Through Monday, Nov. 25, local residents can participate in an international effort to support the less fortunate during the holiday season, thanks to Central Baptist Church of Alameda. The church has agreed to serve as a drop-off location for “Operation Christmas Child,” a program that delivers gift-filled shoeboxes to children in more than 160 countries and territories during the holidays.
The 2019 Alameda Firefighters Toy giveaway program is getting underway. The city-wide program is a partnership of the Alameda Firefighters, Alameda Food Bank, Alameda Red Cross Youth, Alameda Community Connections for Youth and their Families, Christ Episcopal Church and other community organizations. The program assures that all low-income Alameda families who sign up at the Alameda Food Bank will receive age-appropriate holiday toys for their children ages 0 to 12 and gift cards for their youth ages 13 to 17.
Alameda Scouts like Hayley (left) and Austin Britton fanned out across the Island last Saturday to leave doorhangers about the annual Scouting for Food drive. The Scouts will pick up donations of canned goods, pasta, cereal and other non-perishable foods this Saturday, Nov. 16, for the more than 2,100 families who receive assistance from the Alameda Food Bank (AFB). The goal is to exceed last year’s donations totaling 13,000 pounds of food. In addition, Island residents may bring frozen turkeys to AFB at 1900 Thau Way (corner of Atlantic and Constitution) between 10 a.m.
This Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8 and 9, and next Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15 and 16, at 7:30 p.m. Encinal Junior-Senior High School students will present Louisa Mae Alcott’s classic Little Women. The school’s fall play tells the story of the four March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy and their mother, as they struggle to keep their family going while their father is away fighting the Civil War.
“The Butterfly Effect: Migration is Beautiful” (“Students’ Butterflies to Visit Nation’s Capitol,” Oct. 24); a project started in part by Alamedan Kaia Marbin, 11, will host a rally in solidarity with 15,000 detained migrant children on Saturday, Nov. 16, from 3 to 4 p.m. at Lake Merritt Amphitheater, between 12th Street and 1st Avenue in Oakland.
