damian trujillo: hello and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo and today, sabor del valle, the wine country returns to the silicon valley. plus, the clean slate tattoo removal program on your "comunidad del valle." male announcer: nbc bay area presents "comunidad del valle" with damian trujillo. damian: we begin today with your chance to save for college. julio martinez is the executive director of the program called scholarshare. welcome to the program. now, this is a program obviously where you can save up now if your child is 1, 2, 3, or 4 years old and start saving up for college. it's not too late. not too early, i should say to begin that savings plan. julio martinez: that is correct. it's important to start saving for your children's college education as early as possible. the sooner the better, that way you have a longer-term horizon

to save as much as you can and help that child out once they get to college age. damian: because 3 or 4 years ago, i started doing the math on what it's going to cost in 15 years and i almost fell off my chair. so talk about the advantages again of saving now if it's $15, $20 per paycheck that you're contributing to your child's education. julio: well, it's important that you save at any amount. currently at scholarshare, the minimum amount that a family can contribute is $25 monthly. but the reality is college education tends to increase at a faster clip than the rest of--you know, two to three times the rate of inflation. in california alone in the past 10 years, california's tuition at the community college level, csu, and uc has more than doubled, so it's important that one start as early as possible and contribute as much as they can. damian: so this is called a 529 plan. i have one for my kids and, you know, i do the payroll deductions. so what are the rules as far as pulling that money out once the child is ready to attend college? julio: the important thing is that there are benefits--there

are numerous benefits to having one of these 529 savings plans like scholarshare. the most important one is that the earnings on these savings accounts are deferred--tax deferred until the money is actually withdrawn or redeemed. but once that money is redeemed and spent on qualified expenditures, such as tuition, books, some room and board expenses, that money is tax free at the federal and state level. damian: and you have some incentives on what you're calling the 529 day. talk about what that is coming up at the end of may. julio: yes, at the end of this month, the legislature will hopefully a resolution that has been sponsored by state treasurer john chiang, and sponsored and authored by assemblyman ed chau, that will declare may 29th college savings day. and on that day, for the entire day, any family that opens a scholarshare account and deposits an initial contribution of $50 minimum, scholarshare will match that $50 contribution

so long as that family continues to make automatic payments for a minimum of 6 months of at least $25 a month. damian: i would imagine there are several success stories from families who opened up a 529 and are benefitting now because they made that wise decision a few years ago. julio: absolutely. we have a lot of families that we can kind of always turn to and that actually come back and tell us their stories. we have one family that has triplets, for example. but the important thing is that nowadays, 7 out of 10 students are graduating with a student debt loan of at least--the average is $28,400. and so no matter how little or how much, it's always important to have some savings to kind of counter that because when students do graduate from college with such debt loads, that prevents them from buying cars, homes, et cetera. and not only that, that actually impacts the state when there isn't that economic activity. damian: what should i be putting aside? i know that it's going to depend on what college my child decides to go, but how much on average should i be thinking of putting aside per paycheck, per month, or however?

julio: well, it's hard to tell, you know, what amount a family should be putting together. but on our website at scholarshare.com, we have actually a calculator that will determine how much tuition will cost at the time that your child reaches college age. and so that will help you guide how much money you should be able to save, but at the same time too, again, it's not important that you have the entire amount ready for the child. any amount that any family can contribute is--will be helpful extremely in the end. damian: when you go into that calculator, you should probably be sitting down when you're doing the math. it's called scholarshare. the national 529 day, you can save for college on that day. again, scholarshare will match up to $50 of your contribution into your own child's college saving account. so thank you so much. anything else you want to add before we let you go? julio: no, that's it, thank you. damian: all right, thank you so much for coming. and up next here on "comunidad del valle," the clean slate tattoo removal program. stay with us.

