Community leaders look ahead to the new year
Public safety and economy concerns weigh heavily on officials
While the issues that plagued us in 2020 will still be with us in the new year, plenty of local residents were happy to show the old year the door. Community leaders are expressing cautious optimism about what 2021 has in store for the South Bay as the pandemic wears on.
“As a city, we’re working hard to keep our residents safe while taking into account the many understandable concerns relating to the economy, our schools and our local businesses,” says Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul. “City Hall is responding well. Thanks to a great deal of foresight and work by our staff and community, we were, for instance, able to transition to remote work quickly.”
Staff at West Valley Community Services had to transition quickly and often as the pandemic progressed to meet the growing need for food and rental assistance. As of April 29, almost two months into the year’s first “shelter in place” order, the Cupertino-based organization — which serves low-income families in Cupertino, Saratoga, West San Jose, Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, as well as to students at West Valley and De Anza colleges — had 302% more new clients and 220% more requests for rental assistance compared to this time last year.
Executive director Josh Selo says WVCS has been able to keep up with the demand thus far, although it’s meant several changes in how the organization collects and distributes food. In September WVCS unveiled its new mobile food pantry, dubbed the “Park-it Market,” and moved to temporary digs in The Oaks shopping center. At both locations, clients can choose the food they want. COVID-19 restrictions had forced WVCS to pre-bag food for clients, something staff wanted to get away from.
“As we look ahead over the next few months, we are anticipating that demand for food and rental assistance will continue to grow, and that West Valley Community Services will be called to help even more people facing food and housing insecurity,” Selo says. “With the impact of COVID expected to continue at least through the first half of 2021, we expect the flow of food and rental support to continue much as it has since this all began back in March.
“As the end of the eviction moratorium looms ever closer, we are worried about the potential of a tsunami of evictions, threatening family safety and stability throughout the region,” Selo adds. “We are working closely with our clients and our community partners in the hopes that we can avoid such a dire situation from happening.”
Rotary Club of Cupertino helped prevent the coronavirus from spreading through the local community by delivering protective masks in April to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, Sunnyview Retirement Community in Cupertino, the Cupertino Union School District, Fremont Union High School District and El Camino Hospital. In July Rotary partnered with the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce’s “Cupertino Together” program to serve meals to those in need during the pandemic.
The club took steps to ensure that members and volunteers who stepped up to help were recognized for their efforts.
“Cupertino Rotary adapted to serve our community during this pandemic and expanded to recognize those serving others via our Kindness Counts program,” says club president Stuart Rosenberg. “As we begin 2021, our members look forward to continuing to serve, focusing on those most affected during these difficult times.”
There is, of course, hope that the difficult times will soon be in the rear-view mirror. Rachel Zlotziver, communications coordinator for the Fremont Union High School District, says, “We are looking forward to any and all opportunities to bring back those students that we know are struggling or not engaged with the distance learning environment for a variety of reasons.
“While the majority of FUHSD students will continue with distance learning for the first six weeks of the second semester, we are hoping to move forward with our plans to bring small cohorts of students back to our campuses for instructional support when we return in January,” Zlotziver adds. “As we bring students back to our campuses, we will be utilizing the safety protocols that we shared with our families before the Thanksgiving holiday.”
In the meantime, the mayor exhorts residents to stay safe and healthy.
“We very much look forward to that time in the not-so-far-off future when we can welcome the community back to normalcy,” Paul says.
Contact Anne Gelhaus at 408-200-1051.