The South Coast Children’s Services (SCCS) Pescadero Thrift Shop is having a FURNITURE SALE!

This Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the new Harley Farms barn.

We don’t usually take many furniture donations in the thrift shop because we don’t have room to store it all, but this weekend we are using the new Harley Farms barn! Thank you to Harley Farms for allowing us to use the barn.

We’ll have desks, dresser, chest of drawers, office furniture, and more.

Stop by and support South Coast Children’s Services!

Thanksgiving has come and gone. It’s time for trees, lights, and good times with friends and family!
The annual Pescadero Christmas Tree Lighting is coming up.  Friday, December 2nd at 7:00 PM.

South Coast Children’s Services (SCCS) will be there with hot cocoa, hot apple cider, and some other goodies. All proceeds from these sales benefit the Youth & Government: Model Legislature/Court Program.

Make sure to stop by to see the tree light up and to buy a warm drink. Happy Holidays!

Every day, we receive great donations in the thrift shop. Donations of clean, useful items that are in new or nearly new condition are greatly appreciated.

At times, we also receive items that may not be in good condition. Some of these items are soiled, have holes, or stains on them. We cannot sell these items – we have to either take them to Goodwill or take them to the garbage. This takes a lot of our time, and it’s terrible for our planet! In 2006, there were about 170 million tons of garbage taken to landfills in the United States. We really don’t want to add to this – it’s already way too much.

We had a staff meeting a few weeks ago where we brainstormed what we could do to avoid taking so much to Goodwill or the trash. Our Executive Director, Judy McKee, has  friend named Sharron from Texas. She remembered Sharron sharing an art project she once saw in Texas. They had taken pieces of fabric and tied them on to a chain-link fence to make a beautiful design.

We thought this could be a great way to use the clothing that would otherwise be garbage. Not only this, but if would be a way to beautify our small Pescadero community.

Pat Talbot, Principal of the Pescadero Elementary School thought it was a great idea and she gave us permission to use the school’s chain-link fence.

The SCCS Creative Saturday group is a group of youth ages 9 to 12 who meet weekly to do various activities. It is completely youth-led; sometimes we bake delicious treats, sometimes we do arts and crafts, and sometimes we go on fieldtrips.  I showed them some images of this new art project idea, we called it a “fence mosaic” – and they decided to take it on.

To start, the youth weren’t sure how the weaving would be done, so we needed to practice. We drew a few different designs on large pieces of graph paper to get an idea of what we wanted. We have already practiced weaving on the fence, we are now deciding on what our final design will be. Once this is complete, we will begin the final design.

These are some images of our first time practicing weaving on the chain-link fence.

Remember, this is only practice – practice makes perfect! We will continue practicing until we master the art of fence weaving.

Here is our practice of the fence mosaic. The mosaic is still up at the Pescadero Elementary School, if you want to check it out.
We will be changing it as soon as we decide on our final design.

The annual Pescadero Elementary School (PES) Halloween Parade was on Monday, October 31st. The SCCS staff always enjoy giving out treats to the youth in the parade.

Last year, some SCCS staff and volunteers dressed up as Crayolas. We were each a different color crayon.

This year, we wanted to focus on spreading a message: Reducing waste. SCCS staff and volunteers dressed up as the “Mighty SCCS Team”. We were each a recycle superhero.

From left to right, we have: Recycle Ranger, Recycle Queen, No Waste Wonder Woman, Captain Compost, Clean and Green Girl, and Periodico (Newspaper) Princess

Not only did we dress as recycle superheroes, we also gave healthy, natural, gluten-free nutrition bars. Yes, we know, they don’t sound very good – but they are…DELICIOUS! That’s not the best part about these bars. The best thing is: for every bar you buy, they will give a nutrition pack to a malnourished child. You can check them out here: http://twodegreesfood.com
We really loved their bars and the great message.

It was a fun parade and we were able to spread a valuable message to our youth. We should all consider recycling, reducing waste, up-cycling old items, doing whatever we can to help our planet.

The California Coastal Clean-Up Day is an annual event which gathers thousands of volunteers from all over California. On this day, people collect trash and debris from beaches, lakes, and waterways.

In previous years, SCCS has taken youth to contribute to the clean-up and this year was not any different.

Our Creative Saturday group was very interested in helping out. We went to the beach at Gazos Creek to do our share. The Pescadero Conservation Alliance was there and distributed gloves and bags to start our collecting. We were told there were about 20 others collecting at this particular beach.

We spent about an hour searching for trash and didn’t find very much: one glass beverage container, a few food wrappers, and a band-aid. We were happily surprised to find such little trash. It’s great to have clean beaches, creeks, and waterways.  It makes us love and appreciate the place we live even more! Not only that, but trash is dangerous to marine wildlife – so we want to keep them safe.

Please participate in this event next year! It was a lot of fun and it makes you realize the importance of having safe and clean beaches.