Meet Our Community: Néstor De la O Vargas

As part of our seasonal spotlight series, we’re celebrating our incredible employees, partners, and volunteers who help make the work of Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful (KCCB) possible. In our Earth Day Blog, we talk about the ‘Ripple Effect’ and how one person can inspire many to make a change in their community. We’re excited to introduce Néstor, a student who was inspired by the environment and improving the health of Coyote Creek. Néstor believes that bridging divides between the community and organizations is the essential next step in environmental efforts. With a love for hiking and biking, Néstor draws on their experience and passion for the environment to engage with the community one event and one clean-up at a time.

Role: Volunteer Coordinator

With KCCB: Over 2 Years!

Nestor and Annette Selfie

Fun Facts 🌟

• Happy place: Santa Teresa County Park 🏞️ 

• Unusual creek sightings: Crawfish in mattress 🦐

• Favorite hobbies: Hiking, biking 🥾🚲⛺

• Favorite place to eat: Mexican food - enchiladas with red sauce 😋

• Favorite color: All shades of blue 🌈

When asking Néstor about the most unusual thing they saw around the creek, they said, “I think one of the weirdest things I saw was crawfish inside of a mattress. They naturally want to burrow into things, and I saw a mattress in the river, with this crawfish and all its eggs inside. They adapt to their environment.”

How it All Started 🌱

Néstor started at San Jose State University as an undergraduate in Biology and was required to pursue volunteering opportunities related to a class in pollination. As a native of San Jose, Néstor cared and wanted to volunteer around the creek, so they signed up as a leader by accident. First, Néstor got some experience, but by the end of the semester they were hired on as staff.

Néstor said, “Working with KCCB made me fond of the creek itself because I do know more about my city. The folks I meet at the creek come from many walks of life; you meet other folks from many backgrounds…people participate for hours, the genuine experience and passion for the environment, or to help out in general.”

Néstor discovered something meaningful: volunteer work is an organic experience that can open doors to meeting a variety of people, and similar goals and passions create connection.

Preparing for Cleanup

Impact on the Community 🌎

Our world isn’t as complicated as we make it, and Néstor has found that organizations like KCCB are significant because it isn’t just there to bring life back to the creek. It’s about healing the environment and building awareness. By building capacity and partnerships, we build the capacity to tackle more problems as a community.

Néstor said, “When you work with people who are passionate about helping the community, and there’s really no other incentive to work, you feel more connected to those volunteers.”

Teamwork

Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳

Néstor learned that it’s about having a broader perspective involving organizational and individual impact, bridging divides between organizations and people, and knowing the community well. 

Néstor said, “We need more communication between organizations and folks who live in the city…I think this is a discussion we need to have, because if we have it now, it can save a lot more things in the future…more land will be free and open.”

In the future, Néstor would love to see more ecological experiments, trail maintenance projects, or weeding expeditions within the creek and bring back to life parts of the creek that have been neglected.

Néstor expressed, “I’d be interested to see us pursue restoration or ecological experiments within the creek because the trash is gone and there’s fresh land right now. I'm interested in running trail maintenance projects to restore native plants. We might be doing different things…but progressing past the basics of cleaning.”

Getting Organized

Final Thoughts ✨

More knowledge and awareness in the urban space is important for us to talk about. Finding ways to engage the community and expand understanding is an essential component for the next steps around preservation and stewardship. Organizations like KCCB open doors for the community in irreplaceable ways.

Working Together

Néstor described, “You see the same people over and over…you know each other, and they know you back, and that knowing creates a lot of strength. It’s empowering and easier to work with people when you know them well.”