Community briefs: No print edition of The Almanac on Dec. 29, M-A brings in 300,000 pounds of food in annual drive

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No print edition of The Almanac on Dec. 29

See you on Jan. 5

Today’s paper will be the final Almanac print edition of 2023, as we opted for a larger special

issue with our Year in Review this week and take a break from the newspaper production between

Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Our print paper will be back as usual on Jan. 5.

The news coverage won’t stop in the interim, however. Our journalists will be hard at work reporting articles online over the next week. Visit AlmanacNews.com to see all of the big stories, and we will see you again in print in 2024. Happy Holidays!

Menlo-Atherton canned food drive feeds nearly 500 families

Menlo-Atherton High School hosted its 25th annual canned food drive at Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto on Dec. 9, 2023. Courtesy Celine Chien.

Menlo-Atherton High School hosted its 25th annual canned food drive at the Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto on Dec. 9.

M-A students and staff served nearly 300,000 pounds of food to around 500 families, students, teachers, parents, and community members united in a yearly project that lasted from the start of

November through Dec. 7, according to organizers.

The Atherton school’s canned food drive began in 1999. Football coach Ben Parks started the drive initially by collecting canned food for his students during the holiday season.

“Having such a supportive community was a great help to get the drive all started,” said Abigail MacLeod, a junior at M-A and distribution day organizer, told the M-A Chronicle. “The people at

Ecumenical Hunger — LaKesha (Roberts) and Donald (Hunter) were very helpful too.”

Local artist completes mural at Laurel School

Palo Alto artist Flo deBretagne with her latest mural, “My Seeds,” in Laurel School’s Lower Campus library. She completed the mural at the Atherton school in mid-November 2023. Courtesy Flo deBretagne.

Palo Alto artist Flo deBretagne painted her latest mural in Laurel School’s Lower Campus library. She completed the mural at the Atherton school in mid-November. Her “My Seeds” series was born after she saw an exhibition 30 years ago of tapestries from artist Dom Robert, a Benedictine monk who became one of the masters of contemporary tapestry. His tapestries depict playful animals immersed in lush grasses and flowers.

“Inspired by this vibrant liveliness, I created my signature work, marked by bubbles, intense colors, and rhythmic patterns,” she said in an email. “Each painting represents a bountiful garden with seeds that will blossom and become beautiful flowers or fruits. They are seeds of hope, seeds of light, seeds of tomorrow. They are a metaphor for fruitfulness. It is up to the beholder’s mind to imagine what they might become. My Seeds have traveled from personal homes to health facilities and school walls, sowing joy wherever they go.”

Palo Alto artist Flo deBretagne painted her latest mural in Laurel School's Lower Campus library in Atherton. She completed the mural at the Atherton school in mid-November 2023. Courtesy Flo deBretagne. — Palo Alto artist Flo deBretagne painted her latest mural in Laurel School’s Lower Campus library in Atherton. She completed the mural at the Atherton school in mid-November 2023. Courtesy Flo deBretagne.

Her work has also appeared at Oak Knoll School in Menlo Park, Adelante Selby Spanish Immersion School in Atherton and Cesar Chavez Ravenswood Middle School in East Palo Alto.

By Angela Swartz

Menlo-Atherton High School hosted its 25th annual canned food drive at Ecumenical Hunger Program in East Palo Alto on Dec. 9, 2023. Courtesy Celine Chien.
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