzen, Director of Clinical Operations for OLE Health, said “Tania tackled the project with enthusiasm and perseverance. OLE continues to provide vaccination services and Tania is integral to its success.”

 

“Growing up as the eldest of 3, I always helped my parents navigate through difficult situations, as many children of immigrants do. I’ve seen my parents through a lens that’s shown me how to be compassionate, patient, and to offer care to everyone around me. I chose to work in the nonprofit field because I know there are more people like my mother and father who are going through tough times and need support and guidance.”

 

Tania’s father developed diabetes when she was in high school; this led to her pursuing a degree in Nutrition. She became her family’s first college graduate when she received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from UC Davis. And OLE Health was her family’s health care home. She notes: “OLE Health aligns with my core values and mission to help the underserved and diverse populations in obtaining the high-quality care everyone deserves.”

 

“The greatest reward from working at OLE Health is being able to give back to my community, especially during unprecedented times. Although this pandemic has been incredibly challenging, I am grateful for all the opportunities that have come my way. We’re still working to overcome the current challenges of removing any trust issues our patients or community members might have related to misinformation about the COVID vaccine, and having the community view OLE Health as a high-quality medical home.”

 

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Our Beloved hilary
 
"God, how she loved CanDo.
During our calls, it was often difficult to move her off the topic."
-Tom Stanton, hilary's brother
 
 
What began as a small grassroots group of around 20 neighbors, coming together to explore ways they could strengthen their community, has grown into the Napa Valley CanDo we know today: a powerful force for good in the Napa Valley, with over 850 volunteers who contribute in a wide variety of capacities.
 
How did all of this happen in eleven short years? We gratefully attribute it to the inspired leadership of hilary Zunin, who with Grania Lindberg co-founded CanDo in 2009. But the profound influence hilary had on CanDo might date back further, even to hilary’s formative years. The curious and creative young hilary who wore a pirate hat while watching TV with her family, who was a saddle-shoed high school cheerleader, who loved jumping out of airplanes and became a skydiving instructor, who was a published author, witty punster extraordinaire, and much-loved High School English teacher, was destined to become CanDo’s heart and soul.
 
She grew into a person who had a knack for seeing the possible, the probable, and the potential from every angle. She developed an ability to shift between recalling the past, being ever sincerely in the present, while also anticipating the future. Her vision, her ability to collaborate and to connect are integral to all that CanDo has accomplished.
 
No matter how daunting the goal, she could break it down into seamless steps which made it easy for our volunteers to work together to accomplish amazing things. Some examples are the elimination of single-use plastic bags in Napa County, the donation each year of tons of nonperishable food and healthy garden produce to the Napa Food Bank, the delivery of 13,000 pairs of shoes to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and the creation of our annual Give!Guide which promotes funds and recognition for Napa County’s nonprofit community.
 
Everything hilary did came from a place of compassion and respect, with a touch of playfulness. As a result, CanDo is not a typical nonprofit. Instead of “Board of Directors,” we use the term “Core” which, hilary would explain, comes from the French coeur, meaning heart. Instead of a thank-you note, hilary took a batch of homemade brownies to a local business that donated irrigation materials for our Food Bank garden. Give!Guide meetings were so full of laughter that hilary’s husband Len dubbed them “marties”—a meeting that is really a party. When someone expressed interest in becoming involved in CanDo, hilary would invite them to chat over a cup of tea.
 
In this time of competitiveness and divisiveness, hilary was a living reminder to us that when we strive to care for our neighbors and foster a community of giving, we all win. We become greater than the sum of our parts.
 
Throughout her life hilary invited people to come together, whether to skydive, to decipher Shakespearean English, or to sort cans at the Food Bank-- an embodiment of thoughtful collaboration so that all of us can thrive, not just some of us. We will aspire to live as she did, in such a way that this spirit of collaboration enters into in every one of our interactions.
 
How we’re going to miss her. As we, all of us in CanDo, continue our work to make our community thrive, hilary will remain forever in our coeurs.
 
-- CanDo's CORE
 

Heart Earth    

 

CanDo Suggests a Few Ways to Help

During COVID-19

 

Self-care

Maintain physical distancing but stay socially connected.

Shelter-at-home as much as possible.

Wash hands frequently.

If you need to leave home, wear a face cover.

Check in on friends.

Seek out the small pleasures,

“sun breaks,” that brighten your day.

 

 

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During this COVID-19 crisis, Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) and Napa Valley CanDo have created a way for Napa County residents to stand up and say, “I want to help.” It’s Volunteers on Call.


With the situation changing so rapidly, we need to be ready to respond with dispatch. With your help, we can.


Complete this simple form to be listed. Your contact information will NEVER be shared with third parties. Instead, we’ll reach out as needs arise. You always have the option to opt out if an opportunity doesn’t feel like the right fit.

 

Please share the VOC link with others.


Spread the word – not the virus!

  

  

Let's do all we CanDo to take care of one another.

 

 

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postheadericon Current Projects

 

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Increasing charitable donations to local nonprofits

 

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Building Community and Sharing Food

 

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Growing fresh produce

for distribution

through local Food Banks