One ordinary person really can change the world...

From time to time, its nice to contemplate what our true focus is in life. (Besides being a full-time Mommy and wife,) mine is to bring fresh fruit to local food pantries. To make "The Lemon Lady" synonymous with the hunger cause.

Today, a friend suggested I think about what really gives me joy and pleasure. So, I did.

It brings me inconceivable joy to see tree-ripened lemons and oranges that would otherwise go to waste, make it to the hands of the hungry. I end my day of reflection, my daughter resting peacefully, my husband tossing wooden blocks and toys back in their place, an hour before slumber to read a book that truly inspires me.

Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Tom Brokaw wrote, "Thrilling . . . proof that one ordinary person with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world."

I'm thankful for the Greg Mortensons of this world. I'm also thankful for those who have written kind words about The Lemon Lady. If it brings one more piece of fresh fruit to a food pantry, then together, we can change the world too! This gives me joy and pleasure.

And, Friend . . . thank you for the inspiration today. Good night for now.

The Lemon Lady Thanks The Family Farmers...

Susan Van Brocklin, The Salvation Army
George Conlow, President, Share Food Pantry
Concord Todos Santos Farmers' Market Tuesday, 8/25/09.

Two familiar Bay Area Farmers' Markets I have come to know are the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association (PCFMA) and Contra Costa Certified Farmers' Market Association (CCCFM). Through the generous support of individual farm owners, The Lemon Lady has been able to bring healthy, nutritious, fresh produce to many area food pantries.

It has taken many months of dedication to earn the trust and respect of family farmers at these markets. Week after week, I look forward to visiting the farmers and extend my sincerest gratitude for the relationships of goodwill being fostered.

Oftentimes, employees Susan Van Brocklin with the Salvation Army and George Conlow, President of Share Food Pantry accompany me to the Markets and transport donations to their food pantries. What I admire most of The Salvation Army and Share Food Pantry is they also share produce and perishables with other nearby food pantries.


F.T. Fresh Produce
PCFMA - Concord Todos Santos
Tuesdays and Thursdays


Vidal Morga and Joseph Bautista
of Eat The Best Bautista Ranch and Kettlekorn
PCFMA - Concord Todos Santos Tuesday
and Clayton Downtown Saturdays


Cipponeri Family Farms
PCFMA - Concord Todos Santos Tuesdays


Alhambra Valley Farms, Darryl and Judy Pereira
PCFMA - Todos Santos Concord Markets
CCCFM - Sundays, downtown Walnut Creek
CCCFM - Sundays, Martinez Main Street

NBC Bay Area News - Lemon Lady story airs Thursday or Friday...

NBC Field Producer, Joe Rosato, Jr.
and Anna Chan, The Lemon Lady


Videographer, Robert Wellington
and Anna Chan, The Lemon Lady






Please watch NBC Bay Area news for an upcoming Lemon Lady story.

CLICK HERE to link to VIDEO of newscast from Thanksgiving Day.

Special thanks to Joe Rosato, Jr. and videographer Robert Wellington for visiting with me today. Very cool guys! I'm sure they'll create a fine story just in time for Thanksgiving.

Happy Harvesting. Happy Thanksgiving.

Our Sweet Friend Katie Grace is sick today. Our hearts are sad...

Our sweet friend, Katie Grace is sick with H1N1 and home recovering. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. This is a very serious illness. Katie Grace is a a very precious girl who already struggles on a daily basis with Pulmonary Hypertension; someday she'll need a heart/lung transplant.

Today is a day for extra prayers.

For links to other related stories about Katie Grace, CLICK HERE.

Warmest Thoughts to Ava's little friend.

AnnaAndAva@gmail.com

510.406.1625

Isn't a Million Dollars for our schools worth 5 minutes of your time?

More than $1 Million in computers, technology and cash will be awarded to schools this year in the Samsung Four Seasons of Hope Education Nationwide Contest.Wouldn't it be nice to see a few Bay Area schools share in the more than $1 million in prizes of Samsung products, Microsoft software, Best Buy Gift Cards, and cash grants from DirecTV?

Mount Diablo Unified School District students and parents - are we up to the task?

To enter, or to learn more about the Samsung Four Seasons of Hope Education Contest, visit: www.fourseasonsofhope.com/education.

Anyone in the community - students (K-12), teachers, parents and local residents - can submit a 100-word essay (in English or Spanish) on how the consumer electronics, computer equipment and software awarded through Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope could benefit their school.

Entry Deadline is December 1, 2009. Do good. Have fun!

Free Movies, Free Popcorn, Help End Hunger...

Two movie tickets, two popcorns for $10.50.
Make it a Tuesday date night.
Bring a few cans of food for the hungry!

