PAY IT FORWARD ... Palo Alto restaurant Local Union 271, together with Tito's Vodka, recently raised $2,000 for the San Jose nonprofitGood Karma Bikes, a secondhand bike shop that refurbishes and distributes bikes to youth and homeless and low-income residents. The downtown restaurant presented the check to the organization on July 19. Local Union 271 raised the funds by donating a dollar every time someone bought a specific item on its menu and putting the money toward the "Pass the Buck" program. Clayton Adelhelm, the restaurant's director of finance, said the money will enable Good Karma to provide about 40 to 50 bicycles to those in need. "I thought it was a great cause to help kids get to school, help homeless get to jobs. ... I just want to say thank you to everybody who supported us.," Adelhelm said. Jenny Circle, Good Karma Bikes' director of development, said the organization is extremely grateful not only for the support from Local Union 271 and Tito's Vodka but also from those restaurant patrons who came out to show their support of the program. "Pass the Buck is such a great way to support local nonprofits and charities, and it engages so many different people," Circle said. Adelhelm said the restaurant hopes to aid other causes. "We're looking to do something with the homeless directly in Palo Alto right now," Adelhelm said. "We see a lot of the same homeless people every day, and I'm trying to do some sort of program where we can donate some extra food, as well as some money."

A FRESH START ... United Hope Builders is marking a new chapter in its effort to solve the Bay Area housing crisis. The East Palo Alto nonprofit broke ground on a new factory to produce modular homes in partnership with indieDwell, an Idaho B corporation that manufactures the units. The facility is located at the end of Bay Road near Cooley Landing. "This is an important milestone in our efforts to bring more affordable housing to the Bay Area," said Pastor Paul Bains, founder and chair of United Hope Builders. "This joint venture factory with indieDwell will put faster-to-build, less expensive housing products into the hands of affordable housing developers." Construction is slated to finish at the end of the year. The factory will be made up of three buildings that together cover 57,500 square feet; it is expected to produce 400 modular units each year. The factory is set to open in early 2023, according to indieDwell chair Pete Gombert, who said the facility will be staffed by 100 employees.

NEW NAME, SAME PURPOSE ... Many community members are familiar with the name Stanford Children's Health, the local system serving children and expectant mothers. On Tuesday, the health care network announced its new name: Stanford Medicine Children's Health. The change was made to fall in line with Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and the Stanford School of Medicine."Collaboration has long been a part of our DNA. Now, we're making that statement more public as the entities under Stanford Medicine will continue to realize our collective vision of healing humanity through science and compassion, one child and family at a time," Stanford Medicine Children's Health President and CEO Paul King said in a press release. The children's health care network started in 2012 with a Palo Alto obstetrician, then expanded to 200 pediatric and obstetric groups across the Bay Area. "We're working to create a culture that more proudly aligns with the expertise and innovation associated with Stanford Medicine and better represents our shared efforts to shape the future of health care through the work we do every day," Les Lifter, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Stanford Medicine Children's Health, said.