Tag: charity

Two big March events coming to Balboa Park!

Two huge events are coming to Balboa Park in March. The amazing Cherry Blossom Festival and the epic Thursday Club Rummage Sale are just days away!

Pink cherry blossoms have begun to appear in the Lower Garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden. When the Cherry Blossom Festival opens later this week, walking through the cherry trees will be like walking through a dream. The event always attracts a large crowd. There’s Japanese food and entertainment, too! It’s a good idea to arrive early.

The 2024 Cherry Blossom Festival runs from March 7 – 10. Learn all about it at the JFG website by clicking here.

The second big event is the Annual Rummage Sale of the Thursday Club. For 2024, the rummage sale will be held in the Municipal Gymnasium, which is located between the Comic-Con Museum and the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Arrive early for this one, too! The massive event, billed as San Diego’s Largest Rummage Sale Since 1927, attracts thousands of bargain-seekers. You’ll find gently used furniture, decor, clothing, electronics, collectibles, art, books, music, you name it!

Doors will be open Saturday, March 9, from 9 am to 4 pm. On Sunday, March 10, you can swing by from 10 am to 2 pm. Click the Thursday Club website here to learn more.

Proceeds from the rummage sale go to very good causes:

The Thursday Club, a group of volunteers dedicated to educational, cultural and civic community involvement and leadership for over 100 years in San Diego, has returned almost $2 million to Balboa Park and the community through club activities… Each year, half of the proceeds of the sale go to benefit a variety of programs and projects within Balboa Park, and half goes to support non-profit organizations in the San Diego community.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Spread kindness and love in Escondido!

Your opportunity to spread love and kindness in Escondido is coming in early February!

Love Esco is a community effort kicking off this weekend that offers a range of service projects whereby volunteers beautify and improve Escondido!

Many of the projects require no special skill and provide necessary tools. You can help a food pantry, engage in neighborhood cleanups, donate blood, bake treats for first responders, help create school gardens, provide encouragement… Click here to see all of the volunteering opportunities, then sign up!

The Love Esco Day Kick-Off Party is this Saturday, February 3, 8am-10am at Grape Day Park. You can meet World Cup Champion Shannon MacMillan and radio host Jesse Lozano. There will be giveaways, entertainment and a whole lot of inspiration!

I plan to be there!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Children play in rain, and hope for the homeless.

As it rained in San Diego yesterday, children played hide and seek on a sidewalk near Father Joe’s Villages. The bronze sculptures of small children caught my eye as I rode a bus past the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa, where homeless people transition into permanent housing.

I had discovered the Father Joe Memorial Promenade.

The promenade was completed two years ago. It honors Father Joe Carroll, who during his life helped thousands of unsheltered people in San Diego. His footprints are in the sidewalk. A memorial plaque remembers his unselfish love. There are words to be read on several planters. More plaques can be read near the Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa entrance.

The Father Joe Memorial Promenade and its hopeful sculptures were designed by architect Jowaan Lee from J2 Ventures.

Would you like to follow Father Joe’s footsteps? Will you touch many in San Diego who feel hopeless, and provide hope?

Learn more, and perhaps provide a donation to Father Joe’s Villages on their website here.

THE FATHER JOE CARROLL MEMORIAL PROMENADE

During his 40 years of service in downtown, Father Joe Carroll taught the San Diego community to see those living on the streets as neighbors. Through the eyes of grace, he looked beyond the difficulties of the past and the challenges of the present to believe in a better future for each person he met, and taught others to do the same.

As they beckon us to join in their game of hide and seek, the carefree children playing along this path–Faith, Grace, Hope and Peace–remind us that everyone we encounter was once a child whose life was full of possibility…

Faith sees the light in your heart when all your eyes see is darkness.

Grace silences the past and opens you to the opportunities of a brighter future.

Peace hears the calm within you amid the noise of life.

