The Gift of Generosity
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Shirley Reef visited a friend at Fair Oaks Estates Senior Living when she noticed two residents arguing over a blanket. That small event gave her the idea of giving each resident an afghan or blanket. She applied for an Elks National Foundation Anniversary Grant and it was accepted and approved. She only needed 88, but with the help of many Elks and friend Fanica Tice, she was able to receive over 200.
On June 19th, Officers and Members of the Carmichael Elks #2103 along with Fanica delivered the blankets to the residents. Some were in the large room for the presentation from Exalted Ruler Mike Hanson and the rest were delivered room by room. Every resident was very happy to pick out their blanket. The rest were taken to Mountain Manor Skilled Facility, the Veterans Resource Center, and the Women’s Resource Center. Elks Care - Elks Share.
Eppie’s Great Race Concludes After 45 Years of Tradition
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Eppie’s Great Race (otherwise known as the World’s oldest no swim triathlon) concluded after its 45th year on Saturday, July 21, and celebrated its contribution to our area’s history.
Founded by the late Sacramento-area restaurateur/entrepreneur Eppie Johnson in 1974, the race became an annual summertime tradition for elite athletes, fitness enthusiasts and families. This last contest featured a 5.82-mile run, a 12.5-mile bike route and a 6.35-mile kayak paddle held along the scenic American River Parkway. It started and finished at the William B. Pond Recreation Area located at the end of Arden Way.
The race was organized by the Eppie's Great Race Foundation and the primary beneficiary is the Therapeutic Recreation Services Division within the Department of Regional Parks which provides therapeutic recreation opportunities for individuals with disabilities residing in Sacramento County. To date more than one million dollars have been raised for therapeutic recreation services since the race’s inception.
The Foundation and the Johnson family decided to end the Great Race after its 45th year, noting that Eppie was 45 years old when he started the event. While this unique challenge will fade into history, the Foundation will continue to sponsor Eppie’s Kids Duathlon, featuring running and bicycling, for children ages 3 to 13, in the fall – and the Foundation is set up to continue funding Sacramento County Therapeutic Recreation Services despite the triathlon’s demise.
ZZ Top Rocks California State Fair
SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Rock and Roll legends ZZ Top headlined the California State Fair on Thursday night. Papa Murphy’s Park played host to the Billy Gibbons led power trio whose career has spanned nearly five decades.
Formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas, guitarist and lead vocalist Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard have played thousands of gigs together – and still appear to be having fun while up to their old tricks. For a packed house at the State Fair, they knocked out hit after hit, leaving those in attendance reminiscing.
Local musician Michael Ray took the stage early on with nothing but an upside down Strat and his unique voice. He showcased a few originals while also paying homage to the likes of Jimi Hendrix with his rendition of The Wind Cries Mary.
George Thorogood and his band, The Destroyers, then took the stage with usual confidence and theatrics, running through his list of top tracks and setting the mood as the scorching sun set for ZZ Top.
It was a full night of true bluesman at the Fair.
Dignity Home Services: Moving Up While Helping People Who Are Moving Out
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - James Radford, founder and CEO of Dignity Home Services, would like to see his new business succeed. In fact, he truly wants to clean up.
The Missouri native specializes in helping homeowners in transition. When an individual is moving out of their home and needs help with the process, Radford is now the one to call in the greater Sacramento area.
Radford says that he sets his business apart from other home cleaning services through a “solid, precise process.” In one fell swoop, Radford and his colleagues will haul items for residents, as well as clean carpets and windows.
The amiable man of thirty nine understands that his clients, leaving their homes, are often facing a challenging transition. Radford recognizes their situation and makes it his personal mission to help them any way he can. If needed, he will even assist clients with selling, storing, or disposing items removed from their homes. “I take it from a servant’s heart and a servant’s approach,” Radford maintains.
In this process, he emphasizes an expedient manner of serving them. “We do everything,” he proclaims. “What can take people two or three months, we can do in six or seven days.”
Radford started his business when a friend of his fell and broke her hip. She needed to move out of her house immediately for assisted living and turned to James for help. Radford had a background in janitorial service, and was eager to pitch in. “Hey, why don’t we bring a crew out?” he thought, and Dignity Home Services was born. The job was done in five days and Radford was off and cleaning.
That was last February, and he now employs a crew of 10-12 people. The Dignity in Dignity Home Services extends to Radford’s employees as well as his clients. Instead of considering them mere laborers, Radford provides his workers with the opportunity to grow with him. “Everybody’s involved in the business,” he asserts. Radford encourages his associates to literally buy into his vision, giving them the option to become stock holders. What’s more, he lets them in on the company’s internal workings, such as teaching them how to read profit and loss statements.
