It was a sweltering summer day in 2022 when county Animal Control Officer Jessica Solano responded to a call about a dog named Bowbii.
Bowbii, a 170-pound Caucasian shepherd living outside, was severely malnourished, immobile and covered with maggot-filled skin infections.
“It was the most challenging call I have ever done,” Solano says. “The dog needed urgent medical care and the owner had failed to provide that care.”
“Everybody talks about having a green thumb, as though that implies it takes something special to make things grow,” Henry Wirz says. “Anyone can have a green thumb. A garden is not that difficult if you do the basics. And once you start, you develop a lot of confidence.”
Wirz uses his green thumbs to beautify the garden and help residents at The Salvation Army’s E. Claire Raley Transitional Living Center. It’s a place where struggling families get back on their feet through structured programs and safe housing.
You probably know the environmental three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Recycling is most familiar, but reducing has the biggest impact. Alex Aruj is determined to help Sacramentans learn how.
“I watched the documentary ‘The Story of Plastic’ and I was shocked and outraged at the environmental degradation going on through the lens of the plastic waste crisis,” says Aruj, a former Bay Area resident who moved to East Sacramento in 2020.
It’s illegal in California to deprive an animal of food, water or shelter.
It’s a crime to tether or chain a dog to a stationary object for longer than three hours in a 24-hour period. It’s against the law to allow that rope or chain to become entangled.
Are unhoused people exempt from these laws? Their dogs are denied food, water, shelter and the ability to move freely on a daily basis.
When the Sacramento Greek Festival returns for its 60th year Oct. 6–8 at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation across from McKinley Park, it won’t just be a celebration of Greek food, music and culture.
It will be a celebration of decades—and generations—of community.
“Everyone has something to do,” says Sophie Theodore, one of the festival’s longest-serving volunteers. “Some people make the sweets, some do the main dishes, someone makes sure the rice isn’t mushy. We even have the teenagers clean the tables.”