Father Joe’s Villages has always been about neighbors helping neighbors. This is a place where people from all walks of life–rich and poor, educated and not, needy and well-off–come together as equals to change peoples’ lives. –Father Joe Carroll

In 2013 the Congressional Medal of Honor Society honored Father Joe Carroll as a Citizen Hero for his selfless service and dedication to all…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Lemon Grove Women’s Club history remembered.

An inspiring exhibit at the Lemon Grove Parsonage Museum celebrates friendship and community service. It’s titled Marching Forward.

The history of the Forward Club of Lemon Grove (later known as the Lemon Grove Women’s Club) is detailed with photographs, newspaper clippings and assorted documents. Visitors to the museum can learn about the club’s beginning in early 1913 (when Lemon Grove was a small ranch community) to its “last meeting” in 1998 to its very recent rebirth.

The exhibit describes: The club began, like many of its time, as a place for women to study literature and discuss current events. They didn’t stay inside studying for long; they were soon outside planting trees. In 1922, when the club was just nine years old, they built their own clubhouse… By the 1950s, a time when Lemon Grove was one of the fastest growing communities in the state, the club had 150 members… In 2022 the clubhouse 100th anniversary celebration inspired a group of Lemon Grove women to resurrect the club. They voted to use the historic name, so once again the Forward Club is going about doing good.

Community service that club members have performed over the years include helping the needy, the encouragement of youth, and neighborhood beautification. In addition, cultural events in their old clubhouse brought joy to many.

If you’d like to enjoy a glimpse of Lemon Grove history, and see how a group of pioneering women made (and continue to make) their community a much better place, plan a fun visit to the Parsonage Museum in beautiful Treganza Heritage Park!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Make security blankets to comfort hurting kids!

Do you knit, quilt or crochet? Do you know someone who does?

Project Linus would love your help!

Project Linus gives warm security blankets to hurting kids, particularly those who have cancer or have suffered trauma. The effort is named after the lovable Peanuts comic strip character who carries a security blanket at all times. Project Linus has more than 400 chapters in the United States. Over the years, more than 4.5 million security blankets have been distributed!

The San Diego chapter of Project Linus had a display at last weekend’s Boston Tea Party anniversary event in Chula Vista. I spoke to several ladies and learned about the wonderful things they do. I was told they could always use more volunteers. Even if you don’t knit, quilt or crochet, you can help in other ways, such as donating fabric or transporting blankets.

Please visit this page concerning Project Linus in San Diego. There is contact information near the bottom of the page.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Little Amal walks in San Diego!

Little Amal walked in San Diego today!

The 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child made her way through Balboa Park, from the Old Globe to the San Diego Museum of Art and then down El Prado. Groups of musicians played while Little Amal touched hands with onlookers. A crowd of hundreds surged around the human-activated puppet, phones raised to capture the moment.

Little Amal has been walking around the world. Between 7 September and 26 November 2023, Amal is journeying 9,000 miles across the United States and Mexico in one of the largest free public festivals ever created. She is walking through 40 towns and cities from Boston to San Diego and 7 cities from Tijuana to Tapachula… So far, she has visited 14 countries including Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, the UK, the United States, Poland, Ukraine, Canada and Norway.

Little Amal’s walk is intended to draw attention to the plight of refugees, particularly the displaced children who suffer. The organization Choose Love is raising funds in connection with this amazing international event. If you’d like to donate to the cause of helping refugees, visit their website by clicking here. Donations provide education, food, shelter, emergency medical care, legal assistance and much more for children like Little Amal.

In San Diego, the event was produced with the help of the La Jolla Playhouse. Many smiling Without Walls volunteers carrying colorful umbrellas were in the crowd, distributing fans like the one you see in my photographs.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Sign up for tomorrow’s More Than Pink Walk!

You can still sign up for tomorrow’s Susan G. Komen More Than Pink Walk! I was told this today as I walked through Balboa Park. The headquarters for the big event is being set up along Sixth Avenue, south of Laurel Street, in its usual spot.

