Our fearless editor, Brad Kava, whose band JAM and the Buttered Biscuits has been wowing audiences throughout the county, is taking a short vacay with his family. So, I’m stepping into his crocs for a bit while he sips Mai Tais and attempts to reset, recharge and renew.
It feels daunting to be in the captain’s perch, but the vantage point is clear – we need new ideas, conversations and dialogues before moving forward. Sooner the better. Nothing is off the table. What do you have for the class? What bold thoughts have you been percolating on that might help give all of us a clue on what needs to be done? How do we get to a saner multiverse?
Imagine a town where nobody gets paid. Chefs, city employees, baristas, farmers, plumbers and candlestick makers, all perform their tasks, extreme or just annoying, and then receive no pay. I can feel everyone tense up. Who the heck would work for free?
This week’s cover story on the Zayante Fire Protection District is a companion piece to the January 2022 Good Times story about Ryan Masters’ first two years volunteering to be a firefighter. It was there that we learned that Masters felt compelled to volunteer in the wake of the 2020 CZU August Lightning Complex Fire. This current story is a reflection on his exit after six years of service.
Volunteer fire departments have been around for 2000 years. In America, good old Ben Franklin started the first volunteer brigade in 1736 in Philadelphia. Because when fire eventually happens, you need a ready-to-go trained batch of firefighters if you want to save your home, block, town or mountain. It’s such a crucial important community role, yet, no pay?
As Masters points out, “Franklin expected it. In his mind, community service was the underlying engine of the great American experiment.”
One thing that stands out alongside Masters’ rugged, yet flowing worded prose, is that our volunteer firefighters are often unsung, and wildly misunderstood. Their jump-out-of-bed responses to their pagers, in the mountains of Santa Cruz, are harrowing, sometimes heartbreaking and lifestyle consuming.
Be aware, Masters’ post script to his article got cut for space (but appears on our digital version) and in it, Master’s is extremely grateful for his time with the department and his co-volunteers. In particular, first responders Tim “Finn” Stilwell, Britteny Raynor and John Amadeo. With most praise saved for Chief Jeff Maxwell who “guided Zayante from a state of near-chaos to an economically healthy organization.”
Turn your gaze away from the horrors of mainstream media and consider that there are people who sacrifice everything for the greater good, for free. It’s an idea worth thinking about. Maybe you will be inspired to volunteer somewhere and it doesn’t have to be a firefighter. Libraries, animal shelters, or serving the unsheltered, Santa Cruz has no lack of places you could put in some time.
See Something, Say Something is the past. Now it’s See Something, Do Something. Find where you belong.
DNA | Reporter | votedna.com
PHOTO CONTEST
RARE SIGHT Clouds over Capitola. Photograph by Jonifer Hotter
COMMUNITY THOUGHT
We are only a community as much as we commune. Somebody needs to rise up and bring people together for bigger dialogues. We need to hash out issues that are affecting people’s lives in Santa Cruz county. It would be great to get ahead of the curve, so step up and be that person. We need dialogue.
There are times when something happens that is so far beyond the pale that it lacks words. Such a thing happened on July 20th outside the Capitola Mall when 73-year-old grandmother, Rachell Summers was fatally stabbed. Every aspect of this story is heartbreaking. These kinds of public acts of violence ripple through communities and it can feel very unnerving and scary. For the family Rachell left behind it’s shattering. Donate to Rachell Summers GoFundMe at gofundme.com/f/honor-rachell-summers-by-supporting-her-grandchild
GOOD WORK
The visionary, salt-of-the-earth people at the Homeless Garden Project, led by Darrie Ganzhorn and located near the Seymour Marine Lab, have finally received zoning administrator approval.
The project is seeking sign permits and a minor land division, and this approval is a step toward a truly incredible vision after years of pushing the bureaucratic rock uphill.
Go see firsthand how the Homeless Garden Project helps people move off the street and into a system of support and accountability, all through farming. Santa Cruz is known for innovation, and this model should go national.
“We understand in a very embodied way what it means to work a piece of land, do the work to support community transformation, and then to lose that land,” Ganzhorn said. “So we have always known the importance of having a secure site.”
