San Diego, CA

Volunteer Spotlight: George, Devangna, & Robin – Alzheimer's San Diego

Published

2 years ago

February 26, 2024

Volunteer Spotlight: George, Devangna, & Robin – Alzheimer's San Diego

Our volunteers can be involved in one or more programs like ALZ Companions, VITALZ, social activities, and events like Walk4ALZ. Learn about these three volunteers who offer their time in different capacities and for different purposes, but all in the spirit of lending a hand to people impacted by dementia in San Diego.

Alzheimer’s San Diego Volunteer Backgrounds

George Arlantico has been an event volunteer for Alzheimer’s San Diego at our yearly fall fundraiser Walk4ALZ since 2014. Raised as a San Diegan, George enjoys all the city has to offer, including exploring new or hidden gems and food spots. He has worked in higher education and vocational training for the large part of his career and has seen the incredible impact that can be made to an underserved population.

Devangna Paul is originally from New Delhi, India and is one of our organization’s beloved international volunteers! Devangna is a VITALZ volunteer, making scheduled calls to individuals who live at home alone who have some form of memory loss. She currently resides in Ghaziabad, India, and has recently graduated with a Master’s degree in biochemistry. She then trained as a research assistant, specializing in neurodegeneration. In her free time, Devangna enjoys crocheting, taking long walks, reading mystery novels, and volunteering.

Robin Harris volunteers with Alzheimer’s San Diego as a staff and event photographer as well as hosting our Mindful Photography social activity classes, which is a program specifically for care partners to teach and allow for reflection through the world of photography. A native of San Diego and married with two teenagers, Robin has worked as a graphic designer, image editor, and photographer for over 20 years after having graduated from SDSU with her Bachelor’s degree in graphic design. Robin loves to sing, visit art museums, listen to music, play pickle ball, and spend time with her family and friends.

Volunteer Insights

With so many great organizations to volunteer for, why should folks volunteer at Alzheimer’s San Diego?

Devangna: Alzheimer’s San Diego offers a unique opportunity to directly impact the lives of individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease. The flexibility in scheduling and remote working hours are a bonus. For international volunteers like myself, Alzheimer’s San Diego has made helping the community even more accessible. The organization provides comprehensive support services and resources and by volunteering here, individuals can contribute to enhancing the quality of life for those in need.

George: Alzheimer’s San Diego helps so many people in our local area and knowing that every dollar donated to the organization stays in San Diego to help with support and research is a great comfort. This allows them to make the biggest impact on our community.

How does volunteering for Alzheimer’s San Diego make an impact on your life?

Robin: I have been with Alzheimer’s San Diego for nine years and it truly has changed my life for the better. Not just as a photographer, but as a human being. When I lost my dad to this disease I really didn’t know how to deal with all I was feeling. I suppressed my emotions for many years until I felt the need to reach out to Alzheimer’s San Diego and see what I could do to help. I learned over the years that it’s not just about taking the photos, but more so about connecting with who I was capturing. When I would ask questions like, “How did you two meet?” their expressions would always change in a lovely way and then they would share their meaningful stories with me. As the stories grew, so did my compassion and empathy for those I shared time with and I can’t imagine my life without being a part of this beautiful organization.

Devangna: Volunteering for Alzheimer’s San Diego has had a profound impact on my life by fostering a greater sense of compassion, understanding, and community involvement. I truly appreciate the valuable experiences that have enhanced my personal growth. Now, I better understand the sense of gratitude that comes from socialization, and how life is not about the destination we reach but the journey itself and the people who accompanied us along the way.

Can you describe one meaningful experience you’ve had with volunteering at Alzheimer’s San Diego? How did that experience make an impression on you?

Robin: I have had so many meaningful experiences working with Alzheimer’s San Diego, but one that sticks out in my mind was the time I photographed Corey and Tom. Tom had Alzheimer’s and when we were taking photos I asked the couple if they would kiss. Afterwards Corey said, “Thank you Robin, you took me back to our wedding day.” It was at that moment that I knew I was meant to be doing this work and there would be nothing more purposeful to me in this lifetime.

George: Everything has been amazing! I love being part of the Walk4ALZ event and seeing all of the volunteers so willing to donate their time and efforts to a great cause. It’s great to listen to them share their stories that motivate them.

What is your favorite part of volunteering with Alzheimer’s San Diego?