dude totino's blasted rolls. sweet. totino's blasted crust rolls... yeah. flavor at full blast you say avocado old el paso says... zesty chicken and avocado tacos in our stand 'n stuff tortillas . (record scratch) you say stand n' stuff tortillas old el paso says... start somewhere fresh through the clean slate tattoo removal program. juan avila kind of runs that show and dr. richard gaskill

is the one who removes the tattoos. welcome to the show. we do have some video that we want to show. we'll start with you, doctor. these folks who come in to get their tattoos removed, how many sessions would they have to go through to get one removed? and how--does it hurt when you're doing it? richard gaskill: well, it depends on how much ink is there and what colors, because different tattoos require different settings of the laser. probably the least number would be somewhere around ten for very light tattoos, and many of them that are very dark and multicolored may take 30 or 40 or sometimes more than that. damian: and juan, these are folks who decided, you know, "this is not me anymore. i want these removed." juan avila: yeah, a lot of kids come to us, they're ready to make that change. you know, a lot of times they've just had it with that lifestyle, so they come in and come into our program and, you know, wanting to get those tattoos--because those tattoos

obviously have been a barrier for employment or further education or being harassed by different people. damian: and you're celebrating a milestone here coming up. juan: yes, we are. actually, this year, 2015, will be our 20th year of existence, so that's pretty big for, you know, a government agency. damian: you've been committed to this for a long time. you know, you get paid to do this. the good doctor here volunteers his time. tell us about the doctor and what he does, and others like him to make this program the success that it is. juan: yeah, we've had anywhere from eight to ten doctors donate their time. again, they're the backbone of the program because if we didn't have the doctors, we wouldn't have, you know, the program, right, to remove the free tattoos. and a lot of those, you know, doctors have a passion to help give back to the community. and a lot of them had their previous practice at different hospitals and said, "hey, i want to come and donate some time." damian: yeah, tell us why you do this, doctor. richard: well, i've been retired for about 7 years and, you know, to be straightforward, it gives me something to do with my time that i can do.

damian: you've seen some pretty extensive artwork, i would imagine, over the years? richard: really, some that's really, really good. you know, it's amazing. you know, for example, i've seen what is almost a photographic image of someone. a patient will show me a photograph and that same image is on their body somewhere. it's so precise. damian: and talk about what it takes, juan, for a community to come together and participate in something like clean slate. i mean, you need the help and the approval of city leaders, community leaders, and the folks themselves who go through this process. juan: basically, what it takes is a collaboration of effort. like the valley medical foundation, the vnc hospital, the whole gamut, if you will, coming in to helping out and just basically wanting to help out the kids. i mean, i don't know of any other city government agency that collaborates with their county hospital, but it's just a willing to give back to the community

and helping out the kids. damian: and you have graduations every year for the folks who go through the program. talk about that and the renaissance that these kids--some of them aren't kids anymore, but that they go through, and the evolution, and how they've changed since they started that program to finishing it. juan: well, basically, you know, again, these kids were formerly gang-impacted, at risk youth. and we have an annual graduation at the end of the year. we have three groups that attend that. and a lot of times of these kids, they've never graduated from anything. this is actually their first type of program that they graduate from. and a lot of that brings up their self-esteem, especially when they start--actually start seeing the tattoos getting removed off their body. damian: and doctor, we saw images--video of two folks who had tattoos on their faces. for those who might be thinking about getting the tattoo if you can tell them what they're injecting into their skin before maybe they even decide to. what are they doing to themselves? richard: well, you know, tattoos are becoming much more common now than they used to. and i don't think i really understand why they do this

other than to identify themselves as part of a group. and some of them, of course, do it just 'cause they like the beauty of the tattoo, but it's hard to understand why you would get a tattoo on your face, neck, hands, the visible things, even nice tattoos. the military, although in the past they sort of allowed people to get tattoos, now they won't--understand any of the services won't take you in if you've got visible tattoos. damian: and you're a veteran, juan. you know all about that. juan: yeah, and the doctor's right. before, it was just kind of the norm. today, i mean, it's a lot different. they will not take you for--enlist you with exposed tattoos, especially now too with the gang-related tattoos. damian: talk about, doctor, if you will, how successful the program is. i mean, if i have a tattoo, is it going to come completely off, or 90% of it is going to come off? what's the success? richard: you know, it's amazing, but the majority

