volunteers

STATELINE, Nev. - Using the MLK Day of Service to volunteer, staff from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) spent Monday picking up trash around the informal sled hill between Heavenly Village and Harrah's Tahoe.

The 11 volunteers picked up 68.5 lbs of trash equaling 90 gallons of volume. TRPA is part of the League to Save Lake Tahoe Blue Crew and have committed their volunteers to working in the area twice a month. They'll be back later this week to clean along Montreal Road and Van Sickle Bi-State Park.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South and West Shore, including Meyers, South Lake Tahoe, Meeks Bay, Tahoma, and the Echo Summit area. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at the time of the story.

Last Week's Log: http://southtahoenow.com/story/01/10/2021/el-dorado-county-sheriffs-report

This Week's Log:

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LAKE TAHOE, Nev./Calif - The Tahoe Fund announced today that Tahoe Blue Vodka’s generous $100,000 match has been met, allowing the nonprofit Clean Up The Lake to begin its massive effort to remove trash around all 72-miles of Lake Tahoe this spring. Support to meet the match was overwhelming, with the matching $100,000 coming from more than 135 businesses and people donating to the cause, including $25,000 from Vail Resorts.

For Bread & Bread there is so much to be thankful for as the year 2020 comes to an end. The organization would like to acknowledge all of the members of the Lake Tahoe South Shore community who have so generously supported our efforts to feed and help those in need during this holiday season.

2020 has been a year of incredible challenges and changes for our organization. At Live Violence Free, we worked hard to continue to meet the needs of our community. Our resilient staff, volunteers, and board members have risen to the challenge and provided stabilizing support to the community, and we are here every step of the way.

A previously announced matching donation by Tahoe Blue Vodka of $100,000 has received its first match from Vail Resorts. The Tahoe Fund said Vail contributed $25,000 in support of its campaign to remove trash around all 72-miles of Lake Tahoe with Clean Up The Lake.

Lake Tahoe, long known for its famed clarity and brilliant blue waters has a dirty secret. Beneath the surface, thousands of pounds of trash are breaking apart and impacting the lake’s aquatic habitats. In 2021, an extraordinary effort to remove trash around all 72-miles of Lake Tahoe with a SCUBA dive team of professionals and volunteers will begin. Spearheaded by the nonprofit Clean Up The Lake, the Tahoe Fund has committed to raising funds needed to make it happen.

Bread & Broth’s holiday Thanksgiving meal giveaway on November 23 was a tremendous success thanks to the kindness of many generous community supporters. In addition to the regular bags filled with fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, eggs, butter, bread and pastries, 170 holiday meal “fixings” bags were handed out in the foyer of St. Theresa Grace Hall. The Thanksgiving meals went to 549 very grateful individuals and family members.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The volunteers at Bread & Broth packed bags of food for the community Monday, bags full of food for not only a Thanksgiving meal, but for meals through the week.

From 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on November 23, almost 200 people picked up bags for their families containing a turkey breast, yams, green beans, rolls, stuffing, pumpkin pie, sparkling apple cider, fruit, vegetables, eggs, milk and much more. Those bags of food went to feed 549 individuals in the South Lake Tahoe community.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With a change in the normal Halloween celebrations due to coronavirus, volunteers with the Lake Tahoe Historical Society have created a map to local homes decorated for the season. This is a great way to enjoy the holiday in a socially distanced manner.

LTHS has added the map to their website and will have printed copies at the museum starting October 20.

There are no specific address listed, just a pumpkin placed in the area of a home found to have a display for all to enjoy by walking, biking or driving by.

Child Advocates of El Dorado is holding its first one-hour virtual Gala on November 7 starting at 6:00 p.m.

The event is free to attend, but it is the local Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) annual fundraiser, hosted this year by Eileen Javora Boeger. There will be live entertainment by world-renown performance painter David Garibaldi.

CASA El Dorado benefits the community by serving the abused, neglected and at-risk children in our county’s foster care system. This is accomplished by recruiting, training, and supervising volunteers from the community.

LAKE TAHOE - Volunteer citizen scientists working with the League to Save Lake Tahoe conducted surveys of Donner and Spooner Lakes to detect aquatic invasive species, and restored native wetland habitat in Johnson Meadow in September. Both efforts are aimed at preserving the Tahoe-Truckee region’s unique ecology.

The I Run With Maud-South Lake Tahoe group is holding a rally at Lakeview Commons on Sunday, September 27 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. to celebrate free speech, inclusion and diversity.