Devangna: My favorite part of volunteering are the meaningful connections I get to establish with the clients. Being able to provide support and comfort while witnessing the positive impact it has on their lives brings me immense fulfillment.

What motivates you when working with our clients?

Robin: I’m motivated by giving back to my community with my photography. Whether I am capturing the joy that takes place in the social activities, documenting the educational programs and fundraisers, or highlighting a person or family that has been touched by this disease, I am moved beyond words on how photos can impact so many in such a meaningful way. I am blessed everyday to have this opportunity to support Alzheimer’s San Diego.

What has been your biggest takeaway from your experiences volunteering with Alzheimer’s San Diego?

George: Volunteering with Alzheimer’s San Diego was intended to be a one time thing, until I understood the number of people that were affected and the level of support the organization can provide. I have learned so much about Alzheimer’s and dementia and how it effects not only the individuals, but the caregivers and families as well.

If you’d like to volunteer or intern at Alzheimer’s San Diego, contact our Volunteer Specialist, Lindsey Proctor, at lproctor@alzsd.org or visit our volunteer page.

By Lindsey Proctor & Braulio Ambriz

RECOMMENDED: Volunteer Spotlight: Dissecting Dementia Research

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San Diego, CA

San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Elephant Valley: Get closer to elephants

Published

4 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Elephant Valley: Get closer to elephants

Todd Martens
| Los Angeles Times

San Diego — Before we see elephants at Elephant Valley in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, we come face to face with destruction, only the wreckage is beautiful. A long, winding path takes guests around and under felled trees. Aged gray tree hunks form arches, for instance, over bridges that tower over clay-colored paths with hoof prints.

The design is meant to reorient us, to take us on a trail walked not by humans but traversed and carved by elephants, a creature still misunderstood, vilified and hunted for its cataclysmic-like ability to reshape land, and sometimes communities.

“It starts,” says Kristi Burtis, vice president of wildlife care for the Safari Park, “by telling the story that elephants are ecosystem engineers.”

Elephant Valley will open March 5 as the newest experience at the Escondido park, its aim to bring guests closer than ever to the zoo’s eight elephants, which range in age from 7 to 36, while more heavily focusing on conservation. The centerpiece of the 13-acre-plus parkland is a curved bridge overlooking a savanna, allowing elephants to walk under guests. But there are also nooks such as a cave that, while not previewed at a recent media event, will allow visitors to view elephants on their level.

In a shift from, say, the Safari Park’s popular tram tour, there are no fences and visible enclosures. Captive elephants remain a sometimes controversial topic, and the zoo’s herd is a mix of rescues and births, but the goal was to create a space where humans are at once removed and don’t impede on the relative free-roaming ability of the animals by keeping guests largely elevated. As an example of just how close people can get to the herd, there was a moment of levity at the event when one of the elephants began flinging what was believed to be a mixture of dirt and feces up onto the bridge.

“Our guests are going to be able to see the hairs on an elephant,” Burtis says. “They can see their eyes. They can see the eyelashes. They can see how muscular their trunks are. It’s really going to be a different experience.”

Elephant Valley, complete with a multistory lodge with open-air restaurants and bars, boasts a natural design that isn’t influenced by the elephant’s African home so much as it is in conversation with it. The goal isn’t to displace us, but to import communal artistry — Kenyan wood and beadwork can be found in the pathways, resting spaces and more — as a show of admiration rather than imitation.

“We’re not going to pretend that we’re taking people to Africa,” says Fri Forjindam, now a creative executive with Universal’s theme parks but previously a lead designer on Elephant Valley via her role as a chief development officer at Mycotoo, a Pasadena-based experiential design firm.

“That is a slippery slope of theming that can go wrong really fast,” she adds. “How do we recognize where we are right now, which is near San Diego? How do we populate this plane with plants that are indigenous to the region? The story of coexistence is important. We’re not extracting from Africa, we’re learning. We’re not extracting from elephants, we’re sharing information.”

But designing a space that is elephant-first yet also built for humans presented multiple challenges, especially when the collaborating teams were aiming to construct multiple narratives around the animals. Since meetings about Elephant Valley began around 2019, the staff worked to touch on themes related to migration and conservation. And there was also a desire to personalize the elephants.

“Where can we also highlight each of the elephants by name, so they aren’t just this huge herd of random gray creatures?” Forjindam says. “You see that in the lodge.”