Radford asserts that this high level of employee involvement is his recipe for long term growth. Thus, the plain talking Eagle Scout from the Show Me State plans to enable his associates to grow their own businesses through franchising. His goal is to build a nationwide company in this manner.
On his road to success, the father of three (Joel is 16, Silas is 12, and Abigail is 4) also involves himself in the Roseville community as an active participant in Boy Scouts Troop #1051. His wife, Kate, serves as Director of Children and Youth for Roseville Baptist Church. She also pitches in to develop their homegrown business.
Dignity Home Services serves the following areas: Carmichael, Citrus Heights, El Dorado Hills, Grass Valley, Orangevale, Rancho Cordova, Rocklin, Roseville, and Sacramento. Radford provides free estimates and can be reached at 916- 247-2425. Online, he can be found at http://www.dignityhomeservices.com.
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - “Buenos días! Lamentablemente, tienes diverticulitis. Debe comer alimentos ricos en fibra y estará bien.”
Imagine knowing no Spanish, yet trying to understand your doctor delivering your test results this way; maybe over the phone. And maybe it’s for a family member, and you’ll have to do your best to explain.
Understanding the language your health care provider speaks is a key component in the outcome of your treatment, according to a landmark 2002 study by the Institute of Medicine. The study was requested by Congress in 1999 in order to assess the extent of disparities in the types and quality of health services received by U.S. racial and ethnic minorities and non-minorities. It concluded that more interpreters should be available in clinics and hospitals to overcome language barriers that may affect the quality of care.
That’s where Language World Services Inc. comes in. An interpreting and translation agency that supports over 200 languages, Language World Services employs over 200 people at locations throughout California, as well as a twenty-person call center in Carmichael.
It all started eighteen years ago in a garage.
Language World Services CEO Bill Glasser’s life had inadvertently prepared him for this career, though it wasn’t always evident. Glasser was born in Spain and raised in LA, where he worked in the heavily Spanish-speaking restaurant industry. Having later moved to Sacramento, Glasser found himself laid off from his job in the Sacramento Bee marketing department, and looking for something to do.
Glasser’s friend, who was renting a room from him, had been volunteering as an interpreter at Schreiner’s hospital on Stockton Boulevard. Despite being called in to volunteer more and more frequently, his friend’s requests for real full-time work from the hospital were consistently rebuffed. That’s when the then-unemployed Glasser recognized the need and started his interpreting business. “We didn’t have any standardization of protocols back then,” Glasser said of the industry. “It was the wild west.”
The majority of Language World Services’ work is in health care and human services. “There isn’t an unimportant call,” says Glasser. “You’re getting a cancer diagnosis, learning your child has a birth defect. As a human being you deserve the right to know what’s going on with your body.”
Immigration naturally plays a huge role in the industry. Glasser’s experience in this realm goes as far back as 1986, when he served as an interpreter for a group of lawyers helping to legalize families when President Reagan passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act.
Things can get especially tricky in this current climate. Individuals and their families’ stories can be heartbreaking, but interpreters are carefully vetted and trained to not take sides. Still, the human element is always a factor, and Glasser is proud of one example where an Indian family was detained at the border and the detention center called for a Punjabi interpreter – a rarity. Plenty of Spanish-speaking interpreters were provided by other agencies, but Language World Services was the one agency able to supply the Punjabi-speaking family with one. Language World Services has also started a program called Language World Serves, which offers volunteer services for ICE detainees and pro bono attorney work.
Technological advances have also altered the translation landscape, though not entirely. Much of the process around the interpreter has become automated, but the actual work is still very low-tech. “A person who speaks two languages brokers the communication,” explains Glasser. While technology companies are dropping millions to create AI that can do the work of the interpreter, speech-to-speech recognition, “The delicate and nuanced electronic activity that the human brain does may not get there,” Glasser maintains.
And there are plenty of problems that technology can’t solve. For instance, Hmong interpreters are harder and harder to come by as they age out of the industry and find new work. Glasser identified young Hmong translators and interpreters as a source of need, and he is always looking to bolster the stable. From first employing form 1099 translators that weren’t tested or trained to now fully vetted employees as staff members at places like University of San Francisco and Children’s Hospital Oakland, Glasser’s focus has always remained on human connection and simplifying the industry. “You understand someone’s language, you have the person,” says Glasser. “My perfect view is to make interpreting professional, to make it not such an exotic boutique service business, but to make it as simple as calling the geek squad.”
