Community Corner

🌱 Patch AM: How Santa Cruz volunteers keep hundreds of local veterans fed each week

You won't want to miss New Year's Day Energy Reset: Yoga, Sound Healing, Meditation on the Santa Cruz Patch calendar

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Hello Santa Cruz! Here's our latest buzz. Let's get into it. ☕️️

In today's newsletter:

  • How Santa Cruz volunteers keep hundreds of local veterans fed each week
  • How will $639,000 in new grants change Santa Cruz road safety?
  • Why Santa Cruz’s rail-trail just took a dramatic turn.

Also on today's calendar: New Year's Day Energy Reset: Yoga, Sound Healing, Meditation and 7 more events.

Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Today's riddle: Playing golf is bad for your brain. 🤔 (Answer below!)

Weather forecast:

Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

  • Thursday: Periods of rain, with a high of 61 and low of 51 degrees.
  • Friday: Cloudy, a little rain; breezy, temps: high: 62, low: 52.
  • Saturday: Rain; breezy in the afternoon, with a high of 60 and low of 50 degrees.

📰 News we're reading

1. Volunteers Power Santa Cruz Veterans Meal and Pantry Program (goodtimes.sc) — Santa Cruz County veterans and their families can get weekly hot meals, pantry groceries, and community support at the Veterans Memorial Building on Front Street, powered entirely by volunteers and donations. The program also connects with Watsonville’s pantry and a broader Santa Cruz food-security network, and organizers are urgently seeking volunteers, funding, and equipment to keep expanding services for the county’s 9,100 veterans.
   

2. Santa Cruz County Public Health receives grants for traffic safety programs - Press Banner (pressbanner.com) — Santa Cruz County just secured more than $639,000 to make local roads safer for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and kids through 2026. New grants will fund school presentations, free safety gear, DUI education, bilingual merchant trainings, child car seats and a strengthened DUI resource center, all aimed at reducing crashes and protecting vulnerable road users countywide.
   

3. Year in Review: What comes next for Santa Cruz County's rail and trail? (santacruzsentinel.com) — Santa Cruz County transportation leaders just shifted key Coastal Rail Trail segments to a cheaper “interim” design, putting the path on top of existing tracks to preserve a massive state grant. The move, involving the city and county of Santa Cruz, reignites the long-running rail-versus-trail debate while keeping future zero-emission passenger rail studies alive despite a huge funding gap and decades-long timeline.
   

4. Year in Review: Murray Street Bridge closure sows chaos in Santa Cruz (fresnobee.com) — Murray Street Bridge’s long-term closure has choked a key east-west route in Santa Cruz, straining harbor access and hurting Seabright and harbor businesses. City officials are pushing ahead with a multi-year seismic retrofit, exploring traffic and pedestrian alternatives, and planning to reopen one lane with two-way pedestrian access by February 2026 while businesses urge residents to keep supporting the area.
   

📸 Around Santa Cruz

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🗓 Upcoming Events in Santa Cruz

Add your event to our calendar and newsletter!

📣 Santa Cruz Shout Outs!

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🗓 Events Nearby

    Saturday January 3
  • Are You Game? Lancelot's Merry Band of Gamers
    Barbara Gorson Multiuse Room , Capitola
    12:00 pm
    • Monday January 5
  • Day Camp Available
    Pacific Elementary School Davenport, CA 95017
    8:15 am
    • Tuesday January 6
  • Aptos Youth Chess Club @ Aptos
    The Betty Leonard Community Room , Aptos
    3:30 pm
    • Wednesday January 7
  • Preschool Storytime @ the Garfield Park Branch Library
    Garfield Park Branch Library Garfield Park
    10:30 am

Have we missed something on our calendar? Add an event yourself! As always, before attending confirm event details to ensure accuracy.

 

Thank you 👏👏👏 to the local businesses for making Santa Cruz PatchAM possible:

Click here to show your appreciation! 💚

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💬 Chatter

What your neighbors are talking about on social media

  • I live near the central district fire department station on 17th Ave.
    I hear the sirens every time an EMT or fire truck leaves the station, and it is quite often, and it’s all hours of the day and night. I always say… (Nextdoor Blacks Beach)
  • Missing kitty!
    Please text if you see her. She comes if you call her and responds to meowing. Her name is Tammy and she won’t break skin with bites or scratches… (Nextdoor Cayuga)
  • Remington posted a job opening for Overnight Night Auditor $20 per hour Santa Cruz Hilton in Santa Cruz. Apply here.
  • Target posted a job opening for General Merchandise Team Leader (Early Morning Logistics Supervisor) in Capitola. Apply here. You can search for other jobs near Santa Cruz here.

Ok Santa Cruz! So now you're in the loop about what's happening today. Thanks for reading, and see you in your inbox next time! Oh -- and if you like what you're reading, invite a friend to Patch AM!

-- The Patch AM Team

P.S. The answer to today's riddle: I just heard a golfer say he had four strokes on the first hole!
Got a good riddle for PatchAM? Send it to us!

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