Our Mission
Napa Valley CanDo is a vibrant, all-volunteer service organization.
We connect, inspire, and empower neighbors by making it easy to take positive action as volunteers and to learn about our community. All of CanDo’s efforts are designed to strengthen and enrich the lives of Napa Valley residents. We create and implement dynamic projects when we recognize unmet community needs, and we collaborate with other local service organizations to further our mutual goals.
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We’re an issue-oriented group, not a partisan one. Community service and advocacy are not the domain of Republicans or Democrats or Independents. To our way of thinking, it’s the job of each of us to see what we CanDo to enrich our community, bit by bit.
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All of CanDo’s efforts are designed to strengthen and enhance the lives of Napa Valley residents. At our heart, CanDo is about neighbors helping neighbors.
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So how does it all unfold? We call our Board the CORE. It’s from the French word “coeur”, meaning heart. This small group gathers monthly to see what’s what and to keep things cooking. All are volunteers. It’s amazing to see what we CanDo when we work together.
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Our weekly e-Newsletter, the CanDo Connection, shows our members how to take action in ways large and small. It highlights done-in-a-day projects and events we think might pique your interest. It’s a balance of community news, playful pieces, and volunteer opportunities. It includes essential information and links to sign up.
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We call for volunteers at the request of area nonprofits and create our own projects when we recognize an unmet community need. Projects are selected based on members’ creative energies and interests. Read more about our projects here.
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We have no membership requirements, no dues and no mandatory service hours. We don’t even meet on a regular basis as a whole.
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None of this happens without you. It’s your energy, your dedication to a stronger community, and your willingness to say “Yes!” that keeps us growing.
Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once,
but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Our Grass Roots
Following the 2008 presidential election, Hilary Zunin and Grania Lindberg (see bios below) met with a small group of Napans dedicated to furthering positive change and created an all-volunteer, grassroots community service group. The goal? To connect, inspire, and empower neighbors by making it easy to take positive action as volunteers and to learn about our community. Napa Valley CanDo is that organization.
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​HILARY ZUNIN, FOUNDER
Hilary's words: Striving to create a balanced life, I nurture my inner world while helping to build community. CanDo has been a consummate teacher. It’s been a journey graced with wonder, challenges and love. Turns as a skydiving instructor, wine PR executive, author/lecturer on grief and loss, and a passionate high school teacher. Small things bring joy: birds, long cups of tea, balancing rocks, and saying “Yes!"
Hilary died on Jan. 14, 2021, an enormous loss for us all. Her favorite quote “We cannot live by ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads.”– Herman Melville
​GRANIA LINDBERG, FOUNDER
​Grania's words: Climbing trees, biking, camping with Scouts as a kid near the southern CA beach instilled a love for the outdoors and nature that I pursue in a more leisurely way now in my 80’s. This has led me to be a fierce proponent of conservation, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and caring for our planet. Three winters living aboard our sailboat in Mexico, walking the streets of old town, a cup of hot chocolate in our backyard oasis – these are the joys of my life.
Grania retired from the CanDo Board in April of 2021. She continues to share her wisdom and ideas with CanDo.
Past Projects
When a potential project arises, we always begin by educating ourselves and researching what efforts may already be in place. We have no desire to duplicate others’ activities, but if we can assist another group’s project or if we recognize an unmet need, we move forward with purpose. And when we spot a successful idea that’s been put into practice in another part of the country, we’ll learn as much as we can to see how we might adapt it for our communities. Examples:
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Plastics Initiative
Napa Valley CanDo’s dedicated volunteers spearheaded the reduction of single use plastic bags in Napa County. We researched other Bay Area jurisdictions’ ordinances, prepared a draft ordinance template that we thought would work in Napa County, and presented this to city officials. When the matter came before the Napa City Council, the measure passed unanimously. Our volunteers went to each of the other five local jurisdictions in Napa County presenting the evidence that a ban was necessary. Thereafter, the cities in the rest of the County passed similar ordinances.
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Soles4Souls
CanDo gathered over 13,000 pairs of gently-used shoes for distribution via Soles4Souls, the international organization that turns shoes and clothing into opportunity.
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Waterway Keepers
What began with a few concerned individuals picking up trash while on a wetland walk has grown to a full-fledged river cleanup program. It’s a collaboration between five local agencies dedicated to responsible watershed management and the health of our waterways and is now orchestrated by our friends at the Napa County Resource Conservation District.
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10-10-10
CanDo’s very first activity was to raise funds, food, and awareness for the CANV Food Bank. Using a simple and effective action, our members emailed 10 friends asking them to donate 10 food items, and/or a check for $10 to the CANV Food Bank. They then sent the request to 10 of their friends to help provide for the food insecure in our Valley. Over the next couple of years, CanDo members raised more than $50,000 in this way.
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Drug Take-Back
CanDo volunteers were involved on a regular basis with Ole Health's drug take-back program. Our drivers transported unneeded and out-of-date medications from Ole Health’s drop-off point to Household Hazardous Waste, thus keeping them out of our landfill and water system.
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Project Homeless Connect
CanDo recruited, trained and coordinated 150 volunteers when different activities and resources were made available in one location during a single day for our local homeless population. This included everything from haircuts to health screenings.
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The Great Sunflower Project
CanDo volunteers distributed Lemon Queen sunflower seeds and literature to local gardeners. We grew sunflowers at the former Napa Community Garden and took part in this activity that tracks and sheds light on populations of pollinators. Volunteers observed the flowers, did a pollinator count, and submitted the results to the project.
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Hummingbirds at Home
In collaboration with Napa-Solano Audubon, CanDo helped introduce this citizen science project to the Napa community, including elementary schools. The information gathered helps scientists understand how climate change may be affecting the migration and feeding habits of hummingbirds.