The 6^th annual "Real Heroes" of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties are being honored this week by the local Red Cross office. In this report we meet two of them.

His Bar Mitzvah is successfully completed, but Gabe Ferreck is not stopping his work on behalf of the displaced children of Darfur. Here he is pictured with the tabletop display he created for the  JWW Backback Project. In the audio clip below, Here he describes his next project for them, the Walk for Darfur.

How does a helicopter airlift rescue unfold? Pilot Paul Bradley (right)  gives a step-by-step account of the episode for which he was honored by the Red Cross this year.

Two of this year's other Red Cross Real Hero honorees are being recognized for actions that were truly a family affair.

 Through their Project Africa program, Food for Thought, the Sonoma County AIDS Food Bank, is now a sponsor of Hope Initiatives' soup kitchen and other projects in Namibia, including their new vegetable garden. 

It's not easy to measure progress in the medical effort to rein in HIV in Namibia, but Mark and Paula Nethedra  say some encouraging trends are beginning to emerge.

Click here to read about all of this year's Real Heroes.

After living in Sonoma County for nearly 60 years, civil rights advocate Willie Garrett has seen--and instigated--some substantial changes here. But he'd still like to see more.

One of Willie Garrett's first moves toward expanding integration in Santa Rosa, focused on the city's swim center, sometime around 1956.

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In the late 1960s, Mr. Garrett (seen more recently here)  was one of the co-founders of the Ethnic Studies Department at Sonoma State University, where he told the mostly white students not to expect an easy A, because community service would be an important part of his classes.

Typically, Mr. Garrett has not joined in recent public handwringing over the continuing absence of ethnic diversity among the Sonoma State student body. But he is planning to do something about it.

Willie Garrett has been named the 2009 recipient of the Jack Green Civil Rights Award from the Sonoma County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, an honor that will be bestowed at the group's annual Awards Dinner tonight (April 3). Last minute reservations can be made by calling (707) 765-5005.

People with developmental disabilities and physical handicaps will be among the first to feel the consequences if California's budget stalemate lasts much longer.

The North Bay Regional Center mains two local offices, in Santa Rosa and Napa:

Sonoma County:
2351 Mendocino Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
(707) 569-2000
TDD: (707) 525-1239


Napa/Solano Counties:
10 Executive Court
Napa, CA 94558
(707) 256-1100
TDD: (707) 252-0213
Solano County phone number
1-888-256-2555


 

 You can view a map of Sonoma County school districts here.

The Santa Rosa City School District has posted the list of potential budget cuts they are weighing on their website. You can view it (pdf) here.

Santa Rosa City Schools Superintendent Sharon Liddell

Marilee Eckert, Executive Director of the newly renamed Conservation Corps North Bay, says it is well-positioned to grow into a regional service agency.

Eckert anticipates bringing many of the programs the organization has already established in Marin into Sonoma County under their new banner, such as their youth recycling crew, which is already at work at some Sonoma County parks and schools.