of tattoos, when completely illuminated, are completely gone. the skin looks like nothing had ever been there. now, in a few people, there will be some ink remains and some scarring, but the great majority of them it's like nothing was ever there. now, a lot of these tattoos, of course, are done not by professionals. many of them are done in prison. and some of them are even done by the individuals themselves. you know, so they may scar unintentionally. and the ink that is used, you don't know what it is. you know, if they got it in prison, for example, maybe as simple as pencil lead or something else. damian: wow, that's pretty scary. well, it's the clean slate tattoo removal program celebrating 20 years. any final thoughts, juan, before we let you go? you can also follow them on facebook. any final thoughts? juan: yeah, no, just for those youth that are looking to get their tattoos removed and they qualify for our criteria

and requirements, come and see us and we'll help them out. damian: there's a number for more information also. thank you for what you're doing in this community. richard: just one more comment. it's very interesting to talk to these people. you sort of have the impression that they're, you know, going to be not the nicest people, but many of them are very nice. and some of them have good jobs, like nurses at valley med. i saw a middle school teacher, a woman, just a couple of days ago. you know, it's really nice to talk to them. it's very interesting. damian: it helps when you have a laser in your hand. you can kind of control it while they're standing. richard: not so much. damian: thank you, doctor, i appreciate it. thank you for what you're doing in this community. thank you, juan. and up next here on "comunidad del valle," sabor del valle in the silicon valley. stay with us.

my guests here on "comunidad del valle" are the folks with sabor del valle, ray singh castaneda and nancy rosales, who's also one of the vendors at this year's event. welcome to the show.

and ray, you can't really talk too much about this because this is just a spectacular event where literally latino vintners from the wine country come to silicon valley. ray singh castaneda: definitely. i mean, from napa, sonoma, petaluma, calaveras, lodi, and also santa clara county. so we have probably about 18 or 20 this year. but not just latino. we also have the first--the oldest japanese-american vintners from lodi. and faz from faz restaurants said, "i want to be in. i make wine. i make my wine." so we're seeing a diverse, but of course a majority of latino vintners. damian: and go through the logistics because you pay your fee and then you can taste these rich wines from across the region. ray: definitely. you pay your fee and you walk in, there's about--i think we're going to have eight or ten restaurants this year. and they're not appetizers, like i've said before. i mean, each one of these restaurants bring enough for 100 people.

and then you just walk around, it's just like if you were in mexico. the way we set it up, you know, we envisioned that several years ago. we wanted that setting. and it's just always a beautiful evening in history park, but it's not only the food, we have desserts. beto chavez from chavez markets brings all these desserts. and then nancy here brings her ice creams. of course music. damian: it's a great tardeada. ray: it's a great event. damian: nancy, talk about your involvement with the festival. nancy rosales: so ray called and i was really excited to be part of the event. he was telling me about the wines and having the combination of all our foods, our traditions with wines together. i was like, "perfect, i'm there, let's do this." so i show up and it was beautiful, outdoors, the sun, it's warm. you know, it's in the afternoon, so it's just perfect. my ice cream, obviously it's unique, has mexican hot chocolate. damian: well, talk about that. talk about your small business, if you will. nancy: yeah, so i launched in--it's all about

keeping our traditions alive. i have flavors from caramelized sweet corn, caramelized sweet potato, tequila ice cream, just a variety of things that i feel like it needs to be out there in order for us to kind of keep our traditions alive. damian: and your shop is where? and what's it called? nancy: it's a catering business, but we also sell to whole foods and we cater to corporate america, genentech, symantec, and the big corporations. damian: and you brought--thank you, ray, for bringing a couple of vintners with you. talk about who's going to be in our next segment here and what you have here in front of us. ray: encanto from napa and also voces from napa. so they're both here today. they've been with us since i think the second year. damian: talk about the uniqueness of both the vintners, if you will. ray: well, they're of course--fernando, i'll let him talk about that, but his cab is--you'll love his cab. i just found out he makes a zin. you know, all these years it's always been cab and i said, "well, i love zin." that's probably my favorite. and encanto is their pinot and they're sauvignon blanc.

