Freedom Flight
The twilight sky is amber with hints of rust from the late summer sun. Towering 300-year-old oak trees canopy the expansive lawn. We gather at the edge of a grass knoll overlooking acres of lush grape vines laden with fruit almost ripe for fall harvest. Everyone is still.
Debby Duvall, a volunteer with the Wildlife Care Association, stands before us with two plastic pet carriers, each holding an orphaned barn owl. A young guest is her assistant for the evening. They both don heavy leather falconry gloves. Unlatching the first carrier’s metal door, Duvall gently pulls out the imprisoned bird, and instructs her guest assistant to grip the owl’s legs while she holds the bird in position for release, the owl’s fierce talons gripping the sturdy gloves for balance.
Step Up For Justice
When Patricia Sturdevant sees a problem in her community, she doesn’t just notice—she acts. When the Land Park resident saw excess citrus on the trees that line Sacramento streets—fruit that could go to hungry mouths—she did something about it.
Sturdevant has been on the pages of Inside Sacramento before for her work with the Land Park Community Association’s partnership with Harvest Sacramento, a collaborative project that gathers surplus citrus—fruit that would otherwise go to waste—to feed the underserved.
The Power of Art
“We all have different needs,” Ali Tucker Lichtenstein says. “One of mine is to be of service and give back. Everyone at Women’s Wisdom is here because it fulfills something.”
Lichtenstein is the executive director and board chair of Women’s Wisdom Art, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable art classes in a safe, nurturing environment for women overcoming poverty, homelessness, violence and abuse in the community. Founded in 1991 by Laura Ann Walton as part of Maryhouse (a daytime hospitality shelter for homeless women and children), the program was operated under the wing of Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services from 2000 until 2012, then as a nonprofit corporation under the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, and then, as of June 2016, as an independent 501(c)3.
Off The Streets
A new way to manage the homeless problem is making its way across California. It’s called civil conservatorship for the chronically unsheltered, and it’s gaining traction.
In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 40, which enhanced existing laws that allow three counties to obtain conservatorships over mentally ill homeless people who can’t care for themselves. For now, the law is limited to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. It’s time to expand the scope and reach of civil conservatorships.
