Issue Groups

We have ongoing "issue groups" which allow members to follow their passions in a variety of ways with others who share their enthusiasm. Currently our issue groups include:

~ Energy and Environment

~ California Governance

~ CanDo Kids/CanDo Teens - whose mission is to help create and promote service activities for children and youth

The challenges to our environment that we see all around us are being met one small project at a time right here in Napa County, and the results can be far reaching!

Napa Valley CanDo’s Environment Group is giving people of all ages simple ways to do just that.

There is something for everyoneʼs interests and schedule: getting hands-on planting and adding mulch to new seedings as part of fish habitat restoration, or handing out information at a Farmer’s Market about reycling. In the last two years we have established some great partnerships so that we help bring momentum to established projects in the community and donʼt reinvent the wheel. For example, helping gleaning excess fruits and vegetables from backyard gardens for the Food Bank, or joining the new Parks and Open Space District in group work parties are win-win efforts.

Why should adults do all the good works? Why should adults be the only ones to make a difference in our community? Why should adults have all the fun?

CanDo Kids and Teens is an issue group with a powerful vision: To engage more young people in community service by reaching out, educating, helping non-profits design activities for young volunteers, and working with schools to facilitate such service.

Young people who volunteer and become active in their community have increased empathy and increased self-esteem. They learn social responsibility and are less likely to participate in at-risk behaviors. Starting as kids and volunteering with other family members has the potential to foster a deeper understanding of the value of service to others, a value that is likely to be nurtured through a lifetime. Young volunteers learn that one person really can make a difference, a lesson that's empowering beyond measure.

By way of example, CanDo's Soles4Souls' drive to collect 10,000 pairs of gently-used shoes was spear-headed by the Green Teens, a program of the Napa Valley Education Foundation. Selected students at each middle school in the Napa Valley Unified School District worked step-by-step, pair by pair, to help others walk a little taller this spring. CanDo Kids and Teens led the way and helped Napa Valley reach and exceed out goal. We collected not 10,000 but over 13,000 pairs of shoes!