Just when it seemed as if 2020 would never end it finally passed, “not with a bang but a whimper,” into the murky annals of history. Although it seemed as though no year could bring such turmoil and travail as did 2020, 2021 is doing its best to keep up with its progenitor. Only one week into this spanking new year demonstrates that 2021 has definitely started with a bang, and a big one at that!

Already a year fraught with changes, not all of them have been unwelcome. Although experiencing a drier winter than normal, we denizens of the Sierra foothills can breathe more easily as another grave fire season is behind us. Fields and meadows are greening up nicely. Ponds are slowly refilling and puddles dot the landscape. The earth is softer underfoot. The winter holidays behind us, we can breathe a collective sigh of relief, albeit a brief one, before striking out into a world unknown and a path untrodden as we welcome a new year.

The pandemic has been a catalyst for change at the San Juan Ridge Family Resource Center. Since last spring we have adapted and re-adapted to an ever-changing list of mandates and precautions while trying to remain sensitive to the needs of our community. Balancing need and caution we have reworked ways of delivering services, namely distributing food and clothing, to our community.

Twin Ridges Elementary School District has generously made the old Oak Tree Kitchen available for use as a new and improved food pantry. For years the Oak Tree kitchen was filled with mouth-watering aromas of freshly baked bread and granola bars, simmered soups and stews, roasted chicken and pasta casseroles to serve to generations of hungry school children. When the student population was moved to Grizzly Hill the kitchen fell into disuse. For several years it sat unused, then experienced a renaissance as local entrepreneurs used it as a place to make organic fudge, hummus, salsa, pesto, jams, pickles and other value-added foods for market. One by one, the entrepreneurs moved elsewhere, leaving the little kitchen empty for years.

Enter the San Juan Ridge Family Resource Center. For close to a decade, the FRC had been using a small closet-sized space on the Oak Tree Campus as a food pantry. From that tiny space we were able to feed our community with an abundance of foods donated by the Food Bank of Nevada County, local farmers, and goodhearted friends and neighbors. Concurrently, we stopped delivering services because of covid19 and the destruction of the pantry’s metal door by a mysterious vandal. Although the door was eventually replaced, we had begun thinking that the time might be right to move into a larger space that afforded more food storage. At their spring board retreat, the Twin Ridges School Board of Trustees, with the support of District Superintendent Melissa Madigan, generously extended permission to use the kitchen as a new and improved food pantry for the San Juan Ridge.

With the great help of NCSOS’s Laura Harter, a request for grant monies from Nevada County’s Covid Relief Fund was made. Once the funds were received, we were able to set to work. Contractor Ed Acosta made some badly needed repairs to the building’s ceiling. Firefighter/groundskeeper, Shawn Olson pressure washed the roof and exterior walls of the little building and relocated our major appliances. Jess Nix raked a perimeter around the building and removed loads of oak leaves. Sunshine Bender and Jessica Martines hauled truckloads of trash, including a broken refrigerator, from the site. Cleaner Christiana Stroud made the place shine. With the magic of paint, Kristin and Diana have transformed drab brown interior walls to a lovely shade of blue.

We opened the OAK TREE PANTRY on Tuesday, January 19th. We plan to be open for food distribution 10am-2pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. Patrons will be unable to enter the pantry, but will be invited to select foods from a menu posted on the exterior of the building. Nevada County’s Food Bank will continue to distribute groceries at the Oak Tree site on the second Tuesday of every month, 10am-noon. During the Food Bank’s monthly drive-thru distributions, the Oak Tree Pantry will not be open as parking will not be available at that time.

In addition to opening a new and improved food pantry we will be opening a new and improved clothes closet. Operating during the same hours as the food pantry, Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am-2pm, the Clothes Closet has also expanded into a bigger space. Originally designed for use as a school library, the room was also used for years as a classroom, then by the FRC as a games room and Art Camp’s music room. Now the room is filled with gently used clothing for every member of the family. We especially have LOTS of beautiful clothes for babies.

We were hoping to have a grand opening, complete with refreshments, speeches and balloons, but gala openings have fallen victim to the pandemic. For now, we will do our best to feed and clothe our community and save the speeches and balloons for later. We will continue to do our best adapt to changing circumstances while keeping the needs of the San Juan Ridge Community foremost in our plans.

We are grateful to Ed Acosta, Sunshine Bender, Malik Goodman, Laura Harter, Hilary Hulteen, Rachel Koslowski, Melissa Madigan, Jessica Martines, Nicole McNeely, Kelly Moreno, Mindi Morton, Jess Nix, Shawn Olson, Sarah Sparks, Christiana Stroud, Lorean Whitestone, the Food Bank of Nevada County, Nevada County Relief Fund, Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, and Twin Ridges Elementary School District for their encouragement, help and support. They will be most welcome to share in refreshments, speeches and balloons when the big day comes!

