There’s a wall of reclaimed wood that very much sums up the mission of Recovery Cafe San Jose, a special place attached to First Christian Church, a small house of worship literally in the shadow of City Hall. Along with other recycled wood elements, the wall was created by Terra Amico, the studio owned by Joe and Lisa Rainieri, out of pieces left over from the demolition phase of the cafe’s renovation.

“They spent a whole day out on the sidewalk sanding and painting wood with our members,” Recovery Cafe San Jose Founder Dana Bainbridge said. Now the old, discarded wood had a new purpose. “Reclaiming lives, that’s what we’re all about at Recovery Cafe.”

Recovery Cafe celebrated the completion of its renovation with a “homecoming” benefit Thursday night, the culmination of five years of work on what Executive Director Ken Goldstein calls “a healing community for those traumatized by addiction, homelessness and incarceration.”

The renovation includes a new cafe space, a commercial kitchen, updated classrooms and a coffee/espresso bar. Steve and Desta Krong of Krong Design provided architecture services for the project, and they were on hand to cut the ribbon on the space at 80 S. Fifth St. “When they heard our plan was in the works, they loved the idea and wanted to be part of it,” Bainbridge said. “They have such a passion for creating beautiful spaces.”

San Jose City Councilman Raul Peralez, along with colleagues Dev Davis, Johnny Khamis, Lan Diep and Sergio Jimenez, helped cut the ribbon with Bainbridge and the Krongs. Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese also gave remarks.

Members receive hot meals five days a week, can take classes to develop life and job skills and participate in social activities. In return, they pledge to be drug and alcohol free when entering the cafe, attend peer support groups and perform cafe chores. “We say we’re ‘Recovery Cafe,’ ” Goldstein said, “but our main product line is self-esteem.”

SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT: There’s been a wonderful new chapter in the story of Jake McCluskey, the San Jose man who — inspired by Marshawn Lynch — took up running a couple of years ago and managed to lose nearly 200 pounds in the process. McCluskey recently finished a personal challenge to run every street in San Jose, an effort that covered more than 2,400 miles over 15 months.

But as McCluskey went through his own personal renewal, there was still one thing he couldn’t fix on his own: his severe dental problems. He opened up to his friend, Carl Foisy, about the problem, and Foisy knew it was a difficult issue for such a gregarious guy. “As he was getting more publicity, every photo you’d see of him he’d smile with his mouth closed,” Foisy said.

The cost to fix the problems would cost way more than McCluskey could handle, so Foisy put together a GoFundMe campaign to “Make Jake Smile” by raising $15,000 for his dental work. People spread the word on social media, and contributions flowed in for McCluskey, who made many friends as he worked for years in San Jose’s beer scene.

The effort came to a head Thursday night at a “thank you” party held at Uproar Brewery in downtown San Jose, where scores of people showed up to celebrate and contribute even more. Not long into the event, announced the campaign had raised nearly $16,000.

“This level of support is humbling,” McCluskey said. “The level of emotion is overpowering for me.”

ARTISTIC BOOST: Great news for 10 San Jose arts organizations, which will be receiving $690,000 in funding for new projects from the Knight Foundation. Four of those groups received large, multi-year grants, with Opera Cultura receiving $75,000, City Lights Theater Company receiving $150,000 and the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art each receiving $200,000.

The School of Arts and Culture will use its funding to bolster its training program for cultural leaders of color, as well as providing more artistic programming for East San Jose. The ICA, meanwhile, will use its grant money for its “Sandbox Proejcts,” an ongoing series of site-specific and installation-based work.

“During my 17-year tenure at the ICA, we have commissioned and presented dozens of site-specific, immersive installations,” Executive Director Cathy Kimball said. “Our building’s architecture is particularly well suited to wondrously transform for each artist’s vision and we are excited about the prospect of providing that opportunity to many more artists in the future.”

And plans are already underway, with the first Sandbox Project — an immersive installation by Bay Area artist Kathy Aoki — opening June 4.

LOOKING BACK AT A MURDER: If you’re looking for a spooky Santa Clara County story from more than 100 years ago that’s quite a bit more true-to-life than the “Winchester” movie, History San Jose has just the thing. Tobin Gilman will have a book signing and talk about his new book, “The McGlincy Killings in Campbell, California” on Feb. 22 at the historic Fallon House in downtown San Jose.

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Virtual spin on San Jose’s Mexican Independence Day celebration The book looks at the period surrounding a famous cold case in county history: The May 1896 unsolved killings — believed to have been committed by James Dunham — of his wife, Hattie Wells Dunham; his brother-in-law James Wells; his mother-in-law and her husband, Ada Wells McGlincy and Col. Richard Parran McGlincy; and servants Minnie Schlesser and Robert Briscoe.

Tickets for the 6:30 p.m. event are $5 for History San Jose members and $8 for non-members. Go to www.historysanjose.org for details.