April 2019 Letter from CVCF Board Chair Lisa Moctezuma

I hope you enjoy this quarter’s Chula Vista Charitable Foundation (CVCF) blog. In this article, you will learn more about the profound impact of one of our recent grants, as well as two new members, John Moot and Becky Cortez.

Additionally, please save the date for our 9^th Annual Grants Celebration on May 30^th at the beautiful home of members Dr. Marilyn and Steve Norton. You will be receiving a formal invitation to follow.

Guests will enjoy food, drink and live music as we award our 2019-2020 nonprofit grantees serving our community. Please feel free to invite your neighbors and friends because the more we share the power of CVCF, the more we will have to grant next year!

Community Impact

If you ever wondered how giving to CVCF can make a difference, meet Michell Vieyra. Bullied for her accent, family and culture, school was no fun for Michell. Her language barrier separated her from her classmates, and, trapped in classes where she struggled to understand her teachers and other students, despair took hold, and Michell’s grades suffered.

Then in her junior year of high school, she went on her first hike with Outdoor Outreach, a recent CVCF grantee.

Outdoor Outreach connects youth, mostly from low-income communities with little access to natural parks and open space areas, to the transformative power of being outdoors.

Outdoor Outreach gave Michell a place to be herself, to explore incredible places, to step out of her comfort zone, and, in her words, “to defeat the fear of trying new things.” Her grades skyrocketed, and, having recently graduated from high school, she’s enrolled in the Outdoor Outreach Leadership Program to become a paid Outdoor Outreach instructor.

CVCF grant support has allowed the nonprofit to extend its Leadership Program to serve youth like Michell in Chula Vista.

“The Chula Vista Charitable Foundation’s support has had a huge impact,” shared Ben McCue, executive director of Outdoor Outreach. “Thanks to the generosity of its members, this year we expanded our 8-week leadership program to Chula Vista and graduated a record number of young adults who are now eligible to become paid instructors for Outdoor Outreach. Each one of these thirteen youth is having a positive ripple effect – inspiring others to pursue and realize their dreams from having a strong social support network, to career development and academic success.”

Member Spotlight

John Moot and Becky Cortez joined CVCF because of their shared affection for the city where they live and their desire to make it the best place for all Chula Vistans. Becky’s inspiration for giving back came from one of her teachers, Mary-Lynn Deddeh, the wife of the South Bay’s revered former State Senator Wadie Deddeh. Mary-Lynn taught her the importance of civic involvement and giving back to the community. Similarly, John was raised in New York where his grandfather founded the Western New York Foundation so it was only natural for him to continue his family’s charitable legacy.

Both John and Becky are deeply involved in the community and we are fortunate to have them as members of CVCF. Becky serves on the Board of Directors for the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce and John serves on the Executive Committee of the South County Economic Development Council. John is also an accomplished attorney who has practiced in San Diego for 35 years, often taking on high profile cases fighting for the public good, including one in front of the California Supreme Court for a local school district.

Without support from our members like John and Becky, CVCF would not have as strong of an impact in the community.

Thank you for your generous support!

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