In addition to maintaining a warming shelter, the Center has been providing supervised, socially distanced internet access during school hours so that local students can practice distance learning in a safe and comfortable environment. Although snacks are frequently available, students are required to provide their own lunches.

The North San Juan Community Center is a true asset to this community. In addition to homeless and student services, the Center hosts seasonal farmers markets, community meals and other enriching events and activities. Covid19 has affected the Center’s ability to raise funds that are essential for day to day operations. This valuable community resource relies upon the generosity of friends and neighbors so that the warming shelter, distance learning and other essential programs can continue.

If you are able to make a donation in any amount, please send it to NSJCC, PO Box 324, N San Juan, CA 95960. For more information or to volunteer at the North San Juan Community Center please call Sue Bauer at 292-9525 or 292-9048.

Beginning in February, FREE tax help will be available to Nevada County residents. Both AARP and the Nevada County Department of Health and Human Services will be available to those who have been designated low income for 2020. To learn if you are eligible and/or and make an appointment, dial 211 for information and an appointment.

FOR MANY, 211 CANNOT BE DIALED FROM A CELL PHONE. IF YOU HAVE BEEN HAVING TROUBLE CALLING 211, TRY DIALING 1 (833)342-5211. GOOD LUCK!

by Roo Cantada, San Juan Ridge Community Library

Happy New Year from the San Juan Ridge Community Library!  We have been plugging along the past 6 months, trying to comply with all the health guidelines while still offering limited services.  We are open from 12-5 Tuesday and Thursday and 12-4 on Saturday. We are really excited about our new space, THE ANNEX, which is coming along nicely and should be ready to be unveiled in the next month or so. The project is almost complete, and now, where there was once a dilapidated old trailer, a beautiful green walled and new structure sits! The last few things to be completed are interior drywall and paint, flooring (already picked out) and the mini-split heating and cooling system. The drywall is about ½ done and when its complete, the other few things will go quickly. The walkway has been poured and we will soon be cutting an arch shape out of the wall between the buildings to allow for easy access and continuity.

We anticipate being able to open THE ANNEX as soon as county guidelines lighten up a bit.

But Still we persist! 15 hours a week we are open for you to come, and other times, during closed times, we are slowly transferring our collection to our new software so we can scan items quickly and accurately. We are about halfway done entering and we are making great progress! We continue to offer the creative “window service” on T/R/SA, where we have items on the windowsills and patrons can choose. We don’t have our collection online so they can’t look up items yet, but so far this is working somewhat and its better than nothing! It’s been a challenge but you will find we are doing pretty good matching you up with what your looking for! If you haven’t cleared up your record from Pre-Covid, now is time to return those old items, pay for your lost ones (we only charge $5/item, no overdue fines), and get a shiny new card!  We really want to help you with your self-inflicted education, your online class, or your new homeschool path. We have a lot of resources for you and your family, so come on over to the Park and tap on the window.....We’d love to see you!

Lastly, SJRCL wants to thank the Nevada County Friends of the Library for all their support with our new building!

From the website of the Nevada City Rancheria: nevadacityrancheria.org

“The Nevada City Rancheria was created from an executive order by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 from a land allotment obtained by Chief Charlie Cully in 1887. Cully's land on Cement Hill became Federal Trust Land and the Tribal government became a federally recognized entity.

The Nevada City Rancheria was one of 48 Rancherias illegally terminated in the 1950s and 1960s by the California Rancheria Termination Acts. Most have been restored; the Nevada City Nisenan Rancheria has not—yet.

Ancestral Homelands Reciprocity Program

homa kani

The Ancestral Homelands Reciprocity Program is a community generated initiative to support and uplift the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, the original peoples of this land, through their tribally guided 501(c)(3) nonprofit CHIRP (California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project). Our goal is to raise visibility and awareness so all who work or live here can come together to honor the past and grow the future.

Your voluntary monthly contribution recognizes the sovereignty of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan and acknowledges their historic relationship with this land, their ancestral homelands.

Payments can be structured as a percentage of monthly income or a flat monthly contribution.

Our Acknowledgements

· We acknowledge these are the ancestral homelands of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe.

· We acknowledge this land was taken repeatedly with no compensation or regard for the lives and ways of the original people, until they had no land left.

· We acknowledge we are settlers here, that we live, love and work on land the Nisenan never ceded.

Together we can amend the tragic legacy of the past.”

For more info, visit www.nevadacityrancheria.org, call 530.570.0846,  or send an email shelly@nevadacityrancheria.org  

Donations are accepted online or via mail sent c/o CHIRP, P.O. Box 2624, Nevada City, CA 95959

To apply for LIHEAP Energy Assistance (firewood, propane, utilities) call:

1-888-524-5705

All applications must be made by phone