Volunteers Give Back

The garden at Eskaton Village Carmichael is more than a beautiful place for residents to grow plants. It’s a place to get outside and connect with nature and each other.

Helen Root has headed up the gardening committee for five of the seven years she’s lived at Eskaton. Under her leadership, the garden expanded in size and mission.

“One of the first things I did when I was elected in 2021 was update our mission statement,” Root says. “The one I inherited was so straightforward: We rent boxes and fees are used to buy supplies. We do so much more than that! The revision became: We develop camaraderie with one another, encourage other residents to come through and enjoy nature and make it a real experience.”

Sacramento and its sister city Jinan, in China’s Shandong Province, are similar. Both are capitals, both have rivers and both share rich cultural scenes. Grace Liu knows this firsthand.

Liu is a Jinan native. She attended Shandong University before coming to Sacramento State¬. The J Street campus was the only U.S. school she applied to, due to its sister city status. She earned a master’s degree in management information science.

When Liu arrived in 1996, she was contacted by the Jinan-Sacramento Sister Cities Corporation, a nonprofit set up in 1984 to “foster mutual understanding, cultural awareness and friendship” between Sacramento and Jinan.

On the water, rowers can’t think about much else. Rhythm and teamwork take concentration. Or as Shari Lowen puts it, when you’re in the boat, you’re in the boat.

This works for Lowen and her fellow ROWsist members. Lowen founded ROWsist rowing group within the River City Rowing Club in 2023 for cancer survivors like herself.

She wanted to “give people who’ve been through cancer an opportunity to use their bodies and minds” along with “the community and emotional aspect of doing something together.”

Here’s what happens when 100 or more women each donate $1,000 and pool the money.

They define “power in numbers.” And they make a difference with transformational grants.

The dollars, gathered by a group called Impact100 Greater Sacramento, support nonprofits in five focus areas: arts and culture, environment, health and wellness, education, and family.

“One thousand dollars helps, but when we collectively pool our resources together, we’re able to do even greater things,” chapter President Sarina Paulson says. “It’s really good to know as a member that yes, I donated $1,000, but 391 other women also donated $1,000, so collectively my $1,000 has morphed into $452,000 (with a matching campaign). I went to six site visits this year and I can tell you firsthand the good that is going to do.”

The historic Nisei War Memorial Community Center is returning to life, thanks to dozens of local volunteers.

The restoration of the Downtown center—known as Nisei Hall—is led by Debbie Eto and Dr. Michael Luszczak.

Eto is vice president of the Japanese American Citizens League, which bought the building with VFW Nisei Post 8985, a Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter created for Japanese American veterans after World War II.

The house with the 6-foot banner, poems and illustrations on Ninth Avenue near the zoo belongs to Lance Pyle. Stop and say hello. He’s happy to see you.

Pyle has displayed banners, original poetry and drawings in front of his house since 2023. His goal is to bring joy to the neighborhood.

“Every once in a while, someone stops and reads and I catch them on my Ring,” Pyle says.