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Expires 6/9/11 All Spring Floral 50% OFF Sign Up For Special E-Mail Offers at: www.ShopRichards.com or below @ Thank you for supporting local family business PW-6.3 Page 2ÊUÊJune 3, 2011ÊUÊPleasanton Weekly AROUND PLEASANTON THE INDEPENDENCE YOU WANT, THE ASSISTANCE YOU NEED. BY JEB BING "LINDS 3HADES shelter. Later, she worked briefly After helping as director of development for the 3HUTTERS Valley Community Health Center, thousands, which is now Axis Community ANDMOREx Health, raising $1 million in contri- butions at a time when the center’s ndependence is all about choice. In how you Hope Hospice’s grow your mind…In how you relax your entire budget was $4 million. Then Over 20 years of I it was back to San Francisco where body…In how you nurture your spirit. The leader retires she was asked to head Compass s%XCEPTIONAL Parkview is all about choice. Because you’re old WHEN LIVING ALONE enough to do whatever you choose. elen Meier will retire next Community Services, a program #USTOMER3ERVICE BECAME TOO DIFFICULT, Friday from a career that the helps the homeless. She estab- I KNEW I NEEDED A has served thousands of lished a homeless shelter in the s(IGHEST1UALITY The Parkview features apartments with H 0RODUCTS CHANGE. AS MUCH AS I kitchenettes and an array of amenities. Separate those in need over the last 48 Tenderloin district, which today LOVE MY CHILDREN, memory care accommodations are on-site. years, including the last nine as accommodates homeless families s'REAT3ELECTIONS MOVING IN WITH THEM executive director of Hope Hos- including 72 infants and toddlers SIMPLY WASN’T AN Call today for more information pice. Her work has included man- who are registered there this spring. OPTION FOR ME. I LIKE aging homeless programs in San Hope Hospice, as with so many or to schedule a tour. We also do… THE PRIVACY OF MY OWN Francisco, Tri-Valley Haven for programs she’s touched, was a APARTMENT. I’VE BEEN 12-year-old organization when battered women and their children UÊ ÕÃÌÊ À>«iÀià INDEPENDENT ALL MY in the Tri-Valley, and most recently she was hired as executive direc- LIFE, AND I PLAN expanding the work of the hospice tor. Its budget then was less than UÊÌÀâ>Ì TO STAY THAT WAY. organization that provides end-of- $2 million and it has grown to UÊ,i«>Àà 100 VALLEY AVENUE (FORMERLY JUNIPERO ST.) life compassionate care and, just $7 million this year. Its service PLEASANTON as important, grief counseling and along the I-580/I-680 corridor has 925-461-3042 ongoing support for those who are tripled in that same period of time License #015601283 WWW.ESKATON.ORG MANAGED BY ESKATON left behind. In between, she found with a staff of 60 doctors, nurses time to work with the United and others in Cerebral Palsy Association in San expanded facili- Francisco, researching and then ties in Dublin. 925.462.1207 Now Featuring: helping San Francisco mass transit Her experience Showroom and Factory to develop buses with special lifts in individual located at 4225 Stanley Blvd Shellac™ the First Hybrid Nail Color to accommodate the disabled. Her care and service book, “Accessible Transit in the fit well into the near downtown Pleasanton U.S. from 1970-1980,” has provid- needs of Hope ed guidelines for transit systems Hospice, whose www.window-ology.com Elegant and Relaxing throughout the country. mission is to Meier graduated from the State Helen Meier help people face Contractor’s License #904282 Personalized Professional Nail Care University of New York’s Oneonta their mortality campus with a degree in educa- and help them stay comfortable tion, determined to be a teacher. and as close to their families as But marriage and a move to Costa possible. Hospice care enables Rica to work for the next six years those with terminal illnesses to Start Right. Start Here. with an interdenominational mis- stay in their homes with trained sion group changed that, as well as volunteers coming to relieve care- TOM LEW her career interests. Her two chil- givers for a few hours to shop and DICK dren — Wayne, a school teacher, rest. This week, Hope Hospice was and Cynthia, a lieutenant with the caring for 70 patients. FRED EUGENE San Francisco Fire Department — Meier’s office is filled with let- BILL were born there. Once back state- ters of appreciation. “You not only JIM side, Meier became director of a concentrate on the patient but you MIKE TOM small nonprofit, the Health of San bring to the entire family tender, Quentin, staffing a visitors’ booth loving care,” writes one Hospice CHUCK outside the prison walls where she family member. “The support you arranged for transportation and provided with your guidance and DAVE lunch for those visiting the prison. good nature was like a blanket of Pleasanton location That’s where she also became comfort during one of the most PROPANE a vocal advocate for improving emotionally challenging times of prison conditions and medical my life,” writes another. Wrote TANK care, which she found appalling Sue Ellen: “My mother spent the at the time. Later she joined the last seven months of her life being EXCHANGE United Cerebral Palsy group where helped by two other hospices, but she worked with the San Francisco you were the one with the compas- $ 99 Municipal Railroad on ways to sion and concern for her existence. 19 provide access for the disabled. When you came into our lives, you (Some Restrictions Apply) Up to then, she recalls, if you were offered nothing but help, friendship, in a wheelchair or couldn’t climb and ultimate care and concern.” the stairs, you couldn’t use public For Meier, these are messages BOLLINGER NAIL SALON LOCATIONS transportation. she’ll take home next week when a Meier moved to Livermore in remarkable career comes to an end. 10% OFF Pleasanton (across from Tully's Coffee) 1985 to become director of Tri- Editor’s note: For more about 310 Main Street Suite D .............. (925) 484-4300 Valley Haven, a job she held for Hope Hospice, call the organiza- High Prairie 12 years. The Haven had chal- tion’s 24-hour information line 30 lb. Bag Livermore (next to the Bankhead Theater) lenges similar to bus access for at 829-8770, or visit the service’s 2375 Railroad Ave ................... (925) 455-6800 the disabled; until she arrived, the headquarters at 6377 Clarke Ave., of Dog food Tri-Valley had no domestic violence Dublin. N Limit 3 bags. Expires 6/30/11 Host a Party—For birthdays, bridal showers or friends who want to have a unique About the Cover Workbench TrueValue Hardware and fun get together, arrange a private City Naturalist Eric Nicholas talks to visiting students beneath towering oak trees party at Bollinger Nail Salon. at Alviso Adobe Community Park. The site offers three eras of history, from the 1807 Santa Rita Rd, Pleasanton Native Americans to the Californios to its days as a dairy farm. Photo by Jerri Phone (925) 846-0660 Pantages Long. Cover design by Lili Cao. www.truevalue.com/pleasanton www.Bollingernailsalon.com Vol. XII, Number 21 Pleasanton WeeklyÊUÊJune 3, 2011ÊU Page 3 %#! "$ my summer Streetwise ASKED AROUND TOWN )$!"# $ If you could have dinner with anyone, ' " %$$"($ $B who would it be? $#'$ ") %$%#! "$ "$$##%%#! "$ !#"$$)#$)# Martha Carrillo Nanny I’d have dinner with my parents. They live in Mexico, and I haven’t seen them for two Join For Only $59 years. I talk to my mom every four days or $ " (!"# so, but I would love to be able to share a Try Us With a Free Guest Pass* meal with them. (925) 271-0557 Joe Roth Retired My wife, Leslie. She’s great; we’ve been together for 32 years and she’s a lot of fun. She’s taken me down this path of mid-cen- tury modern and we have a wonderful time treasure hunting.