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As humankind has expanded its reach, wildlife and the natural world have retreated. Only recently have we realized our power to exhaust the resources of a world we once thought limitless. What we had previously struggled to conquer, now needs to be saved.

“This year we focused on the east hills of Gilroy. I think it’s not a very well-known part of town,” says Kelly Barbazette, member of Gilroy Assistance League (GALs), a nonprofit organization with 35 active members. This is Kelly’s fifth year working with GALs for their annual “Impressions” Home and Garden Tour.GALs raises money and awards grants each April to youth groups that apply. “A lot of these little groups couldn’t make it unless they get grants from different organizations,” says member Sherri Kennedy. “With this house tour, it’s supplemented the funds that we can bring in tremendously. So, it’s been fantastic. The members give up their time to get everything organized and we let the homeowners know a year in advance, so they can get  ready and prepare and do their thing.”The annual Home and Garden Tour is GALs largest fundraiser. Last month GALs grants totalling $21,000 were awarded to 13 organizations benefiting local youth.“GALs has actually transformed,” says Kennedy. “It used to be groups sponsoring the Children's Home Society, it was adoption services and everything. Then, years ago there were members of the group that said ‘look we’re not doing this much anymore, so let’s turn it just toward Gilroy and Gilroy youth’ and so all of that happened about the late ’80s and then I’ve been a member since early ’90s.”Three homes were shown in this year’s tour. One was the home of Dolores DeFrancesco. Built by Dolores and her late husband Al, the DeFrancesco’s 7,200-square-foot Mediterranean style home offers panoramic views atop 120 acres in East Gilroy. The home shows beautifully with granite and oak inlaid floors in the foyer, a substantial kitchen, limited edition hand-painted wash basins and toilets by Kohler and a whimsical rooster collection. The home also includes a 1,200-square-foot party room that Vicki Card says is “used for family, entertaining friends, she has a bible study group. She plays bridge—you’ll see her chairs are all covered with cards. Which is really cute.”“We've had many celebrations here,” says Mia Eaton, Delores DeFrancesco’s daughter and GALs volunteer. “We’ve had bridal showers, birthday parties. We love cooking and eating and feeding people.”Asked how long it took the DeFrancescos to build, Eaton says “we built it from the ground up. [Dolores] did all the floor plans and all the finishes, she didn’t have an interior designer, she did it.”The DeFrancesco home also features oak and cherry fixtures throughout and includes wood-wrapped beveled windows by Kolbe, which are especially flattering to the outside views, making each window appear like a painting.One might expect nothing less in the home of an artist, whose in-home studio is on the second floor. The 74-year-old Dolores DeFrancesco is an avid painter and much of her own art is featured throughout the home. On the property, she personally tends to a small vineyard and vegetable garden.Taking the tour through the home, Barbazette, the GALs member responsible for this year’s home descriptions, says that no home is featured twice. “What’s really unique about this tour is that all of the homes are really different, and what’s different this year is that we are ending at a winery. That’s where we have our home and garden boutique with all local artists.”The home of Dr. John and Rachel Perez was also featured in this year’s tour. Influenced by Southwest and Mediterranean architectural styles, this three-level home of 7,000 square feet is set on a stunning 10.5-acre property overlooking the South Valley. Decorated with works of Native American communities of the Hopi and Navajo as well as Mexican artisans, the Perez home shows like a museum with eye-catching, well-organized collections throughout. Each collection is as unique and colorful as the indigenous people it represents.Descending to the first floor of the home, one passes a grouping of Mexican mask folk art. Each mask is collected from a different state in Mexico. Their style and detail reflect the region the mask came from. For instance, masks from northwest Mexico tend toward primitive, plain designs, compared to the more colorful and detailed masks from central or southern parts of Mexico. Each mask is unique and signifies the ancient spiritual beliefs and traditions from where it came. Masks are traditionally used for religious ceremony and ritual dances. When worn, dancers are spiritually and psychologically transformed into deities or supernatural forces.“I think it's just lovely to see people’s homes and how they really just put their hearts into them. You could just see so much effort and thought. You could just imagine sitting out on the patios having your morning coffee,” says first-time home tour guest and Gilroy resident Jen Hagen.The Perezes put their own sweat into the home, says home tour volunteer Mia DeLorenzo “She stained all of the doors herself, and these beams here—she went ahead and routed them and the doctor installed them.”The Perezes continue to add new features, including a first-floor sauna now under construction, not far from their theater room, where the cornerstone of the property was first laid.“Everything is very personal and meaningful,” DeLorenzo adds, pointing to the collection of Mexican blue pottery and several lithographs of plains Indians trading with fur trappers. “The things mean so much to her and show their ethnic backgrounds, it just blows me away. She’s a very talented woman.”The pottery, El Palomar Blue Bird Butterfly, in the Perez collection is by El Palomar in Tonala, Jalisco. The Perezes visited the factory and purchased the set on a trip to Mexico in 1980. It’s the same pattern, but in green, that was gifted to President and Lady Bird Johnson by Mexico’s president in the 1960s.The tour has a team for each homesite, made up of current GALs members and honorary members—usually former GALs volunteers who return to help during the home tour.Tiffany Oetinger, chair for this year’s home tour has been with GALs for about five years. She explains how the teams come together. “We typically start actually crunching down and dialing in all of the details of it about January. As far as getting all of your team in place and your home captains and your logistics and your co-chair, that all starts at the end of this tour,” she says. “My co-chair, who's Margaret Demers, will be chair next year, so she's probably already reaching out to homeowners.”Each year, GALs fundraisers, including the Home and Garden Tour, help meet the needs of underserved youth in our community. This year’s tour concluded with a home and garden boutique at Miramar Vineyards, where attendees were invited to sample the vineyard’s wines, taste recipes from GALs cookbook and check out handmade art, jewelry and food items sold by local artisans and specialty food makers.“What’s good about this event is it’s not just a girl thing, it’s not just a guy thing,” Kennedy says. “This is to get men and women, young people, to come through and you can just see it, people love to go inside other people’s homes.”

