VNA offers free monthly grief support group to help South County residents create ‘New Beginnings’

  Grieving is a natural part of life, and impacts each individual journey physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

Gonzales, CA, October 21, 2021 — Grieving is a natural part of life, and impacts each individual journey physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

While every loss is unique, VNA & Hospice Grief and Loss Program offers a free monthly support group in South County called New Beginnings that is designed to help participants share, bond and commiserate.  

The program — funded in part by Hospice Giving Foundation, and in partnership with Taylor Farms Family Health & Wellness Center — offers a non-judgmental, fully confidential and supportive environment to share feelings of pain and loss. Individual support is also available, and great efforts are made to reach out to the South County bilingual community. 

The no-cost support group is offered to older adults who have experienced a significant loss of someone in their life. The purpose is to learn about the grieving process and share experiences that help with the emotion of isolation. 

The group meets every third Thursday of the month from 4-5 p.m. at the Taylor Farms Family Health & Wellness Center (850 5th St.,Gonzales), a part of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System. 

For more information, contact VNA’s Latino Community Outreach Coordinator Elsa M. Malispina, or Spiritual Care Coordinator Osa Massen at (831) 241-3834. 

Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
The Buzz PR LLC
Salinas, CA
831-747-7455
marci@thebuzzpr.net
https://ccvna.com/

GBA’s November ‘Ganas’ guests include Stanford star Haley Jones, who led Cardinal to NCAA championship

  Podcast Episodes Available on Apple. 

Salinas, CA, October 20, 2021 — A rising superstar in our midst, Haley Jones has enjoyed quite a career on the basketball court. And she’s only beginning. The Santa Cruz native who led Stanford to the NCAA championship earlier this year will be the featured guest on “Ganas — Leading from the Heart” podcasts for November. 

Designed to inspire today’s youth through unique views and perspectives on life, “Ganas” (which translates to “desire”) is recorded live from the family garage of Jose Gil and Eva Silva, co-founders of Gil Basketball Academy that promotes the sport of basketball in East Salinas through camps, clinics, individual sessions and elite travel teams. But more than that, GBA builds confidence and character in a membership that exceeds 450 local kids ages 4 to 17. 

The “Ganas” podcast officially launched on Sept. 14, 2020, with past episodes available on Apple, or through the GBA website at www.gilbasketballacademy.com. 

On Nov. 1, the podcast welcomes Jones, a highly recruited talent who starred for Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose. The Santa Cruz native was rated the No. 1 player in the country according to both ESPN HoopGurlz and Prospects Nation, and ended up leading the Cardinal to glory as the Final Four MVP. 

On Nov. 15 the guest is former NBA player Tony Farmer, who played professionally in the U.S., France, Italy, Russia and Puerto Rico, and is now a noted entrepreneur and inspirational speaker. 

Finally, the month rounds out on Nov. 29 with guest Jesse Pruitt, the Stanford men’s basketball team assistant coach who this year begins his sixth season on The Farm. 

The idea for a podcast grew from Gil’s growing frustration in not being able to completely connect with and inspire his GBA kids during the pandemic. 

“You have to think outside the box,” said the longtime coach and athletic director at Alisal High School. “I was used to having hundreds of kids together at one time, and now I have to figure out new ways to have an impact.” 

While the couple have little experience in media (and none in podcasting), they invested in the technology needed to turn the family garage into a functioning studio. 

“Ganas” podcasts (including video with guests appearing via Zoom) span 30 to 45 minutes, and include topics such as sports, health, fitness, leadership, community and more.

Contact:

Marci Bracco Cain
The Buzz PR LLC
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
http://www.gilbasketballacademy.com/

Gil Basketball Academy to Celebrate ‘Court Heroes’ at Awards Banquet Set for March 19, 2022

  Sponsorships Now Available to Support Gala Event and Its Cause. 

Salinas, CA, October 18, 2021 — Gil Basketball Academy (GBA) will present its Court Heroes 12th Anniversary Awards Banquet on March 19, 2022, in Salinas. Sponsorships are now available to support this gala event and its cause. 

