I love being a BUILD mentor. Once a week, you and two other mentors meet with a group of 4-5 high…read moreschool students and help them develop a business idea. They create a PowerPoint presentation, participate in 3 showcases and submit a written business plan based on their product. This culminates into a business plan competition where they compete against other BUILD teams from nearby high schools. It's held at Stanford's GSB and is a huge accomplishment for the kiddos. My team Star Mentality came in 2nd place and it was amazing to see them present their product with poise, maturity, and humor. The memorable moments include taking them out on a Saturday looking for outfits to wear at the competition or eating dinner with them at Chili's prepping for the showcases. The kids made this an amazing experience. I've volunteered with Big Brothers and Big Sisters since high school and this is an equally awesome program. So awesome, I'm returning as an E2 mentor. I'm getting my team ready to meet a real venture capitalist in order to secure funding to start their business. If you can't commit to mentoring, volunteer to be a tutor. You'll love it!

BUILD is one of the most well funded, connected and professionally run non-profits I've…read moreencountered. I found them through the Cisco Volunteer Fair and what stood out compared to the other after-school program is their huge college acceptance rate and their approach using entrepreneurship to incentivize students that are just bouncing at school. They have branches in the East Bay and Peninsula and I know people who are very dedicated to the cause. Their Peninsula office looks like a tech startup. I signed up to be a mentor. To be a mentor is like applying to school and job all over again. You have a phone interview, need to provide references, and write essays on why you want to be a part of BUILD. They do a background check on you because you're working with children. I volunteered on the Peninsula E1 with Woodside High School paired with a co-mentor with 5 students. Jacyln, the BUILD rep, was there every day and a great resource for us and Mr Moses, the teacher was a great person to reign in the kids. Being a mentor is an exercise time, patience, frustration and exuberance while you're crafting a product, business plan and presentation with them. At the end their hard work is presented at the BPC at Stanford School of Education in a huge hurrah! For Peninsula, if you want a more established system, go to the Sequoia High. But if you want to work with underdogs and be more unscripted then go to Woodside or Carlmont High. The other mentors are very talented and dedicated to the cause. We drive an hour and a half across the bridge from work each Thursday in order to be here. We spend more time on the road we do with our mentees but it's definitely worth it. If we could do this next year we will definitely do the E2-E4 class at their main office which is closer to the 101 Freeway.

There website is usmission1962.org This will take you to…read morethe proper site They are a 502c3 organization listed. With the secretary of State of California. They are a legitimate Organization Helping people to get off the streets and back to work

This agency has two separate locations....San Jose and Carmichael, CA (Sacramento County). They are…read morea Legit nonprofit that have been around for decades, providing a solution to homeless men. They have helped 100s of individuals smoothly transition from living on the street to the hope of à job and housing. While there is a need for some improvement (i e better website, option to donate online, etc.), these deficiencies do NOT negate their authentic existence nor their positive impact on the homeless population. If you happen to meet one of their representatives in your neighborhood, who will be carrying the proper documents, please consider providing a generous donation.

This is a great educational place! Just recently renovated in 2012, nearly everything is made of…read morerecycled material! The carpet is made from the fiber of recycled soda bottles and the insulation is made of shredded jeans! Crazy huh? The organization that made the EcoCenter happen is called Environmental Volunteers. Their goal is to teach kids the importance of preserving the environment. They hold many children friendly activities, such as, bird viewing and nature hikes. The EcoCenter is offer High-tech education. They have newly installed touch-screen computers that teach visitors about the marshlands surroundings and other ecosystems found all over the world. Every few months the theme of these educational programs change. The volunteers are also very nice people. They seem genuinely eager to help you learn about what the EcoCenter is all about. If you have a gazillion questions, they have the patience to answer them all for you, as well as, give you a tour of the place. Oh, and it is charge-free to enter, although donations are welcomed.

