Page 29 - Sonoma County Gazette - August 2018

What’s Hatching at the PGrove Hatchery?
Rotary Dinner – For the kids!
Inquiring minds want to know what the action is at Penngrove Hatchery, so I talked with Dr. Bonita Bergin, president and CEO of Bergin College / University of Canine Studies. The group purchased the Green Mill building, but until permits and details of that site are worked out, they reside at the Hatchery with 10 staff members and groups of students at different times.
Brewsters Beer Garden will host “For the Children” pasta dinner on Monday, August 6, starting at 5 p.m. This is being put on by Petaluma’s Rotary Clubs, which include Petaluma Rotary, Petaluma Sunrise Rotary, and Petaluma Valley Rotary, all of which will donate baskets for raffle and the silent auction.
Bergin invented the concept of the Service Dog to assist people with mobility limitations in 1975. At that time, she founded Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), the first nonprofit to train and place Service Dogs.
“Admission includes a full pasta dinner with salad, bread and dessert, and the option to purchase refreshments from Brewester’s. Entertainment for the evening will be provided entirely by young people—on behalf of the young people of the world” and will include the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers, the Keeney Triplets performing music of the Shetland Isles along with Irish dancing. The O’Brien Center for the Arts will also present dancers, and Chris Newton and Son will be playing the ukulele.
After leaving CCI In 1991, Bergin founded the Assistance Dog Institute, which was formally designated a university in early 2004. Today, the
growing Bergin University of Canine Studies is the only university dedicated to teaching service dog trainers in the world.
“All proceeds will be used by each of the participating Rotary clubs to fund
a variety of global service projects aimed at benefiting children. All proceeds will be used by each of the participating Rotary clubs to fund a variety of global service projects aimed at benefiting children. Some examples of past and present Rotary club’s projects benefitting children include: Third Grade Dictionary Project (Sonoma County), Teacher Micro Grants (Sonoma County), Funded Shelter for Abused Children in Nepal, Clean Water Project in Uganda, provided text books, computers, and supplies for schools in Uganda, Sponsoring children in Uganda so they can attend secondary school and college, Built School in Dominican Republic, Installing solar power systems in Guatemala so students can study at night, More Hear More-Quito in Ecuador, detection and training to navigate hearing problems, NewGen Peacbuilders-Tandil, Argentina, youth peace education, and Agroecological Farm-La Esperanza Parish, Ecuador. Tickets are available at EventBrite.com.
The unique organization brings dogs into an academic area of study. It is accredited
by the U.S Department of Education as both a College and a University to grant Associate, Bachelors, and Masters degrees.
In August, the bustle begins again, when Bergin welcomes groups of students into three programs: 10 in Associate, 20 in Bachelors and 15 in Masters.
Bergin University student trains a service dog.
Students study to become dog trainers and/or teach others how to train. Fourteen seminar students were in a 7-week seminar this summer. They trained a litter of puppies, worked with three mock clients,
Petaluma Friends of the Library puts on a quarterly book sale, and is looking for volunteers, although obviously, customers are more than welcome too. The sale itself runs over two weekends, with the kid’s book sale running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, August 10, and a follow-up half-price sale on Saturday, August 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The following week/weekend is
the “adult” sale, although there are also plenty of kids books for sale then too. Starting Wednesday, August 15 at 4 p.m., the doors open to one of the best book sales you’ll find around. It runs on Thursday and Friday too, then wrapping up on Saturday with a clearance sale. New books are added daily through Friday. On Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1:50 p.m., all books are half-priced, and from 2
to 5 p.m., you get to fill an entire shopping bag with books, for just $2! While
I was back in school, I used to volunteer both for set-up and to help at the
sale, and always enjoyed it a lot. They have plenty of volunteer opportunities petalumalibraryfriends.org/signmeup or call Anita Greene at (707) 762-5003 if you have time to help. Shifts are short, fulfilling, and you get to preview all the books so you can find a few things for yourself. Personally, I find it cheaper to buy books at the sale, read them, and then donate them back than to check out books from the library, which inevitably get returned late, which means late fees.
and did matching and placement of dogs. Puppies are at the site during the day, and with their foster families on weekends and nights. A graduation ceremony was held July 21.
Bergin is also president and CEO of a nationwide Paws for Purple Hearts (see pawsforpurplehearts.org). The distinguished Dr. Bergin has been honored with numerous awards including the prestigious Presidential Points of Light Award; Oprah Winfrey’s “Use Your Life Award”.
Fishman Runs for 2nd Term on SRJC Board
I’m glad to see that my neighbor, Maggie (Margaret) Fishman, will run for a second term on the SRJC Board of Trustees. She joined the Board in 2014 and quickly evolved into a leader. She is serving her second term as Chair of the Board. The retired educator and long time Penngrove resident represents District 2 (Petaluma, Penngrove, the Lakeville corridor, south-western Sonoma county and a small portion of Marin County). Maggie has been involved in assessing the student housing crisis and working towards a solution. She has been active in planning and executing SRJC’s capital improvement programs funded by Measure H—the $410 million bond act approved by the voters in 2014.
120th Anniversary Celebration
Penngrove Community Church celebrates a big milestone on Sunday, August 19th from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm at Penngrove Park. An outdoor church service at 10:30 am is followed by a free chicken BBQ at 12:30 pm. The event harkens back to the origins of the church in 1897 when the Thompson Brothers came to Penngrove to hold revival meetings in a tent. Imagine that outdoor gathering, more than 120 years ago. The church was built in 1898 and is in need of new paint and structural support. Donations for building maintenance will be accepted at this event. Free tickets for BBQ must be ordered in advance.
Call 795-5919 to reserve or go to Brown Paper tickets and search Penngrove Community Church.
New Postmaster in Town
It’s official. Penngrove has a new Postmaster, Astrid Shishkin Hill. She’s
a familiar presence at our P.O. for the last 5 yrs. And has served on and off
as Officer In Charge 2.5 years. She’ll will be sworn in as Postmaster in mid- August. Astrid is super knowledgeable about the kooky ins and outs of delivery in our area, so take your questions to her. Our P.O. serves some 1,370+ patrons, including more than 300 box holders. of the 500 total boxes. She’s a single mom of a 19-year old son and lives in the outskirts of Petaluma.
Petaluma Historic Library and Museum is running their “Saturday Walking Tours”, with costumed docents, through downtown Petaluma, through October. The tours start at 10:30 a.m. each Saturday on the steps of the Museum at 4th & B streets, and although free, I highly encourage you to make a donation. Better yet, join the museum. It’s inexpensive and will help preserve this gem for generations to come. Additionally, it will give you special perks, like discounts to concerts, as well as premium lawn seating for the Butter & Egg Day’s Parade.
And for just a little more than the standard membership, you can get the reciprocity membership. This gives you access to hundreds of museums around the U.S., included most in Sonoma County, like the Pacific Coast Air Museum, Snoopy, Museum of Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Napa Valley Museum, the Petaluma Art Center, and even the di Rosa Center
for Contemporary Art. Also included in this membership are others of our favorites, including S.F.’s Walt Disney, USS Pampanito, Asian Art, de Young, Legion of Honor, Sacramento’s Rail, Automobile, and Crocker museums, and Renoux’s Nevada Museum of Art. And because our museum’s membership
is cheaper than most of the big guys, this means you’ll get a screamin’ deal on getting into all those other museums too. (visit narmassociation.org to see all the museums included in the reciprocity membership.)
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