garvin thomas shares a story of accomplishment and persistence. >> velocity, 33,000 feet per second.rter: on july 24, 1969 the apollo 11 capsule carrying the first men ever to walk on the moon began its dissent. >> the whole world seemed to hold the collective breath waiting to see if the space craft could withstand heat of reentry. the whole world except bill. >> there was no doubt in my mind. >> reporter: it was bill's research that went into designing the heat shield protecting the lives of those american heroes. >> we knew what we were doing. we dotted all the is. >> reporter: bill is sure when he is right and has proven it yet again in a very big way. in 2009 nasa launched the kepler mission into orbit, its job to stare unblinkingly at one corner of the galaxy looking not for stars but for the planets that may be orbiting them. bill came up with the idea 30 years ago and was immediately told it would never work. >> it was always negative. >> reporter: bill is just as persistent as he is confident. he cobbled together enough funding over the years to put something of a prototype

even if it is five years, ten years. >> garvin thomas reporting.ennessy told garvin he is turning to crowd funding. go to nbcbayarea.com. >> right now, we have rain overnight. boy that will be in the past, real quick. >> yeah, to give you an idea. temperatures outside right now. low 60s. those could be morning low temperatures. by wednesday. our temperatures. really start to climb on up. not so unusual to see low 60s in san francisco this time of year. san jose looking chilly. 64 degrees. northwest wind. and clearing skies. right now in san jose. this its set us up for a chilly night. we're waking up to 40s tomorrow morning. with the temperatures in the mid 60s. a bit warmer at this time. we are watching the clouds fill on in. from here. the temperature change we'll see will be running much warmer. once we lose the strong sea breeze. wind will turn out of the north during the day tomorrow. turn offshore tuesday, wednesday. that will lead to the big time warming will also shut down any chances we think of any showers for quite some time. the jet str

garvin thomas explains. >> reporter: it's a saturday night in a danville garage, and pleasure principles taking the stage. jake on the drums. music is a big part of chase's life these days. in more ways than one. it's how he met these guys. >> i was in a band with him, and then he was friends with christian. and so we ended up hanging out together rose that's christian grimes on the right. the three have been friends since high school. bonding over music, and video games, and on this day, getting together to buy bus tickets. specifically, buying them to lordsberg, new mexico, being as close as a bus will take you to the beginning of the continental divide trail. more than 3,000 rugged and often desolate miles from end to end. the three plan to hike all of it this summer. it was christian's idea. at first he had done some long-distance hiking before and thought it was fun. they all thought it would be better with a mission. >> we were just like, we don't want it to be about ourselves. we want to take it a step farther. >> reporter: that's where scott carpenter comes in. their fourth high

nbc bay area's garvin thomas is here to explain his ingenious answer to both. >> all right. let's see. >> reporter: if it were stories greg was after, he'd have no problem finding them. among the piles of illegally dumped trash that appear each morning in greg's west oakland neighborhood. >> here it looks like a little one. >> reporter: there are clues that tell the story of how each one got there. >> you've got a little grow mixture. this is a marijuana operation dump. >> reporter: but greg isn't interested in stories, just happy endings, and so it takes only what he needs to build them. greg is an artist who has long held a fascination with small living spaces. he once built a home out of a dumpster. greg also marvels at the shelters his homeless neighbors construct out of materials they find on the street. so a couple of years ago greg gathered some of those materials and built one himself, and that was that. or so he thought until one rainy night, a homeless woman knocked on greg's door asking for a tarp. >> i didn't have a tarp, and i said i'm sorry. i went back in and

"today in the bay's" garvin thomas has his story in this morning's bay area proud. >> one, two, is ite sure it's on. were ever since chris hensy bought his first video camera 25 years ago, behind the lens, is somewhere he has always felt right at home. so much so, chris made it his career, shooting weddings, bar mitzvahs, corporate videos, injecting each shoot with more than a little of his trademark humor. >> i don't know who you are but i want to -- >> reporter: on that shoot on a grassy hillside in san jose is no different. >> this is a cool shot. >> reporter: and yet it is very different. chris, you see, is busy shooting the story of his life. in more ways than one. >> this is not the story that i want to tell, this is the story i have to tell. >> reporter: chris grew up on long island, new york, all state in track as a high schooler, fit and athletic as an adult. it's why the diagnosis five years ago of an aggressive form of prostate cancer hit him so hard. >> are you kidding me? me? how did that happen? the shocks were just beginning. not a month after radical surgery for chris,

garvin thomas, "today in the bay." >> don't underestimate any contribution. >>> still ahead on "todaythe bay," a deadly day on mount everest. a northern california man was there as an avalanche killed a dozen people. but how he managed to survive and tell his family about it. if you live in the bay area, odds are it's consuming a large portion of your paycheck but are rents higher here than they have ever been? a closer look at reality check coming up next. >>> good morning. 7:30 on your saturday morning. what's shaping up to be a very nice day. a couple of live images for you right now. first san jose the guadeloupe river park and then we move, of course, to san francisco. a nice wide shot there on a day that is expected to be quite nice. good morning, and thank you for joining us. i'm sam brock in for kris sanchez today. we have nice weather on tap but it could be relatively short lived. first, though, our meteorologist anthony slaughter tracking an earthquake. >> yeah. in fact, just about an hour ago there was an earthquake off the soloman islands. 7.5 quake. no tsunami warning but

garvin thomas shows us what the young men are doing and why. >> reporter: it's a saturday night in the danville garage and pleasure principle is taking the stage. jake on the drums. music, you see, is a big part of chase's life these days, in more ways than one. it's how he met these guys. >> i was in a band with him and he was friends with christian so we ended up hanging out together. >> reporter: that's christian grimes on the right, robert uholdi on the left. the three have been friends since high school, bonding through music and video games, and on this day getting together to buy bus tickets. specifically buying them to lordsburg, new mexico. that's as close as a bus will take you to the beginning of the continental trail. more than 3,000 miles from end to ebld. the three plan to hike all of it this summer. it was christian's idea. at first he had done some long distance hiking before and thought it was fun. they all thought it would be better with a mission. >> we were just like we don't want it to be about ourselves. we want to take it a step farther. >> reporter: and that is