This organization positively impacts our local children and our community. Environmental Volunteers…read moreis very effective in fulfilling their mission to promote understanding of, and responsibility for, the environment through hands-on science education. What inspired me to learn more about the EV was their vision, that all children will learn about and be inspired by the natural world so that they become responsible stewards of the Earth. The volunteers, some of whom have spent 30 years or more with the EV, make such a difference in the lives of our local kids; and, they help our teachers who are strapped for resources for science-based education. Our children and community need these volunteers who are engaged in innovative environmental science education that improves student learning.

Now I'm all set.. EHP is Pawsome. Started getting furniture in january 2025 and now i have a full…read morehouse in March. High quality, free delivery to certain areas... Compassionate and kind EHP staff. And I also want to Thank the people who donate to EHP ...community working together.

I have donated many things to EHC because I know they are doing good and helpful work for the local…read morecommunity. I have always experienced kind help when I am donating. Many volunteers there, bless their hearts!

We are super grateful to have a place like Ronald McDonald! My daughter is recovering from a heart…read moresurgery and getting ready for a heart transplant. Being local to Stanford is necessary just in case of an emergency and this place is a blessing to us! I do have to say this place needs more cameras to avoid disguising people making a mess everyone! I hate entitled people who think they can make a mess and have someone clean it up. The staff is always super friendly. We are raising funds for a heart transplant please reach out to me directly for information on how you can help us share the fundraiser link. Just sharing it in your social media will help us enormously!

Really nice place for families that need a place while children are in the hospital. Place Is…read moreclean and has great resources

Joined "Lawn Be Gone Bike Tour" led by Gary Hedden of Green Town. The tour was very well organized…read moreand provided good information. Some of the yards were so gorgeous they were inspirational...lots of flowers and lots of color with very little water. The landscape architect of one of the yards explained the process of getting the state rebate ($2 a square foot, $4 in Palo Alto) for removing lawns. This information will end up saving us money. We did not know that you had to have a water department audit of your lawn before you started the process of of removing it. We had already turned off the water to let it die. After learning about the process we are getting an audit immediately while the lawn is still alive, and we will be able to qualify for the rebate. Consequently, this pleasant morning on a bike will end up saving us a couple of thousand dollars!! Five stars!!

Thanks for the awesome "Lawn Be Gone" tour! I really enjoyed meeting other locals, using our bikes…read moreto tour around town (found a few new shortcuts I'll use in the future), and of course the tour was fantastic. Discovered some great ways to save water and to plan better for future landscaping. Thanks for providing such an important service for our community.

Great services provided for low income and marginalized groups. I appreciate the food distribution…read moreand back to school backpacks for the kids. More importantly I'm grateful for the ESL classes and the Community Leader program lead by Paulina Zapata. However, it's a shame that she is no longer there due to budget cuts. Her work ethics and commitment to the Sunnyvale Community Services Mission has enabled great programs to develop, especially within the Latino community leading to receiving numerous awards. Leadership should truly take a good look at themselves and their decision making, because this was definitely a hasty decision made on their part.

I came here to donate time to pack food for people in need. It seems like a bunch of local…read morecompanies donate their time. When I was there, a group of employees from Salesforce was there. All in all, it was a great volunteering opportunity. Come with clothes you don't mind getting dirty; bring drinks and expect that this will take several hours.

It is entirely the case that the elegant external manifestation of the David & Lucile Packard…read moreFoundation mirrors the internal core of its mission to improve the world through the enlivening power of spontaneous philanthropy. There is nothing pretentious about the physical appearance of the well-endowed foundation's headquarters in downtown Los Altos. It is the largest net zero building in the entire state of California. This is sustainable citizenship done 100% right. The building materials reflect the core principles of green product design: wood, stone, metal, & glass. The landscaping includes abundant native plants and drought tolerant features. Branding is nonexistent. Next door, there is a gas station and clothing diversion bin. A few steps away is a locally owned hardware store and a grocery store. While it is private land, there is a single public bench where visitors can sit and admire the near perfect asymmetric architecture that reveals as much as it hides in publicly visible seclusion. Truly, I would love to come to work everyday at a structure this well designed, maintained, and organized.