The Court Heroes Award is given to someone who is heroic, exceptional, respectful and outstanding and in the community. This event includes a live band and DJ, no-host bar, dinner, dancing and silent auction, with prizes ranging from a paint night with Coach Jose Gil to getaway trips, tickets to Disneyland, and much more. 

The awards banquet will be held from 5:30 - 11 p.m. Saturday, March 19, 2022, at Salinas PAL Center, 100 Howard St., Salinas. Tickets, $65 general and $55 for GBA parents, are available at https://gbacelebratingourheros2022.eventbrite.com . For further information, please contact Coach Gil at 831-710-1499. 

Sponsorship packages are available at a variety of levels, starting with the Presenting Sponsor at $10,000;  $5,000 Gold Sponsor, $2,500 Silver Sponsor, $2,000 Bronze Sponsor;  $1,000 Donor and $500 Sponsor. 

All sponsorship levels includes seating for you and your guests, ad in the event program and other amenities, depending on the level of sponsorship. For example, the Presenting Sponsor will receive three tables of 10/VIP seating, special recognition at event and sign on table with company name, full-page (8.5-inch-by-11-inch) ad in event program, signage throughout the event
and recognition in all printed materials and advertising. The basic level, $500, receives a table for four
and a half-page ad in the event program. 

Ads are also available separately in the event program, starting at $500 for a half-page ad (8.5-inch-by-5-inch). For more information on advertising, contact Marci Bracco Cain at marci@chatterboxpublicrelations.com  by Jan. 4, 2022, so that your company can be included in the materials as soon as possible. 

About Gil Basketball Academy

The Gil Basketball Academy was formed to promote the sport of basketball in East Salinas, as well as the overall development of local student-athletes desiring to compete at the highest athletic levels of competition. GBA offers camps, clinics, and individual sessions teaching athletes the skills and techniques of shooting, passing, dribbling, rebounding, and defense. The athletes will be coached by Jose Gil and other qualified and experienced coaches. GBA is about teaching not only basketball, but this academy will build confidence and character in all GBA members while having fun. 

The vision of the Gil Basketball Academy was born out of the belief that one of the most effective ways to strengthen a community is for its youth to be surrounded by positive adult role models, positive peer influences, and immersed in meaningful and constructive activities. As such, GBA’s mission is to support the youth of Salinas “Shoot for and Reach” their positive goals by participating in organized basketball camps, clinics, college tours, motivational speaker forums, field trips and trips beyond Salinas. 

GBA’s objective is to target boys and girls as young as 4 all the way to 17 years of age. GBA aims to “hook” kids beginning at a young age and sustain them throughout their schooling years. We also hope to combat obesity and diabetes by providing organized physical activities and promoting healthy eating habits.  At the present time, there are over 450 kids in our academy! 

Using Project Cornerstone’s research-based developmental assets approach as a guiding framework, we also hope to help our youth build the developmental internal and external assets they need in order to grow up to be caring, competent, responsible, and resilient.  The educational component of GBA is what our youth needs at this present time of turmoil.  We truly believe that this year’s homicides in Salinas could have been prevented if a program like ours was in their lives and someone showed them that the community cares about them. 

One of the primary goals is indeed to teach youth about every facet of the game of basketball. The larger goal of GBA is to teach our youth how to become healthy, productive, and contributing citizens of their community by exposing them to life beyond Salinas by offering our World Tours. 

Gil Basketball Academy1522

 Constitution Blvd., Suite 213,

Salinas, CA

(831) 710-1499

www.gilbasketballacademy.com

Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
The Buzz PR LLC
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
http://www.gilbasketballacademy.com

Truitt & White Partnership was Forged 75 Years Ago Between Two U.S. Navy Buddies — Anniversary Celebration Kicks Off in October

 Even before they co-founded Truitt & White in 1946, George Truitt and Robert White had forged a partnership as buddies in the U.S. Navy just after World War II. 