"today in the bay's" garvin thomas explains his ingenious answer to both. >> all right.et's see. >> reporter: if it were stories greg klain was after, he'd have no problems finding them. among the piles of illegally dumped trash that appear each morning in his west oakland neighborhood. >> it looks like a little one. >> reporter: there are clues that tell the story of how each one got there. >> you got lightbulbs. you got a little mix here. this is a marijuana operation dump. >> reporter: but greg isn't interested in stories. just happy endings. and so takes only what he needs to build them. greg an artist whose long held a fascination with small living spaces. he once built a home out of a dumperster. he marvels at the shelters his homeless neighbors construct out of materials they find on the street, so a couple of years ago greg gathered some of those materials and built one himself. and that was that. or so he thought. until one rainy night a homeless woman knocked on greg's door asking for a tarp. >> i didn't have a tarp and i said, i'm sorry, i went back in and the

. >>> here is nbc bay area's garvin thomas. >> thank you so much for joining us. our "bay area proud" series is all about highlighting people going above and beyond for others and the story tonight doing so at the most difficult time imaginable. we are talking about the final days of their daughter's life. she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. this family was brave enough to think of others and brave enough to share the struggle with us. this home on york town drive is the place where they always imagined they would raise their children. never the place where they would have to watch one of them slowly die. 6-year-old jennifer lynn, the oldest of the children has a brain children. d.i.p.g. is what it is called, always fatal is what it is. now, close to the end libby and tony spend their waking hours keeping jennifer comfortable, letting her know she is loved and that her pain will not be in vein. >> if i can stop another mom or grandma or aunt from feeling the way i feel right now then i will. >> six months ago jennifer was a totally typical princess l

. >> here's nbc bay area's garvin thomas. >> hello. and thank you so much for joining us. our bay area proud series is all about highlighting the people going above and beyond to do good for others. and in the case of our first story tonight, doing so at the most difficult time imaginable. we're talking about the crans family of gillroy and their final days of their six-year-old daughter's life. she had been diagnosed with an inoperable and always fatal brain tumor. >> reporter: this home on yorktounl driver is the place where libby and tony crans always imagined they would raise their children. never the place where they would have to watch one of them slowly die. 6-year-old jennifer lynn, the oldest of the four children, has a brain tumor. d.i.p.g. is what it is called. always fatal is what it is. now, close to the end, libby and tony spend their waking hours keeping jennifer comfortable. letting her know she is loved. and that her pain won't be in vain. >> if i can stop another mom or another grandma or another aunt from feeling the way i feel right now, then i will. >>

garvin thomas has the lesson one school can teach all of us. >> reporter: not too long ago a kindergartner's mom walked into the principal's office at east palo alto cesar chavez east academy to ask if she could hold a bake sale at the school. she was told no, but the principal said she had two good reasons for doing so. one, at a school where 96% of the students receive free or reduced price lunches, bake sales aren't allowed. the other -- >> that's not going to be enough. i know firsthand that bake sales only give you $100 when really this mother needs more than that. >> reporter: that's because, she says, the mother was trying to raise money to pay for her son's cancer treatments. >> he's doing a little better lately, but also you will see him running off to the bathroom and sometimes see him coming into the office, my stomach hurts, i feel very sick. can i go home? >> reporter: while she had to tell the mom her request was denied, she told her her timing was perfect. cesar chavez academy's motto is dream big, work hard, give back, and every march is when the giving back happens. >> we ne

nbc bay area's garvin thomas joins us with this unusual story. >> raj, i don't think rich santoro would be insulted if you called him unusual. he spent the past ten days escorting visitors around his backyard in a cape that says "the bald guy." it's why he caught our attention two years ago. what he wanted to do outside of it, it's tonight's "bay area proud." >> reporter: big dreams, sometimes require a big canvas. that perhaps the simplest answer to a question many who have passed this milpitas hillside over the winter may have been asking. namely, just what is that guy doing up there? well, that guy is rich santoro. and his answer to that question runs a little deeper. >> some people find their purpose later in life. you've got to keep trying. big hole for bulbs. >> reporter: we first met rich two years ago in his backyard. by then, rich was already semifamous as the bulb guy of san jose. >> thanks for coming, jason. >> reporter: for a decade he had been planting thousands much bulbs in his backyard, then opening it up to share the beauty with the rest of the world. this year rich pla

up next, bay area proud with garvin thomas.ave a good night. >> in their darkest hour, one family has the strength to think of others. >> if i could stop another> a young humanitarian takes a unique approach to wrecking the chains of sex trafficking in thailand. >> that little girl has given me more joy. i didn't do anything for her. >> it took a toy millions of