If you’d like to help researchers find a cure for breast cancer, and help those who’ve been diagnosed with the disease, check out this website. You can join the 5k walk tomorrow morning (Sunday), become a team member or a sponsor, join the pre-walk festivities, and more! Or you can simply make a donation to Susan G. Komen on their website and help them with their important work.

Tomorrow’s weather in San Diego will be perfect for a walk. Why not join?

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Ukrainian Festival adds joy to Balboa Park!

A lively, joyful celebration of Ukrainian culture was held today in San Diego. The House of Ukraine’s big Ukrainian Festival drew an enthusiastic crowd to the International Cottages in Balboa Park!

Several artists on the lawn smiled and showed their art for sale. A couple of booths raised money for charitable causes. Much of the money raised during the festival would go toward providing relief to war-torn Ukraine.

After grabbing authentic Ukrainian food, such as kovbasa sandwiches and varenyky, families sat on the lawn and watched folk dancing and listened to traditional music.

I took these photographs…

A big crowd gathered at Balboa Park’s International Cottages for the House of Ukraine’s 2023 lawn program.

Sales of treats at one table raised money for the Ukrainian School of San Diego.

Two smiling artists were selling great artwork with a Ukraine theme.

Cheerful artwork by Svitlana Ivasyuk includes sunflowers.

Fun artwork by Orysya Barua includes traditional Ukrainian dress.

The next two people you see were raising money to help Ukraine during its present difficulties.

On the left is Daniel Bondarenko, who was promoting Healing Scalpel. The organization is sending medical supplies to Ukrainian field hospitals during the war.

On the right is artist Kateryna Marchuk. Sales of her art go to emergency supplies for Ukraine. Check out her fine art here.

People walk around the House of Ukraine cottage.

Signs around the cottage concern the invasion of Ukraine and the defense of Freedom.

A big line waits to purchase Ukrainian food during the festival.

Lots of tasty items on the menu!

Some crafts and souvenirs for sale. Money raised helps Ukraine.

House of Ukraine’s rock band u3zubmusic performs before the 2 o’clock cultural program begins.

Chamber Music Ensemble of the University of San Diego performs the Ukrainian National Anthem and other traditional songs on stage.

Here come the folk dancers! They are the Chervona Kalyna Ukrainian Dance Group out of Los Angeles.

Performing a joyful Welcoming Dance.

A hospitable welcome includes a big loaf of bread!

Young people dressed as Cossacks arrive.

Ukrainians love dancing!

The audience is then treated to traditional Bandura music.

Soulful singing during the 2023 Ukrainian Festival in San Diego!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Real superheroes fight human trafficking!

Wearing a superhero costume is fun. But would you like to become a genuine superhero?

Help spread the word about human trafficking and join the effort to end it!

I met several superheroes today at Comic-Con who are doing just that. They are informing people that human trafficking is a serious problem in San Diego.

What is human trafficking? The SAFE San Diego website explains: Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where perpetrators profit from the sexual exploitation and/or forced labor of men, women and children. It is a violation of basic human rights, and it is also a crime as defined by U.S. federal law and California state law. Furthermore, San Diego was identified by the FBI as of the top 13 high intensity child prostitution areas.

This same website explains how to identify possible human trafficking and what you should do if you spot it. It’s good to be informed, because you never know.

Please visit the SAFE San Diego website and spend a minute or two learning what you can. And spread the word! You’ll become a real superhero!

You may end up saving someone’s life.

If you expand the following image, you should be able to read it…

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I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Young person’s concert in Balboa Park to help homeless!

Eva Mather, young vocalist, singer and actress, will be performing in San Diego at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park on Friday, November 24, 2023. Her concert will benefit a project that helps those who are homeless.

Today she sang the National Anthem at Balboa Park’s International Cottages, as the “Independence Day of United States of America” program began. Her powerful voice soared.

Eva has performed at diverse events around San Diego–most recently at the San Diego County Fair. She is also a Princess representing the House of China of the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages.

Youthful optimism, energy and ambition will be taking the stage! Why not make a note on your calendar?

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!