Kaitlyn Lyle has a very simple goal when she goes to big competitions: Have fun.

Live Oak has plenty to keep its head up about despite losing 3-1 to Stevenson on Wednesday.

Any California residents interested in voting in the June 7 presidential primary election must be registered to vote by May 23, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.Those registering for the first time or who want to update their registration information can visit registertovote.ca.gov.The June 7 election, which includes the Democratic and Republican primaries, has the local ballot for a seat on the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees. Thomas Arnett, an education researcher, and Pamela Torrisi, a retired paraeducator, are the two candidates running for that education seat.The winner will fill the seat vacated by former trustee Amy Porter-Jensen, who resigned from the board in 2015 before her term was up. The term of that office will expire at the end of 2016, and another election for the same seat’s next four-year term is scheduled for Nov. 8, 2016.For local election information, visit the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office website at sccvote.org.Voters who registered with a political party may only vote for a presidential candidate running in that party’s primary election.Voters, regardless of their political party preference, can vote for any candidate running in their district for the following races: U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, and State Assembly.Info for voters registered with No Party PreferenceVoters with no party preference who vote at the polls can request a Democratic Party, American Independent Party or Libertarian Party ballot on Election Day from a poll worker, according to election officials.Voters who did not return this postcard will receive a nonpartisan ballot without presidential candidates.Voters registered with no party preference who want to vote in the June 7 presidential primary for a Republican Party, Green Party or Peace and Freedom Party presidential candidate must re-register to vote with one of those respective parties by May 23, 2016.

Morgan Hill police are looking for the driver of a black SUV that struck a victim in a wheelchair and fled the scene of the traffic collision.

A Morgan Hill teenager returning home from senior prom was under the influence of alcohol when his vehicle collided with another car, sending both drivers and a passenger to the hospital with major injuries, according to police.  About 11:45 p.m. May 7, officers responded to the accident on Monterey Road near the intersection of California Avenue, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Miceli.Investigating officers determined an Infiniti sedan, driven by a 17-year-old male, was traveling south on Monterey Road when the vehicle crossed over the double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, Miceli said. The Infiniti collided head-on with a Saturn traveling north, which was driven by a 20-year-old Morgan Hill woman. A male, also 20 and a Morgan Hill resident, was the only passenger in the Saturn.After the collision, the Infiniti overturned, Miceli said. There were no passengers in the Infiniti.All three parties in the collision were sent to the hospital with major injuries, police said.The driver of the Infiniti is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, Miceli said. “It’s a felony because of the injuries to the other people,” he added.Police declined to identify the driver of the Infiniti because he is a juvenile. Miceli said the teen, who attends a high school in San Jose, was driving home from his senior prom.The driver of the Saturn was not arrested and is not suspected of being impaired or any other traffic violation.

David Wolfsmith, a Morgan Hill resident and personal trainer who is accused of multiple counts of sexual battery, returned to jail following a May 13 hearing at South County Courthouse after the judge increased his bail.

“Do you think this is it?” The Husband asked, a little sadly, the first night.