Brenden Theatre

1985 Willow Pass Road, Concord, CA

Recording Number: (925) 677-0450

Customer Service Number: (925) 677-0484

Click Here for Showtimes

2 FOR 1 Tuesday (Ends Dec. 31st)
Buy One ticket & get one *free on Tuesdays all day. (* = we ask, but not require, a donation of one can of food per free ticket. All cans to be donated to the Contra Costa Food Bank).

CLICK HERE for Discount Days Concord Brenden Theatres

Also noticed on the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano website

Upcoming Events and Food Drives:

NOW through DECEMBER 24 Bring a can of food to the Brenden Theaters in Concord and Pittsburg and receive a free small popcorn.

Contra Costa warehouse: 4010 Nelson Avenue, Concord, CA 94520 (925) 676-7543
Solano warehouse: 1891 Woolner Suite I, Fairfield, CA 94533 (707) 421-9777

This post has nothing to do with lemons...

Ava, The Lemon Lady Junior, 2 1/2 years old

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” Thich Nhat Hanh - (Vietnamese Monk, Activist and Writer. b.1926)

Ava, only 2 months old

On second thought, lemons bring joy to others. Ava is my inspiration to harvest fruit for donation to the local food pantries. Imagine a world along the streets of Concord, Clayton, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Lafayette, Orinda where lemons, apples and oranges fall to the ground - rotting - while children around us have no fresh fruit at their breakfast table? Hunger is in our very own neighborhood! Please, help the Lemon Lady today. Spread joy, share fruit.

AnnaAndAva@gmail.com

510.406.1625

For ideas how to help alleviate hunger, visit Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. They have a website, and a blog!

Contra Costa warehouse: 4010 Nelson Avenue, Concord, CA 94520 (925) 676-7543
Solano warehouse: 1891 Woolner Suite I, Fairfield, CA 94533 (707) 421-9777

Thinking of sweet Katie Grace today...

Katie Grace Groebner and Snuggle Bug

November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month. Please learn about this rare disease, and our beautiful, sweet friend, Katie Grace Groebner. Katie Grace will ultimately require a heart and lung transplant.

Katie Grace's Mom has asked friends to participate in a short quiz which will raise $10.00 in support of Pulmonary Hypertension, a very heart-warming, worthy cause. (This costs nothing but a few minutes of your time.)

"In less time than it takes to soft boil an egg, you can be one of 5,000 people who help raise $50,000 for PHA. By taking a brief online quiz at http://www.pahconnect.com you'll test your knowledge about PH and secure a $10 donation to PHA from Gilead.

There are two quizzes: one for patients and their families and one for medical professionals. This is a quiz that the PH community can't fail. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Help PHA meet this Awareness Month Challenge!"

Click HERE to take the PH quiz.

Click HERE to read related articles about Katie Grace Groebner.

Click HERE to read Katie Grace's Caring Bridge Website.

Click HERE to read about Organs R Us.

Click HERE to read about Pulmonary Hypertension.

Click HERE to learn about The Taylor Family Foundation, a wonderful, local non-profit that brings dreams and hope to children with disabilities, Camp Arroyo in Livermore.

Seeking Volunteers. Plant seeds. Open your hearts...

I'm growing seedlings for donation to several community gardens throughout Contra Costa County. Perhaps families that may otherwise never be introduced to gardening can delight in the simple pleasure of growing all year long under the California autumn sun. For those without ground, any vegetable can be grown in the right sized container.

Let us open our hearts. Help Feed The Hungry and Grow a Garden. If a person is interested in volunteering, I can deliver seed growing trays, soil and seeds. I can pick them up when they are ready for transplant. It may take only one hour of your time and a few weeks of watering as a committment. I can truly use the help - I can't do it all alone...forever.

This is a non-profit venture I embarked upon for the joy of helping others, combining my interest in health/nutrition, seed collecting and eating home-grown fruits and vegetables.

Become inspired. Stop by a local garden center. Many places still sell seeds this time of year. Find a few you like and maybe purchase a package just for the fun of growing. Either way, I can share seeds with you too. I'll donate the seed growing containers, and we'll grow a garden!

Contact: AnnaAndAva@gmail.com

Telephone: 510.406.1625

Consider ording FREE Seed Catalogs for further inspiration.

Anyone have 5 minutes and 100 words for our schools? Only 3 weeks remaining for nominations...

More than $1 Million in computers, technology and cash will be awarded to schools this year in the Samsung Four Seasons of Hope Education Nationwide Contest.

Wouldn't it be nice to see a few Bay Area schools share in the more than $1 million in prizes of Samsung products, Microsoft software, Best Buy Gift Cards, and cash grants from DirecTV?

Mount Diablo Unified School District students and parents - are we up to the task?

