Do you love playing games and meeting new people? Have you ever met a board game or card game creator? Well, here’s your chance! The Golden Gate Gamemakers are opening a local tabletop gaming chapter in Santa Cruz. Originating in the Bay Area, GGG has created a safe, fun space for board gamers of all ages and skill levels to come together and enjoy gaming. Whether you’re an aspiring game designer...

Santa Cruz County leader and philanthropist Diane Porter Cooley (1928-2022) knew what it takes to build a thriving community, and she left us instructions. “Community is about living life together. It’s about getting through hard times, floods, and fire; camping with girl scouts; serving meals and building clinics; helping kids and planting trees.” Diane and her husband Don were some of the...

One of the true joys of volunteering at the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is witnessing the moment a person falls in love. It happens almost every day. A potential adopter walks in, scanning faces covered in fur, and then it happens. Their whole body changes. You can see it in their shoulders, their eyes, their stillness. They’ve just found their animal. Like falling in love with a person, this...

Let’s cheer this month for all the dads who take their job in fatherhood to heart! Our kids, families and communities are blessed to have you in our lives and the world is better because of YOU. One father in particular I am going to feature in this month’s article is someone who has been so generous and kind and a pillar in our community, yet expects nothing in return – he is a father and...

This season brings feelings of pride, nostalgia, excitement, and, let’s be honest, financial worry to many. Whether your child is heading off to college, taking a gap year, or jumping straight into the workforce, the next chapter comes with some major money decisions. And while most curricula do not teach today’s youth how to manage real-world finances, Bay Federal can help. Here are some simple...

In the world of food, there are some classic combinations that have stood the test of timepeanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, coffee and donuts and wine and cheese. The owners of El Jardin in the Live Oak neighborhood of Santa Cruz want to add another great pairing to that list: Mexican food and ice cream. El Jardin has been serving award-winning Mexican cuisine to Santa Cruz families for 16...

I remember a heavy conversation with my then 4-year-old son in a restaurant where we watched pelicans hunting fish. Fish eat worms and bugs, I explained. Then birds eat the fish. Then bigger birds or sharks eat those birds and then other predators eat those animals. “It’s a good thing we don’t eat animals,” he replied. “We eat food.” A kick under the table from his mother told me not to get into...

The annual Summer Lunch program, sponsored by La Manzana Community Resources (LMCR), a program of Community Bridges’ Family Resource Collective, will kick off on June 9. Kids 18 and younger can pick up a free lunch at various sites in Santa Cruz and Watsonville through early-August. Most Watsonville sites will distribute lunches through August 8. Through Community Bridges, the Summer Lunch program...

In Santa Cruz, strawberries are practically part of the scenery—we’re surrounded by some of the biggest berry farms in the country. But even with berries in stores year-round, there’s something extra magical about local, in-season strawberries. The kind you find at the farmers market or roadside stands in June? Juicy, ruby-red, sun-sweetened perfection. And guess what? These little fruits aren’t...

Whether we recognize it or not, power is at play in every interaction between people. Eve Trook wrote about power dynamics between teachers and children in the early 80s. The work was groundbreaking, and to this day, when I present it, I see lots of light bulbs going off over people’s heads, so I thought I’d share it with you today! She offers that there are different types of power and that power...

Every day, I watch my husband create special memories with our daughter. From playing pretend, singing songs, or going on little adventures of their own, I see their bond growing (as well as a very similar sense of humor). As she experiences big emotions, his calmness brings her comfort, makes her feel seen and loved. The other day, I overheard them while building a toy kitchen together. He guided...