Community Service

My initiation into community service came as a result of being a parent of a young elementary school student. Because public accounting is my profession, I was asked to serve as Treasurer of the Walter Hayes PTA whose principle role was to raise funds for classroom aides and classroom materials.

In 1983, I accepted an invitation to become a member of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce. I had been asked to join in large part, I think, because I had been the Chamber's auditor for a number of years and understood the Chamber's finances. During my six-year tenure, I championed the interests of the small business community and the residents whose positions did not always coincide with that of Stanford or the multi-national corporations in the Stanford Industrial Park.

I was a founding member of the Palo Alto Jazz Festival, an event co-sponsored by the Chamber and City. The Jazz Festival was a success as a community event, but never raised the funds that the Chamber had hoped would provide the Chamber with additional revenue.

An early objector to School closure, I worked with other members of our community to reverse the School Board's decision to close Gunn High School and Jordan Junior High. After the community mobilized and elected anti-closure candidates such as Diane Recklis to the PAUSD School Board, the Board reversed itself and set up community advisory committees to propose ways to bring additional funds to the schools. I served for a number of years on the Finance Advisory Committee and actively worked to pass both the Utility Tax which provided the schools much needed operating funds and the Bond measure which allowed the School District to do the refurbishing that is currently underway.

I founded the Trust for Community Skating and Community Skating, Inc. which saved Palo Alto's much loved Winter Lodge from demolition. With the help of community volunteers, the Trust for Community Skating convinced Palo Alto voters to pass ballot Measures A & B in 1985. I have served as President, or as a Board Member, of Community Skating, Inc. for the past sixteen years while the program has grown into one of the largest teaching programs in the country.

As a founding member of the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation, I have worked for the last 12 years to raise additional funds for community recreation and to fund grants to programs enriching the lives of my fellow residents or to fund grants to remodel community facilities such as the Baylands Nature Center or the Little League playing field.

As an accounting professional, I have used my expertise to assist non-profit groups such as the Friends of the Children's Theatre, Palo Alto Housing Corporation, Adolescent Counseling Services, Palo Alto Players, the Urban Ministry or Morrissey Compton Educational Center in meeting their financial reporting obligations or in dealing with the City. It has been my way of making a professional contribution to those groups who enrich our community environment.