Local students pack gift bags for seniors, write holiday letters for incarcerated young people

Local students with E3 Youth Philanthropy recently packed 100 holiday gift bags for seniors and wrote 120 letters to incarcerated young people.

A program of the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation, E3 allows high schoolers residing or attending school in Mountain View, Los Altos or Los Altos Hills to participate in service projects, give out grants and learn about nonprofit work.

Around 20 E3 members worked to assemble the gift bags at an event on Dec. 13. Community Services Agency, a Mountain View non-profit, created the wish lists for the bags and the items were donated by community members.

"After E3 students finished assembling the gift bags, they grabbed some snacks and started or continued to write holiday letters to incarcerated youth," Valeria Arevalo Cervantes, a Mountain View High student with E3, said in an email to the Voice. "Every year, this always seems to be the favorite part of the celebration for many E3 members. They get to write to people around their age groups about celebrating the holidays knowing that many incarcerated youth may not have anyone to celebrate with."

City to host universal basic income film screening, roundtable discussion

Mountain View plans to host a film screening and discussion about guaranteed income next month at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

The city is partnering with Mayors for a Guaranteed Income and Counties for a Guaranteed Income, two coalitions dedicated to advocating for guaranteed income programs that provide direct and recurring cash payments to individuals.

The event will feature a screening of "It's Basic," a documentary that follows guaranteed income recipients from pilots across the country, according to a press release. Afterwards, there will be a roundtable discussion with recipients of Mountain View's guaranteed basic income pilot program.

Elevate MV, the city's universal basic income pilot program, provides $500 per month directly to 166 extremely low-income residents who were randomly selected to participate in the program.

The film screening and roundtable are free and open to the public, running from 6-8:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 at the Center for the Performing Arts SecondStage, 500 Castro St. Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres will be served at 5:30 p.m.

For more information, visit the city's Elevate MV page.

City to offer free holiday tree recycling

City residents with curbside trash collection can get free holiday tree recycling after Christmas.

The trees will be collected on residents' weekly compost days between Dec. 26 and Jan. 19.

Trees may have wood stands, but shouldn't have tinsel, decorations, or metal or plastic stands. Small trees should be cut and put into the compost carts, while large trees should be cut into 5-foot pieces and placed in the gutter next to the driveway so that they are easily visible.

For full instructions and more details, visit the city's trash and recycling services website.