Gilroy Grieves

Life resumes in community scarred by shooting

This banner in the downtown area is one coping mechanism residents are using to deal with the July shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Photo: Steve Newvine

July 28 is a date that will forever be remembered in the community of Gilroy in Santa Clara County.

On that day, this city of just under sixty-thousand located on the other side of the western Merced County border, endured a tragedy many will never forget.

The story is familiar to most of us. A man enters the Gilroy Garlic Festival and pulls out a gun. Shots are fired.

Two children and one adult are killed while more than a dozen others are injured.

Police were able to fire and hit the shooter, who then shot and killed himself.

The story shocked the nation. But Gilroy’s brush with a deadly gunman was knocked off the front pages shortly after in the wake of shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

One of many roadside stands that line highway 152 going into the City of Gilroy. Photo- Steve Newvine

Gilroy is known to most Californians as “that garlic place”.
Agriculture is the backbone of this community with rich soil and ideal growing conditions that produce a bounty of vegetables and fruits.

Roadside stands selling everything from avocados to zucchini, and yes even fresh garlic, are a common site. Today, those vegetable stands remain.

Visitors stop by to pick up whatever is in season.

Some go about their tasks.

Others can’t help but ask the local residents about the tragedy.

City Hall Caption: Gilroy City Hall. Photo- Steve Newvine

The community of Gilroy is coping with the loss of part of that small town feeling many residents have grown to appreciate in recent years.
The annual Garlic Festival was more than something people from outside the area came to see. It was something that defined the community.

“Not only did it raise money for local charities, many non-profits raised funds from the influx of visitors to the festival,” a local resident told me on a recent visit.

Tens of thousands of visitors came to the Festival every July.

Organizers had worked tirelessly over the years to tweak the logistics of moving thousands of people from designated parking areas to and from the Festival site.

Security has been a priority in recent years, and a strong law enforcement presence at the site was noted as a factor that likely kept the number of deaths to three.

The City of Gilroy’s community park where families are winding down their summer vacation days. Photo: Steve Newvine

So now, one day at a time, residents touched by the shooting and its aftermath are getting on with their lives.

Some are going to the park, others are taking in a shopping trip, and others are just staying home.

Life may never be quite the same, but it goes on. “It’s really important that we have the Garlic Festival again next year,” one local resident said.“It means so much to us.”

Another crop matures in a field in Gilroy. Photo- Steve Newvine

Throughout the City on the mid-August afternoon when I walked along the streets, there was a sense that residents are moving on with life.

No one talked about it, but there seemed to be a feeling that the community must get past the tragedy, eventually.

Maybe just not today. Not yet.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced. His book California Back Roads is available at Lulu.com

Volunteers Get the Best Gift

Summer Enrichment Programs End in Merced with Happy Kids and Delighted Helpers.

Children take part in the Summer Enrichment and Reading program organized by Harvest Park Educational Center in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

Ask any non-profit organization how valuable their volunteers are, and you’ll get an earful of praises.

Most of the kind words can be summed up in one sentence: We couldn’t do it without them!

That’s the case for the Summer Enrichment and Reading Program organized by Harvest Park Educational Center, a Merced-based non-profit organization that is sponsored by Valley Harvest Church.

When Esmeralda Ramirez decided to devote part of her summer helping young people, she knew it might be hard.

“I wondered what it might be like, and wondered whether I was up to it,” she says.

Esmeralda got everything she hoped for during her time working with young learners.

“It’s really encouraging to see these kids be excited about learning.”

One of the first projects students in the Summer Enrichment and Reading Program embarked upon was stuffing t-shirts for use as pillows during rest breaks. Photo: Steve Newvine

We heard about the organization’s program last year and shared the story of children getting immersed in exposure to such STEM areas as science, technology, engineering, and math.

Those lessons continued in this latest version of the program, but there were some changes.

“We added a reading program this year,” says Managing Director Gloria Morris.

“We acquired a nationally acclaimed program called “All About Reading” and introduced it to the students in the afternoon session.”

Volunteers helping out include a reading specialist, a parent, a high school student who was served by the program when she was younger, and four college students.

Magdalena Valdez is another college student who made the most of the five weeks she had with the children in the program.

“I created lesson plans and served as the lead intern in charge of pre-K through third grade,” she says. Like everyone touched by the program this summer, the time went by quickly.

“The summer just flew by,” Magdalena says. “I can’t believe it.”

Lily Ketchum and her daughter Jaime continue to give their time almost every year. “Jaime participated as a student in 2008,” Lily says. “And now she’s back as a volunteer.” Betty Jackson-Yilma helped pilot the “All About Reading” component to this year’s program.

“The improvement in the student’s reading comprehension has been gratifying,” she says.

“But to see their desire to read, to want to read more and more, is really satisfying to me as an educator.”

The Summer Enrichment and Reading Program ran for five weeks this summer with students spending their mornings in a classroom at UC Merced, and their afternoons at the Harvest Valley Learning Center on 25th Street in Merced. Photo- Steve Newvine

Colleges represented with interns this year were UC Merced, Merced College, UC Stanislaus, and San Jose State. Melissa Chavarria is pursuing a children development college curriculum.

She came to the program because service in a child development program was a course requirement.

She’s leaving her volunteer post with a great deal of satisfaction. “Working with the children opened my eyes a little,” she says. “Now I know I can handle it.”

If there is such a thing as a winner in an effort like the Summer Enrichment and Reading Program, one needs to look no further than the smiling faces of participating children.

Most of them greeted me with a smile when I entered the classroom. One of them made his way up to me and shook my hand.

He was seven years old. Managing Director Gloria Morris confirms reading skills have increased, character development is becoming more prominent, and children are having a good time.

“We are pleased with the results from this year’s program.”

While the volunteers are praised by the staff that puts on the program, they in turn give kudos by heaping lots of admiration to the team that makes it all possible. One of the volunteers said it best with just a few words.

“I couldn’t get over how caring the staff is toward us and toward each other.”

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

You can read about some of the places he has traveled in the golden state in his book California Back Roads, available at Lulu.com