January 2021 Letter from RBCF Board President Daniel Wilson

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was safe and healthy.

The board and I would like to thank our outgoing president, Steve Dreyer. Steve did a marvelous job as president in an unprecedented year. Prior to becoming our president, Steve chaired our Grants Committee. Thank you, Steve!

We also want to thank Bill Chaffin, Benita Page and Shirley Naperiela for their extraordinary service to the board.  We welcome new board members Michael Ortiz, Debbie Kurth and Dave Brooks.

I am excited to take the reins and serve as your President for the next two years. Please let me or Trudy Armstrong know if you would like to have a one-on-one discussion about the work of the Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation (RBCF). I look forward to getting to know each of our members on a more personal level.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not be able to celebrate the 33rd Annual Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation Thanksgiving Luncheon in-person this year. Instead, many of you donated the cost of your luncheon tickets or your luncheon sponsorship, which the Foundation then matched.

While this was not a year that we could gather together, we did GIVE TOGETHER.

With your generosity, together we were able to donate $12,000 to The Community Food Connection and Interfaith Community Services for food during the holidays to those in need. Together, we made a difference. Thank you!

Your generous donations have helped with COVID-19 recovery efforts. In addition to the $10,000 we deployed for immediate recovery efforts in April, our board will now be working to grant more recovery grants that will be supported by the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund.

If you were unable to attend our virtual grant celebration, please click on this link to be directed to the news release on our 2020 grants.

As you can see, our board continues to stay hard at work in support of our community. But nothing is possible without your generous donations. It is your membership that makes all of this possible. Please know how grateful we are for your continued support

Daniel Wilson, President

Board Member Bio: Mary Karscig

Mary Karscig has lived in California for the last 36 years.

During that time, she has served on the boards of the Rancho Bernardo Chamber of Commerce and Rancho Bernardo Continuing Education, was First President and CEO of the Poway Center for the Performing Arts, and was the Founding President of the 4S~Ranch Library Friends. Mary also served as the County Friends of the Library representative and with the Green Valley Civic Association. 

Mary considers her current role as the RBCF Membership Chair to be a privilege. “It is a rewarding feeling to know that many of the invites to our events have resulted in memberships with our foundation,” she said. 

Professionally, Mary and her late husband have owned an architectural engineering company for the last 31 years. While living on the east coast prior to moving to California, Mary was elected and served on a school board and has also been involved with Girl Scouts for the last 36 years.

“Volunteering has been a constant in my life. Being involved as a member of RBCF over the past eleven plus years has been most rewarding,” said Mary. “Giving time, energy and labor to an organization that I truly believe in, has been a most rewarding experience for me. The Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation is that organization.”

Nonprofit Partner: Meals on Wheels San Diego County

With the generous support of RBCF and its members, Meals on Wheels San Diego County was able to serve 126 seniors in Rancho Bernardo with 17,971 meals, safety checks, and in-home social visits during their grant period of 2018-2019.

The service Meals on Wheels provides is crucial, especially for seniors at-risk. During the grant period, 43 percent of the seniors served lived alone, 56 percent were older than 85 years old, and 99 percent identified as low to extremely low income.

“Funding from RBCF enabled Meals on Wheels San Diego County to provide every senior a 60 percent subsidy on their meal costs, with many receiving additional discounts based on their income levels,” said Ali Duarte, Grants Manager.

“Without this RBCF funding, Meals on Wheels would have been forced to place seniors on a waiting list,” Ali continued. “Additionally, with this funding support we were able to maintain a strong administrative team to recruit, train and sustain our volunteer force, thereby increasing the affordability of our service and creating a strong sense of community while supporting these at-risk seniors.”