damian: you have the best job in the world. and you're here on a volunteer basis because you get to travel and make sure that you're enjoying the fruits of your labor, i guess. ray: yeah, it's nice when they call you and they say, "we want in." "well, we want to taste the wines. we need to taste your wines." but it's been fun, you know, and for a great cause. you know, we have four benefit--actually, eight this year. we have four major and then four smaller ones. and i just wanted to see what we could do just to extend more out there and help the community. damian: and you kind of touched on it, nancy, but what made you think, "i need to be a part of this." nancy: number one, at the end of the day, it's all about networking and letting people know about what you're doing in order to get to the next level, in order for them to help you. people want to help. you just have to ask. and so i felt like just even showing up, it was such a blessing. i got a few accounts from it. i networked, it's fun. period, it's fun. and just a combination of different types of foods

with the wines. it was just--it's great. damian: it's amazing how you can give back and at the same time enjoy some rich wines, give back to the community and, like you said, network. ray: and you hear the stories. i mean, you know, especially the latinos, we know how they came over, most of them, but not all of them. we have one that her dad runs a hospital back in new jersey and they flew out here 6 years ago. and she says, "dad, buy me a vineyard." and he did. he said, "put a business plan together," and that's enrique. so not everybody is--you know, everyone has their own story. damian: some of them were actual pickers, they picked the grapes themselves and then they kind of developed into their own. ray: i think the vintners that we have here. damian: all right, well sabor del valle is coming up here to the silicon valley, the vintners from all over the area. and it's on july 31st at the san jose history park. there is a web address for more information. any final thoughts from either of you before we let you all go? ray: join us. you'll love it. you'll really enjoy it, all for a great cause.

damian: nancy? nancy: definitely a latino experience. damian: it totally is. nancy: if you want to feel like you're in mexico somewhere, this is it, especially with the food. damian: all right, thank you, we'll see you there. all right, up next here on "comunidad del valle," a couple of latino vintners, so stay with us.

with us on "comunidad del valle" are rosaura segura and enrique lopez, and also fernando candelario is the owner of voces cellars, all here in wine country. welcome to the show. we'll start with you, mr. lopez. what is it that--let's see, this is yours here. what is it that made you decide, "i want to become a vintner"? enrique lopez: since the beginning, when i first came here to the united states, my family worked in the vineyards since 1969, '70. so i was not part of it initially in the vineyards. and i decided to join them because of the

fruit of their labor, basically. they've been doing that since the '60s, '70s. damian: did you find, mrs. segura, that this was--because this is a classy business to have. when you have your own winery, it becomes automatically a classy business. did you find that that's what you have and that's what you sell, that's what your product is, classy? rosaura segura: the product is extremely classy. we put a lot of emphasis on quality, and so that's why we have chosen areas where we buy our grapes and where we grow our grapes. the cabernet is a rutherford appalachian. it's very well known. the pinot noir, it's a carneros, a napa valley pinot noir. and we grow our sauvignon blanc grapes in lake county, so they're very distinctive three areas. and so classy, we would like to stick with that, the quality. now, when it comes to working, it's work and it's a labor of

love because, you know, we do the vineyards, the picking, the crushing, and so--and all to create a very classy product. damian: right. now, this is yours here, mr. candelario. talk about your wine. what do you think makes it different than a wine we buy on the rack or on the shelves at the store? fernando candelario: well, you know, to be honest, it's the way i kind of make my wine is very unique and also it's kind of old style winemaking. you know, as one of my, probably my best teacher, show me how to make it, so that's the way i present it different than other ones. damian: and por qué voces? why did you call it voces? fernando: voces, in english--in spanish, it's voices, so that means i represent, you know, our culture in the napa valley, so that's why we chose, you know, voces. damian: and your wine, the name of your label, encanto says it all, encanto. i mean, when you sit down on the deck, eating some cheese and sipping on your cab, it's an encanto, you know. enrique: it's an encanto. it's an enchantment to be drinking the fruit of our labor,

