REDUCING FOOD WASTE … When Palo Alto High sophomores Oscar Anderson and Kai Mirchandani noticed how much food went to waste at their school, they decided to collaborate and fight the problem. Their teamwork resulted in People Plates Planet, their nonprofit that launched on April 22, in conjunction with Earth Day. The organization aims to "recover surplus food from school campuses and divert to help those suffering from hunger," Anderson wrote in an email to the Weekly. They set up a display with facts about food waste and its impact on climate change. They also placed food-recovery boxes on campus, into which their peers were invited to drop off their unwanted extra, packaged food from the free lunch provided through the school. The duo delivered the food to nonprofit The Opportunity Center in Palo Alto, where their donations were received and distributed by staff to people in need.
SAFE PASSAGE … Crossing Palo Alto's busy streets can be intimidating, especially for small animals with not very long strides. That's the situation a mother duck and her nine ducklings found themselves in on April 15, according to Pati Rouzer, who helped rescue the feathered family with the aid of other community members. The ducks were seen on Louis Road and Elsinor Drive, then again on Greer Road, where they were heading east to Oregon Expressway and the Baylands. Concerned about the web-footed creatures, residents contacted the city's Animal Services and were redirected to police dispatch, who informed them that "city services do not cover animal rescue, especially 'after hours,'" according to Rouzer. The ducks found assistance through a mother and her son who were bicycling through the area. The woman called her husband, who brought their daughter along with a box and a blanket for the ducks. He "proved to be a remarkable duck whisperer," Rouzer said. He navigated his way through shrubbery and provided "soothing reassurances" to the mother duck, who was later named Ms. Mallard since she appeared to look like a member of the namesake breed. The human family of four, plus Rouzer and another community member, Patty McGann, were eventually able to corral the duck family. The wayward animals were taken to the Baylands and released in an area between the duck pond and tidal mud flats. "We noted that it was Good Friday," said Rouzer, "and agreed that, indeed, it was a Good Friday for nature."
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