Organizers said they'd like to see many of our neighbors represented at this fun, safe, family-friendly, peaceful event. They expect to have a variety of local speakers and an event that is "inspiring, uplifting and overwhelmingly positive for the South Lake Tahoe community.

Volunteers to help are also needed.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless will receive significant funding in the first round of awards for Project Homekey. The funds awarded will support the local community to purchase and rehabilitate housing, including hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings, and other properties, and convert them into permanent, long-term housing for people facing homelessness and those currently in insufficient short-term housing. We strongly support the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless and their Project Homekey plans.

The 26th annual Lake Tahoe Marathon scheduled for October 9-11 has been canceled for 2020.

Due to the volume of participants and required bus transportation to starting points, the popular three-day event was canceled since gathering and social distancing protocols couldn't be met. The date for the event will be October 8-10, 2021.

Organizer Les Wright of South Lake Tahoe sent out the following letter to participants this week:

The odds of being able to have the 25th Lake Tahoe Marathon this year on Oct 9-11th have dropped to about 1%.

Now that the Bread & Broth 4 Kids (BB4K) summer program came to an end on August 26, the backpack school program resumes and will once again provide weekend food bags to Lake Tahoe Unified School District children. Bags will be available to qualified families at four school sites (Sierra House, Bijou, Tahoe Valley and South Tahoe Middle School) and school bus stop locations every Friday beginning September 4. As the bus drivers deliver breakfast and lunch to the students, the bags will be handed out.

With about four million 18-year-olds nation-wide able to vote in the November 3 election, local voting advocates are reaching out to first-time voters to help them register in South Lake Tahoe.

On Thursday, August 20 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., a group of volunteers will be at Regan Beach on the lawn to help get those first-time voters registered.

Bring identification and wear a mask.

Coordinator Holly Greenough, former principal at Tallac High School, use to registere students at the high school, but since her retirement and her group of volunteers moving, she changed venues.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - As most in the South Lake Tahoe and Meyers area already know, getting out of town over US50 and Echo Summit on Sundays and holidays can be slow moving during summer, but during the winter it can be a miserable time both for visitors and locals.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Join volunteers who are helping to clean up South Lake Tahoe, one region at a time. There are three clean up Sundays scheduled starting with August 9. #IRunWithMaud, a local anti-racism group, will be cleaning Sierra Boulevard from Barbara Avenue to US50 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Their goal is to help underserved areas by helping to keep them trash free.

A few spots are left in the this summer's Tahoe Forest Stewardship Day on Saturday, July 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Join the League to Save Lake Tahoe for a small, RSVP only and physically distanced restoration event. The deadline to sign up is coming quickly - 4:00 p.m. on Friday, July 24.

By pitching in, you are improving ecosystem health and the wildlife habitats that surround Lake Tahoe. Healthy forests and meadows act as natural pollution filters to Keep Tahoe Blue.

Volunteers of all ages and skill levels are invited to this fun, hands-on restoration day.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Just as many other cities around the country have done, the City of South Lake Tahoe is partnering with local residents to act as volunteer ambassadors to reach out to the community and visitors about the importance of safety during the pandemic.

“We have said the entire time to do everything you can to stay safe, so Tahoe can stay open,” said City Manager Joe Irvin, “This ambassador program is about making sure people wear a mask, wash their hands, and do their part to make sure visitors and residents alike stay healthy during this crisis.”

Last year, Desert Research Institute (DRI) and the League to Save Lake Tahoe detected microplastics in Lake Tahoe for the first time ever, many of which were microfibers. This discovery revealed that microplastic pollution is not just present in oceans, but also in mountains and lakes, including highly protected areas like Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Bread and Broth has been feeding the community not only during the pandemic, but for 31 years. The need has been especially great during the trying times of COVI-19, job loss and uncertainty.

Never skipping a beat, Bread & Broth moved from serving hot meals twice a week at St. Theresa Church Grace Hall to giving away bags of food including fresh produce, dairy and eggs from the hall's foyer.

They also changed their weekly food backpack program from schools to bus stops, and now the Bread & Broth 4 Kids program gives away food each week from that same foyer.

The Tahoe Tax-Aide Team has determined that it will not re-open for this tax season. The health and safety of our site staff, volunteers and taxpayers is our top priority, and the decision not to re-open was made with everyone's protection in mind.

AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is offering online options to assist taxpayers affected by the suspension of in-person services:

• A self-prep option, providing free access to software so you can prepare taxes on your own, is available at aarpfoundation.org/taxaide Click on the "Get Help With Tax Prep" link.