It took forever to come up with the name of this column. It's supposed to be about the community, local activities and fundraisers, what's happening around town, who's done good.
I thought of the stereotypical -- talk of the town, hot topics, what's happening. But those seemed too trite. I asked for suggestions and got some interesting (read scary) ideas that just didn't work for me.
Finally, after hemming and hawing for a few weeks, I decided to just go with the simple. The name Good Words, Good Works came to mind. But that was a little long. So I just picked the obvious. This column is supposed to be a compilation of good news. So that's what we're calling it -- Good News.
Speaking of good works, people have the chance to support a local private school and pick up some interesting and unique items as well. Holy Spirit School will offer its annual Silent/Live Auction on Nov. 21 to benefit school programs. The auction offers a host of items from trips and services to unique offerings from classes and students.
To donate or for more information, call 422-5016.
Marlie Bolin of Vacaville knows her way around good work, too. She just won the Stukes Scholarship for the 2009-10 academic year at Agnes Scott College for women. Stukes scholars rank first in their academic class. Bolin is the daughter of Mark and Alana Bolin.
The Solano Irrigation District is looking for scholars, too. Earlier this year SID won the Clair A. Hill Award for excellence in water management and innovation from the Association of California Water Agencies. (Congrats for that, by the way.) As part of that award, SID will administer the Clair A. Hill Scholarship for the 2010-11 academic year. This $5,000 scholarship is for college junior and seniors committed to careers in water resources or related fields.
For more information about the scholarship, visit http://www.sidwater.org or call 455-4080. Deadline for applications is Feb. 1, 2010.
Speaking of a ton of money (well, $5,000 is a ton of money to me), the Solano Community Foundation continues its award-giving ways by distributing more than $27,000 in mini-grants to Solano County teachers. It's given out more than $245,000 in grants since 2000.
The 59 teachers from throughout the county will receive grants of $70 to $500 for various projects including $441 to Earl Handa for his third grade science class at Anna Kyle; $500 to Connie Laurie for a history project with her fifth grade class at Cleo Gordon; $460 to Eddie Monachello for a science and writing project for his kindergarten class at Rolling Hills; and $70 to Linda Loulon to buy dictionaries for her seventh grade English class at Green Valley. And the list goes on.
All of these grants come from donations made to the foundation. So good work to all of you in the community who took the time and made the effort to contribute.
And now we have some good times. Trish Gibson of Fairfield is hosting her 15th Annual Clothes Swap Saturday. All her girlfriends come over to her house and bring items they're tired of including clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry and perfume. After shopping and swapping, they all walk out with a new wardrobe.
At least they hope to walk out with the wardrobe they wore coming in. A few times people having taken off a pair of shoes or a coat to try something else on -- and someone grabs those shoes and thinks they have a new pair. The rightful owner is eventually found amid much laughter.
Any leftover jeans get made into quilts, leftover business attire and the like get taken to Oakland or Concord for the Wardrobe for Opportunity program to help people looking for jobs and any else goes to the Cerebral Palsy organization.
Sounds like good times and good works are had by all.
Do you have some good news? Let us know. Send your news to Kathleen L'Ecluse, Daily Republic, 1250 Texas St., Box 47, Fairfield, CA 94533, or e-mail klecluse@dailyrepublic.net. Put Good News on the envelope or in the subject line.