Perhaps they can call it the Speak Squad. Then they could tell you, “Good morning! Unfortunately, you have diverticulitis. But if you maintain a high-fiber diet, you’ll be just fine.”
Language World Services Inc. is located at 7220 Fair Oaks Blvd, Carmichael. Call 916-333-547 or visit languageworldservices.com for more information.
Stage Right Productions Presents: The Sweet Taste of Summer
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - On Saturday, July 28th, the Sweet Taste of Summer is back! This annual event, held right at corner of San Juan and Fair Oaks Blvd, features treats from the area’s best bakeries, while guests bid on a host of silent auction items…. to the tunes of a barbershop quartet! All this, and the $35 ticket price includes admission to Stage Right Productions’ fully-staged production of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man!
The Sweet Taste of Summer is an event SRP, a non-profit, has held for years to support community and youth theatre. “We feel very strongly that no child should have to miss out on the wonderful experience of musical theatre just because of his or her economic circumstances,” says SRP Artistic Director, Jenny Krack. To help fund youth scholarships, and provide production equipment for this new community theatre, SRP’s Board is hosting the fun-filled evening which culminates in a full performance of The Music Man. Bakeries donating this year include Mirabelle Cafe, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and Little Bliss Cakery, and Big Spoon Yogurt will be on hand as well!
When the doors open at 6pm, patrons will enjoy music from The Music Man’s barbershop quartet while they nibble on sweets, sip sparkling wine or coffee (with an optional ‘kick’), and bid on auction items which include four one-day Park Hopper passes to Disneyland! Other auction items include B Street Theatre Summer Series Tickets, Music Circus tickets, California Academy of Sciences passes, Scuba Diving certifications, fine art, restaurant gift cards, baskets of goodies and more! A host of raffle items are also on hand, including gift cards to Starbucks, Jamba Juice and literally dozens of local eateries and stores.
At 7:30pm, the fun continues as patrons are treated to the beloved musical, The Music Man. Featuring beautiful costumes, delightful choreography, and a talented community cast that ranges in age from 3 to 70+, this award-winning show is loaded with humor, romance, and some of the most memorable music to hit the stage. From “Wells Fargo Wagon” to “Marian the Librarian,” to “Till There Was You” and “Lida Rose,” it’s truly high quality family entertainment at its best!
For tickets and more information on The Sweet Taste of Summer and The Music Man, please go to www.StageRightProductions.net or call (916) 281-6372.
EVENT INFORMATION SUMMARIZED
Event: Sweet Taste of Summer / The Music Man
Date/Time: Saturday, July 28 • Doors open 6pm • Show starts 7:30pm
Location: Stage Right Production’s performance space behind Faith Lutheran Church
4000 San Juan Ave. (at the corner of Fair Oaks Blvd.) in Fair Oaks, 95628
Ticket Price: $35/person (includes desserts, snacks, beverages, and admission to The Music Man)
Fundraiser Benefits: Scholarships for children to participate in youth theatre, and equipment for SRP’s new non-profit community theatre
For Information: www.StageRightProductions.net or (916) 281-6372
Other Performances of The Music Man
July 20-August 5, 2018
Thur/Fri/Sat evenings at 7:30pm
Sunday matinees at 2pm
Ticket Prices: $5-$15
SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Eric Swanson, 46, of Carmichael, has been appointed deputy director of fiscal services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, where he has been associate director of budget management since 2016. Swanson was deputy director of budget at the California Assembly Republican Caucus from 2010 to 2016, where he was a fiscal consultant from 2008 to 2010. He was principal program budget analyst at the California Department of Finance from 2006 to 2008, where he was a finance budget analyst from 2001 to 2003. Swanson was a fiscal consultant at the California Senate Republican Caucus from 2004 to 2006 and a business analyst at Foster Farms from 2000 to 2001. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $157,476. Swanson is registered without party preference.
Pablo Garza, 44, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the State Mining and Geology Board. Garza has been California director of ecosystems at the Environmental Defense Fund since 2017. He was associate director of state policy and external affairs at the Nature Conservancy from 2011 to 2016, where he was external affairs manager from 2008 to 2010. Garza was a legislative assistant in the Office of California State Senator Dean Florez from 2007 to 2008, associate consultant at the California State Assembly Committee on Business and Professions from 2005 to 2007 and a legislative assistant in the Office of California State Assemblymember Lou Correa from 2003 to 2004. Garza earned a Master of Arts degree in Latin American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Garza is a Democrat.