To enter, or to learn more about the Samsung Four Seasons of Hope Education Contest, visit: www.fourseasonsofhope.com/education.

Anyone in the community - students (K-12), teachers, parents and local residents - can submit a 100-word essay (in English or Spanish) on how the consumer electronics, computer equipment and software awarded through Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope could benefit their school.

Entry Deadline is December 1, 2009. Do good. Have fun!

Garden Award worth $500. - Easy! Make Memories with your children. Garden, Grow, Have Fun...

Heinz Wholesome Memories Intergenerational Garden Award ~ Deadline: January 10, 2010 Designed to foster family-focused garden efforts in communities across the country, the Heinz Wholesome Memories Intergenerational Garden Award will provide 57 families with the tools needed to embark on a successful gardening adventure that will foster lasting intergenerational memories while growing wholesome food. Learn more.

What the award includes: Winning applicants will receive a $500 Heinz Wholesome Memories Intergenerational Award Package...

Have Courage. Strive. Do Good...

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

ABC7 News - Dire Need at Local Food Pantries...

The holidays are fast approaching and I encourage our community to remember that low-income residents DEPEND on food pantries within their own neighborhoods. I support the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano and many area food pantries.

CLICK to view the newscast:

CLAYTON ROAD: The Salvation Army Food Pantry, (925) 676-6180
http://salvationarmyconcordca.org/socerv.html

MONUMENT Blvd.: Monument Crisis Center, (925) 825-7751
http://monumentcrisiscenter.org/

WILLOW PASS ROAD: SHARE Food Pantry, (925) 827-4273
http://sharefoodpantry.blogspot.com/

It is nice to spread the joy around, especially when poverty and unemployment is county wide, not to forget the hungry children on all the streets in Concord, Clayton and beyond.

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

http://www.foodbankccs.org/

Contra Costa warehouse

4010 Nelson Avenue, Concord, CA 94520, (925) 676-7543

To find any California food bank, Click below:
The California Association of Food Banks (CAFB)

Eating local can start right in your own backyard...

I love eating local and anything that inspires others to grow their own food.

Garden Projects for today:

1. Read this excellent article I found in Diablo Magazine, November 2009.

Grow your Own
Eating local can start right in your own backyard
By Tracey Taylor

2. Plant peas. Plant something fun. Garden. Grow. Happy Harvesting.

Get your Pacific Gas & Electric bill paid for free...

Need help paying your PG&E bill? Experiencing a financial hardship? The Salvation Army Social Services/Food Pantry can help area residents pay their PG&E bill. Grant money is available NOW! Program qualifications apply.

Inquire for further details.

The Salvation Army
Lauri Vint
Director of Social Services
3950 Clayton Road
Concord, CA 94521
(925) 676-6180 x 10

http://salvationarmyconcordca.org/socerv.html

Additional information can be found on the Pacific Gas & Electric website:

http://www.pge.com/reach/

"REACH is a one-time energy-assistance program sponsored by PG&E and administered through the Salvation Army from 170 offices in northern and central California. Those who have experienced an uncontrollable or unforeseen hardship may receive an energy credit up to $200, credit amount based on the past due amount of the bill. REACH assistance may be available once within an 18 month period, but exceptions can be made for seniors, the physically challenged and the terminally ill."

Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle, 10/25/09...

Lemon Lady Anna Chan branches out
by Joe Eaton and Ron Sullivan

The San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, October 25th.
Home and Garden, Page L-2

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/23/HOS51A38G5.DTL

County Food Banks in California: http://www.cafoodbanks.org/

Contra Costa Certified Farmers' Markets: http://cccfm.org/

Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association: http://pcfma.com/

A Special Thank you

Children's Community Garden of Concord

Rototilling donated by Dan Randolph Landscaping, (925) 570-1239

Soil Amendments Donated by: Sloat Garden Center, 828 Diablo Road at El Cerro Blvd., Danville • 925-743-0288

Concord Farmers' Market - Tuesday 10am - 2pm...

Looking for something fun to do on Tuesday morning?

The Concord Farmers' Market transforms Todos Santos Square into a lively neighborhood gathering place. Enjoy lunch, visit friends, take in the music while shopping for excellent quality, fresh, seasonal produce.

A heartfelt Thank You to the kind and generous farmers who donate healthy fresh produce, bakery, and other gourmet food items to The Lemon Lady. You truly make a difference to those less fortunate in our Concord Community and beyond!

For a list of today's vendors, CLICK HERE.

Know your farmer, know your food. And, have fun too! You'll find everything you need for a healthy, fresh, delicious weeknight meal.

Find a Farmers' Market almost every day of the week in a city near you! For a list of ALL California-Grown Certified Farmers' Markets in California, CLICK HERE.