10th Annual Family Village Festival

The Riverside Museum Associates Multicultural Council is celebrating their 10th annual Family Village Festival on Saturday, October 11, 2008 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This “Gathering of Cultures” features villages from Japan, Scandinavia, Mexico, Guyana, Puerto Rico, Samoa and more.  The location this year will be in downtown Riverside at White Park (3936 Chestnut Street) — cross streets being University and Market. 

This FREE multicultural festival offers guests the unique opportunity to explore and learn about different cultures and their traditions through cultural cuisine, children’s activities, storytelling, arts/crafts, and music and dance performances throughout the day.

The event is hosted by the Riverside Museum Associates, the RMA Multicultural Council, and the Riverside Metropolitan Museum. For more information, please call (951) 826-5273 or go to familyvillagefest.com.

Firefighters Given the Boot (to fill)

Riverside firefighters literally have some awfully big boots to fill, and will be stationed at three city intersections from 8:00 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (October 8, 9, 10) soliciting donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

“The helmeted firefighters are asking people at the intersections to drop whatever they can afford into the boots,” said Tim Strack, president of Riverside City Firefighters, Local 1067, which is organizing the effort with the city.  “We’re going to try to raise $50,000 over these three days.”

This fill-the-boot fundraising effort is part of a national campaign to aid MDA, and the firefighters will be stationed at the following intersections October 8-10 from 8 a.m. to noon:

• University Avenue and Lime Street
• Magnolia and Central Avenues
• Tyler Street and Magnolia Avenue

For more information, call fire department coordinator Dave Hernandez at (909) 229-9207.

FREE “Go Green” Reusable Shopping Bags

Being that I am a Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) customer, I stopped in and picked up my FREE “Go Green” reusable shopping bag today from the ”Utilities Plaza” at 3460 Orange Street (a couple blocks north of the Mission Inn). 

These reusable bags are 100% polypropylene (PP) which is non-toxic, allergy-free, and non-reactive to human skin — and are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.  Thankfully there are still some available.  Hurry down to pick up YOUR bag!

I can’t wait to go grocery shopping tonight and use my reusable shopping bag –something I’ve encouraged all of us to do in an article in our Aug/Sept 2008 Chit Chat newsletter!  The reusable shopping bags are washable, and each bag holds the equivalent of 3-4 plastic bags or 2 paper bags.  Some local stores offer discounts to customers who use reusable bags (I’ll keep you posted as to which stores offer this discount during my shopping sprees).

Are you aware that Americans use over 14 billion plastic bags annually, and the petroleum in just 14 plastic bags could drive a car one mile?  Additionally, paper bags do NOT biodegrade in landfills and it takes 70% more global warming gasses to make a paper bag than a plastic bag, which is something I was shocked to hear.  All these years when I’ve been asked, “paper or plastic?”, I’ve always chosen paper, thinking that paper would biodegrade faster than plastic, when the truth is: nothing really biodegrades in a modern landfill. Yuck!

Modern landfills lack the oxygen and other conditions, like sunlight and water, that would allow paper bags and other natural materials to biodegrade.  Landfills pile waste upon waste, blocking air, light and water.  Trash becomes compacted by its own weight until it is a solid mass.  The only liquid is not water but a toxic seep, contaminated by the inks on plastic bags as well as by other toxins. 

Riverside Public Utilities is giving away FREE “Go Green” reusable shopping bags to customers at the following facilities:

• Downtown Utilities Plaza (3460 Orange Street)
• Casa Blanca Customer Resource Center (3025 Madison Street)
• Utilities Administration Building (3901 Orange Street)

For more information about this giveaway, contact Riverside Public Utilities at (951) 826-5485. For additional information about reusable shopping bags, visit www.onebagatatime.com.

And for those of you reading this who live outside of Riverside, encourage your City to participate (if they aren’t already) in such an honorable environmental endeavor!

Happy “green” shopping!  –April Glatzel

Our August/September 2008 Newsletter

Many of you receive our newsletter at your home in the “Wood Streets”, but we wanted to make it available to anyone who would like to read it. So on our website you can view all of our newsletters, dating back to 2004. To view past newsletters, go to the menu and under “Our Blog” you will see another button that says “Our Chit Chat Newsletters”.

This month’s issue is about “Going Green”. Here are some articles we hope you find interesting:

• Want to “Go Green” but don’t know where to start? Here are six things you can do right now!
• 365 Days of Trash
• Top Green Pet Tips
• Real Estate Activity Report
• Do you Recycle?
• Green Your Home for Under $100
• Old Shirts Make Great Accessories

In each issue there is always a quiz question with an opportunity to win a prize.

If you have any comments or just enjoy the newsletter, please leave a comment for we would love to hear from you!

Facing Foreclosure?

Get HELP if you are facing foreclosure!  The City of Riverside, along with multiple local agencies like the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, have come together to assist residents facing foreclosure.  Topics include:

• Can my home be saved from foreclosure?
• Where do I go from here?
• What programs and services may be available to help my family?
• Who do I contact?

See below for the FREE Foreclosure Prevention Town Hall Meeting Schedule:

Ward 1
Location:   University Heights Middle School Gymnasium (1155 Massachusetts Avenue)
Date:         October 1, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 2
Location:   UC-Riverside Extension “Room E” (1200 University Avenue)
Date:         October 8, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 3
Location:   Janet Goeske Senior Center (5257 Sierra Street)
Date:         October 6, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 4
Location:   Amelia Earhart Middle School (20202 Aptos Street)
Date:         October 22, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m

Ward 5
Location:   California Baptist University Copenbarger Room (8308 Magnolia Avenue)
Date:         October 27, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 6
Location:   Collett Elementary School Multipurpose Room (10850 Collett Avenue)
Date:         November 20, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 7
Location:   Norte Vista High School – Performing Arts Center (6585 Crest Avenue)
Date:         December 4, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

For more information, call (951) 826-2305 or click here to look up your ward.  Don’t panic if you live in Ward 7 and can’t wait until the December 4th meeting — feel free to attend an earlier meeting in another ward!  Please don’t ‘give up the ship’ until you’ve considered all of your options!