January 2020 Letter from Ramona Board Chair Kris Zook

Greetings and happy new year to all our Ramona Community Foundation (RCF) members!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. It was wonderful to see many of you at the holiday event in December. Special thanks to board member, Cindy Galloway and husband Jeffrey Wells, for opening their home for the celebration.

We were delighted to welcome Jill Bacorn as a new member that night. The generosity just kept flowing when Cindy and Jeffrey offered to match the donation!

This past year, your generosity has helped support a wide variety of impactful programs in Ramona, one of which is Opera Exposed! Opera Exposed! is San Diego Opera’s community engagement concert series led by the San Diego Opera. Concerts include staged operatic arias and scenes featuring Apprentice Artists from San Diego Opera’s Young Artist Training Program. These exceptionally promising young artists provide engaging and exciting performances to neighborhoods and communities throughout San Diego. Most recently, they performed at the Ramona Library on January 12. In case you missed the performance, we will be inviting you to a similar event on March 21 at Rashelica Winery and Art Garden. Please be on the lookout for that invitation.

Lastly, I wanted to share that RCF has awarded over a quarter-million dollars to benefit the community of Ramona over the last eight years. This is thanks to your generosity and pooled philanthropy. Don’t forget to renew your commitment today and share the incredible impact on our community by asking your neighbors and friends to join us in this critical work.  Please contact Trudy Armstrong at trudy@sdfoundation.org for more information or assistance.

Member Spotlight

Cindy Galloway comes from a small Midwest town in Indiana where she became the first female member of the local Rotary Club. She graduated from Purdue University and served on multiple public service boards for over 35 years. Cindy also served as Executive Director of an Indiana convention and visitor’s bureau, as well as Director of Ramona Parks & Recreation for almost 20 years.

Since moving to Ramona decades ago, Cindy has fallen in love with the community and considers it home.

“I have found that working directly within my own community is an effective and rewarding way to give back meaningfully,” shared Cindy. “The field of philanthropy is a powerful one and the Ramona Community Foundation is making a difference in the lives of others by funding important local projects.”

Grantee Spotlight

Heart and Hooves Therapy helps enhance the lives of children and adults, any age and ability, with a different kind of therapy. With the use of mini horses and other farm animals, the organization provides animal-assisted activities and animal-assisted therapy through onsite sessions and offsite visits throughout San Diego County.

Thanks to grant support from RCF, Heart and Hooves Therapy has been able to provide five Ramona adults who have special needs with weekly sessions, as well as monthly sessions for five Ramona children with Autism, special needs and learning disabilities. Our team has also been able to visit Ramona Senior Manor, Ramona Senior Center and Michael’s House multiple times to serve the residents there.

Melissa Sargent, President and Program Director at Heart and Hooves Therapy, is beyond thankful for RCF and its members for believing in her program. “As a result of the continued support RCF has provided, we have been able to consistently increase our program growth and serve more adults, seniors and children in Ramona each year,” explained Melissa. Thank you to all the RCF members who helped make this impact possible.

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