Blood cells produced in human bone marrow can save the life of someone with leukemia, but only if the donor and patient are carefully matched. Jeana Moore is walking the length and breadth of the United States to round up more donors, and boost the odds that those matches can be made.

In addition to her one-to-one conversations, Jeana Moore is also actively working to set in motion plans for bone marrow drives in many of the communities she’s passing through.

She notes that they combine well with blood drives that may already be scheduled. Moore’s journey is also inspiring “sister” bone marrow drives in communities far from her pedestrian route.

Moore is just 900 miles—and four pairs of shoes—into her trek, but already she considers it an unqualified success.

To follow her progress, you can read Jeana's journal of her journey and see her planned itinerary, which are both featured on her website. Or go directly to  the National Bone Marrow donor registry to sign up or get more information.

Hunger—now called “food insecurity” in government-speak, is a growing problem across the United States, but one that conflicts with our national self-image

As he was researching Breadline USA, Sacramento-based investigative journalist Sasha Abramsky decided he should experience for himself exactly the sorts of no-win choices that confront someone on a low and limited income. Drafting a budget for a single person working at a full-time job paying $8.23 per hour, Abramsky found he would have only $50 per week to spend on food, unless something went wrong, as inevitably happens. Ultimately, he concluded, it was simply not possible to survive without outside assistance.

One way the government has deflected attention from the growing numbers of underfed families and children in the country, says Abramsky, is by redefining hunger as “food insecurity.”

Read a sample from Breadline USA here.

The largest source of food assistance in the North Bay is the Redwood Empire Food Bank. Click on the links to find out about what they are doing, and how you can get involved.

Last summer, the food bank issued the following press release, citing the dramatically increased demand for food that they have been attempting to serve.

Amount of Food Distributed by REFB Up 32 Percent Since Recession

  SANTA ROSA, July 29 – The amount of food distributed by the Redwood Empire Food Bank has increased more than 32 percent in Sonoma County since the nation’s recession began two years ago.
The increase was even greater in several parts of the county. Food distributions were up 66 percent in Healdsburg, 63 percent in Cloverdale, 43 percent in Rohnert Park/Cotati and 42 percent in Sonoma Valley.

The increase in food distributions is based on year-end calculations made earlier this month at the close of fiscal 2008-09.

The accounting shows that the REFB distributed the equivalent of 8,154,193 meals during fiscal year 2008-09 in Sonoma County, a 32.3 percent increase over the 6,165,415 meals the REFB distributed to people in need during fiscal 2006-07.
 
The increase in need is showing up in all of the hunger relief programs the REFB supports or operates. Two programs for children showed significant increases in just the past year.
 
Gail Atkins, Director of Programs at the REFB, said there was a 21 percent increase in the number of After School Snacks served low-income children throughout the county during fiscal 2008-09. She said the REFB provided 248,050 nutritious snacks – 43,000 more than the year before – to youngsters at Boys and Girls Clubs, recreation centers, schools and other youth centers that criss-cross the county, from Petaluma north to Cloverdale and Sonoma Valley west to Bodega Bay.
 
Atkins also said summer lunches distributed in June through the REFB’s annual Every Child, Every Day – Summer Hunger Initiative jumped 18 percent over the previous June..
 
Economists generally agree the nation slipped into the current recession following the first two quarters of 2007-08.
 
David Goodman, executive director of the REFB, said the numbers don’t come as a big surprise but are nonetheless shocking.
 
“We knew that people needed more help as the economy tanked, jobs were lost, home foreclosures increased,” said Goodman. “So, seeing this huge jump in the numbers was anticipated.”
 
“Nonetheless, we distributed food for almost 2 million more meals than we did two years ago,” he said. “That so many people are under such stress to feed themselves and their families is shocking, but at the same time we’re gratified by the fact that the food bank and other hunger relief programs in the county are able to respond.”
 
Based on annual food distributions, the REFB projected two years ago that the food bank and 133 partner agencies provide food to 60,000 Sonoma County residents each month.
 
“Now, every indication shows that the numbers are significantly larger,” he said. “More people need help.”
 
The REFB is nearing the end of its annual three-month summer food and cash drive.
 
Goodman said the REFB got a big boost in nonperishable food supplies in May when North Bay mail carriers collected more than 150,000 lbs. of canned and packaged food, a third of which went on REFB’s warehouse shelves.
 
“But that food is now gone,” said Goodman. “So, we need all the help the community can give us.”
 
 The REFB is the largest food bank serving the North Coast of California from Sonoma County to Oregon.  
In addition to providing hunger relief in Sonoma County, the REFB is the primary resource for food pantries and other hunger relief agencies in Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
 
 For more information, call David Goodman, 523-7900.

Charges and countercharges are mounting in the run-up to next week’s union representation election at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Father Ray Decker (right) , who is active with the Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice group, says that while he and other clergy are pressing Memorial Hospital to take a more Christian stance toward the union organizing efforts of their workforce, they have no illusions about who they are actually speaking to.

Katy Hillenmeyer, spokeswoman for St. Joseph Health Care of Sonoma County, which operates Memorial Hospital, says the impartiality of the new Fair Election Oversight Commission is open to question, as some members have clear ties to one of the competing unions.

Wages and workplace issues are part of the debate in the union representation vote, says telemetry technician Nancy Timberlake, a 24-year Memorial Hospital employee. But the biggest single issue for her is job security.

Meditation comes in many different flavors, and a full menu is offered in a new book by a couple of local writers, called Matrix Meditations.

Matrix Meditations is in some ways inspired by the I Ching, the ancient Chinese “Book of Changes,” which uses 64 figures to offer wisdom. Co-author Victor Daniels explains the book also offers 64 topical cells, with an extra one as a starting point.

And as with the I Ching, Daniels adds, this book can be used to randomly suggest insights or new ways of looking at questions or problems.

  Kooch N. Daniels is the other co-author of Matrix Meditations.

Find out more about Matrix Meditations and upcoming events and book signings.

An unpopular plan to privatize the Sonoma County dump has been voted down by county supervisors, rekindling hope that they might still be able to resume operations at the facility, which has been inactive for the past four years.

A sizable crowd was on hand for the meeting Tuesday morning, many of them wearing "Go Green" badges to indicate their opposition to the proposed divestiture deal. Some of them were apparently mobilized by the eight-minute video below, which was posted on YouTube the preceding weekend.

“This agreement does not have a constituency,” observed Supervisor Shirlee Zane, after the parade of speakers unanimously denounced the proposal Tuesday morning. Windsor Town Council member Deborah Fudge (right)  faulted the county for much of that, saying that closed door meetings and a process that assumed any outreach would happen after the divestiture was approved, had backfired on the Board.

One of the repeated messages during public comments on the divestiture proposal was that, even if approved by the board of supervisors, it will still be dependent on the full participation of most of the local municipalities. Yet council members from Santa Rosa, Windsor, and Healdsburg  all expressed reservations. Petaluma, which has already opted out and is now shipping their waste to Novato, might still be open to working with the county, suggested Mayor Pam Torliatt. But none of that seemed to inspire a desire for cooperation in Supervisor Paul Kelley.

Also see these previous North Bay Reports on the Sonoma County landfill issue:

The Deal for the Dump  (Oct. 1, 2009)

Landfill Leak (July 7, 2009)

The Landfill's Future (March 31, 2009)

Sonoma County is far from alone is struggling to deal responsibly and locally with its garbage. This video takes a critical look at the situation in neighboring Marin County.