That lodge, the Mkutano House — a phrase that means “gathering” in Swahili — should provide opportunities for guests to linger, although zoo representatives say reservations are recommended for those who wish to dine in the space (there will also be a walk-up, to-go window). Menus have yet to be released, but the ground floor of the structure, boasting hut-like roofing designed to blend into the environment, features close views of the elephant grazing pool as well as an indoor space with a centerpiece tree beneath constellation-like lighting to mimic sunrises and sunsets.

Throughout there are animal wood carvings and beadwork, the latter often hung from sculptures made of tree branches. The ceiling, outfitted with colorful, cloth tapestries designed to move with the wind, aims to create less friction between indoor and outdoor environments.

There are, of course, research and educational goals of the space as well. The Safari Park works, for instance, with the Northern Rangelands Trust and Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya, with an emphasis on studying human-elephant conflict and finding no-kill resolutions. Nonprofits and conservation groups estimate that there are today around 415,000 elephants in Africa, and the African savanna elephant is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Studies of the zoo’s young elephants is shared with the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in the hopes of delivering care to elephant youth to prevent orphanage. Additionally, the Safari Park has done extensive examination into the endotheliotropic herpes virus. “The data that we collect from elephants here, you can’t simply get from elephants in the wild,” Burtis says.

One of the two entrances to Elephant Valley is outfitted with bee boxes; bees are known to be a natural elephant deterrent and can help in preventing the animals from disrupting crops or communities. To encourage more natural behavior, the plane is outfitted with timed feeders in an attempt to encourage movement throughout the acreage and establish a level of real-life unpredictability in hunting for resources. Water areas have been redesigned with ramps and steps to make it easier for the elephants to navigate.

With Elephant Valley, Forjindam says the goal was to allow visitors to “observe safely in luxury — whatever that is — but not from a position of power, more as a cohabitor of the Earth, with as much natural elements as possible. It’s not to impose dominance. Ultimately, it needed to feel natural. It couldn’t feel like a man-made structure, which is an antiquated approach to any sort of safari experience where animals are the product, a prize. In this experience, this is the elephant’s home.”

And the resulting feel of Elephant Valley is that we, the paying customers, are simply their house guests.

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San Diego, CA

Man fatally struck by hit-and-run vehicle in San Diego

Published

16 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Man fatally struck by hit-and-run vehicle in San Diego

A man in the Mission Bay Park community of San Diego was fatally struck Sunday morning by a hit-and run vehicle, authorities said.

The victim was also struck by a second vehicle and that motorist stayed at the scene to cooperate with officers, the San Diego Police Department reported.

The initial crash occurred at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday in the area of West Mission Bay and Sea World drives.

The pedestrian was in the southbound lanes of the 2000 block of West Mission Bay Drive when he was struck by a silver vehicle also in the southbound lanes. That vehicle fled the scene, continuing southbound, police said.

A 28-year-old man driving his vehicle southbound ran over the downed pedestrian.

“That driver remained at the scene and is not DUI,” according to a police statement. “The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Anyone with information regarding the initial crash was urged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

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San Diego, CA

Here are the 9 San Diego County communities that set or tied heat records

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Here are the 9 San Diego County communities that set or tied heat records

San Diego County is known for having wet, cold weather in February. But it had numerous hot spells this year. And when the month ended on Saturday a high pressure system produced heat that broke or tied temperature records in nine communities from the desert to the sea, the National Weather Service said.

The most notable temperature occurred in Borrego Springs, which reached 99, five degrees higher than the previous record for Feb. 28, set in 1986. The 99 reading is also the highest temperature ever recorded in Borrego in February.

Escondido reached 95, tying a record set in 1901.

El Cajon reached 92, three degrees higher than the record set in 2009.

Ramona topped out at 88, five degrees higher than the record set in 2009.

Alpine hit 88, four degrees higher the record set in 1986.

Campo reached 87, four degrees higher than the record set in 1999.

Vista hit 86, four degrees higher than the record set in 2020.

Chula Vista reached 84, one degree higher than the record set in 2020.

Lake Cuyamaca rose to 76, four degrees higher than the record set in 1986.

Forecasters say the weather is not likely to broadly produce new highs on Sunday. Cooler air is moving to the coast, and on Monday, San Diego’s high will only reach 67, a degree above normal.

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