fruit of our effort to make good wine. damian: mrs. segura said it's a labor of love. it's not easy. i mean, you have to put a lot of time and effort into it to make sure that it's a good product. enrique: correct. matter of fact, i became part of it and i take care of all the vines where we grow our grapes, so that's the primary business of mine to take care of the vineyards. and that's the product. damian: the pruning, the harvesting, and everything else? enrique: everything else. damian: wow. this is so fabulous. what made you decide to be involved in the sabor del valle and to showcase your wine here in the silicon valley? rosaura: well, we heard about the program and i personally like what they do and where the funds go. but you know, we've made a lot of friends in the years. we've been coming since the second year. we've been making a lot of friends and fans, so it's like

the young lady was saying before, it's a lot of networking, a lot of--you know, we make a lot of friends. and so i think it's a reciprocal thing. we find business and we help a great cause and keep it going, you know. and it's a beautiful, beautiful event at history park, yes. damian: do you have to buy this at your place, or can you go to a place somewhere and buy it? rosaura: go to encantovineyards.com. you get your own shopping cart and you'll be enchanted. you'll be enchanted. damian: candelario, platíquennos, tell us why it is that--or what folks, when they go visit sabor del valle, what they're going to go home with. what are they going to taste when they taste your wine, when they taste the other wines? what do you think they're going to go home with? and what do you promise them when they get a sip of yours? fernando: well, it's not a promise. i think it's the quality of the wine, you know. i think that's the more important. and also, you know, i'm always there to serve, you know, the

wine, so you know, if you want to meet me as a winemaker, i'm also the owner of my label, so yeah. damian: did you work in the vineyards before? oh, you didn't? fernando: no, i didn't. damian: so what made you say, "this is what i want to do"? fernando: well, it was--you know, to be honest, it was kind of an accident how i got in the business of winemaking. yeah, so because one of my brothers was working already for mondavi, so he kind of pulled me into the wine business, you know, and that's how i kind of started learning how to make wines. damian: so even with these long hours, do you ever think, "ah, que me metí? what did i get myself into?" or this is just one of those labors of love? enrique: exactly, it's an intense part of life, but i enjoy it, so that's the beauty of it. damian: so what do you promise the folks who buy their ticket and go to sabor del valle? enrique: they will enjoy our wines. it's a nice event and it's wonderful to be there with all the food that's there, the wines, and everything else. it's a great event.

damian: is there a competition, do you find, with the other vintners? [speaking spanish] rosaura: [speaking spanish] it's a collaboration. we all know each other. and you know, i get a question as to, does it really make a difference where you grow your grapes? and it does. so you know, my cab might not necessarily--our cab may not necessarily taste or as good or as great as fernando's even though they're from the napa valley. you know, there are differences. there are different styles of winemaking. so it's a collaboration and we all put our best effort into our product. and so, you know, it depends on where we come from. damian: and you have an alliance. you have the mexican-american vintners association, so you do your own community service también with that. rosaura: precisely, yeah, we do a lot with education, so enrique is involved with the young future farmers of america. i'm involved with the migrant farm workers. damian: wow, it doesn't end here. rosaura: no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

damian: well, it's sabor del valle. it's coming again july 31st to the san jose history park. there is a web address for more information. any final thoughts? we have about 30 seconds from any of you. rosaura: come and enjoy great wines, great food for a great cause. damian: all right, don fernando? fernando: yeah, same thing. you know, please come and join us for, you know, for a nice, you know, wine and also good food. enrique: and we'll see you there july 31st. damian: all right, salud. again, sabor del valle. and if you have any ideas for next week's show, drop us a line here at "comunidad del valle." my twitter handle is @newsdamian. also pick up a copy of el observador newspaper and support your bilingual weeklies all across the bay area. we thank you once again for sharing a part of your sunday with us here on comunidad del valle. we'll see you again next week. salud. [music]

dude totino's blasted rolls. sweet. totino's blasted crust rolls... yeah. flavor at full blast you say avocado

old el paso says... zesty chicken and avocado tacos in our stand 'n stuff tortillas . (record scratch) you say stand n' stuff tortillas old el paso says... start somewhere fresh captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to the honda "nbc sportsdesk." >> hi again, everyone, jimmy roberts here. coming up in just a moment, we will bring you the "world of adventure sports" and one hour from now, final round coverage of the players from here at it pc saw grass. a tightly bunched leader board. chris kirk, who turned 30 on friday has a one-shot