Berkeley, CA, October 12, 2021 — Even before they co-founded Truitt & White in 1946, George Truitt and Robert White had forged a partnership as buddies in the U.S. Navy just after World War II.

White called his long partnership with Truitt, who was his commanding officer at the Oakland Naval Supply Center, as "one of the finest partnership arrangements you could ever imagine.” 

Now the company the two men founded is not only celebrating its 75th anniversary in October 2021, but it has become the foremost supplier of building materials, hardware and doors and windows in Northern California. 

Truitt & White boasts more than 70,000 square feet of lumberyard, hardware store, warehouse, and showroom areas, but also something Truitt and White wanted to establish from day one: unmatched customer service. 

The two veterans carefully developed a customer service standard, added staff and quickly established a reputation for quality products, friendly, helpful service, and a professional approach in serving the building professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

In fact, to help its customers get better service, Truitt & White has been well ahead of the retail-technology curve for many years, developing a computer system that would help customers access stock levels and pricing levels in 1988, well before the Internet made it quick and easy for businesses to provide access to information. 

Truitt & White was also early to recognize the potential of a computerized point-of-sale system, which it installed in 1982, well before most bigger retailers. Rather than buying packaged software, Truitt & White hired a developer and created its own from scratch to handle everything from checkout to inventory tracking to handling payroll and billing. 

From its earliest days, Truitt and White showed an unusual resourcefulness when it came to serving its customers.

 The first inventory they gathered for their fledgling lumberyard was military-surplus fencing and tools that White bought at an auction in Stockton. He wasn’t quite sure what they were going to do with two boxcars full of snow fencing, but as luck would have it, there was a huge demand for building supplies after the war and the fencing and other goods they gathered sold quickly in Berkeley. 

Meanwhile Truitt, who had owned three lumberyards in Texas before the war, was able to use his connections in the lumber industry to secure more supplies for the duo’s lumberyard. 

Truitt was also able to obtain a truck, saws, desks and file cabinets, and along with White’s wife Rose, who was an accountant, was able to set up a rudimentary office in a prefabricated fishing cabin they built at Second and Hearst. 

The site is now the location for Truitt & White Window & Door Showroom, although the cabin is long gone! 

From those humble beginnings the company continued to grow and prosper with a combination of innovation and customer service. For example, even before anyone recognized the value of double-pane insulated windows, Truitt & White was already stocking them. Over the years, this steady quality of being one step ahead of the competition allowed its customers to rely on the company to provide the latest and highest-quality products. 

Staying true to its roots, Truitt & White is now a third-generation family-run business with a fourth generation pitching in. Customer families have been coming to Truitt & White for three generations, and nothing means more to the Truitt & White family than loyalty like that. 

Continuing the legacy the two Navy buddies first established 75 years ago is paramount to the Truitt & White family. 

“As a third generation family-owned and operated business, our strong desire to continually improve while retaining the tried and true elements that make us Truitt & White, is still alive today and a source of pride for all of us,” said Warren White. “Just like in our first days as a company, our staff is committed to providing the best quality products and customer service for today’s professional builders.” 

About Truitt & White

Since 1946, Truitt & White has been the Bay Area’s go-to source for high quality building materials, valuable information, and unmatched customer service. With over 70,000 square feet of lumberyard, hardware store, warehouse, and showroom areas, our knowledgeable staff specializes in serving the needs of professional builders and homeowners alike. 

Truitt & White Lumber & Hardware

642 Hearst Ave., Berkeley, CA 94710

Phone: (510) 841-0511

Website: truittandwhite.com

 

Hours:

Monday-Friday, 6:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, 7:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

 

Truitt & White Window and Door Showroom

1831 Second St., Berkeley, CA 94710

Phone: (510) 649-4400

Website: truittandwhite.com

 

Hours:

Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, 8:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

 

Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
The Buzz PR LLC
Salinas, CA
831-747-7455
marci@thebuzzpr.net
http://www.truittandwhite.com