July 2019 Letter from Ramona Board Chair Kris Zook

Greetings, I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!

We have been working hard on visiting and interviewing our 2019 Ramona Community Foundation (RCF) grant applicants and look forward to announcing the recipients at the Grants Celebration on October 3. If you haven’t already, please save the date. The event will once again be held at a beautiful private residence so be on the lookout for more information in September.

If you weren’t at the RCF Spring Fling held in April at the Turtle Rock Ridge Winery, you missed a wonderful evening! We were entertained throughout the event by the Rob Thorsen duo. Our hosts for the evening, Turtle Rock Ridge owners and winemakers Laurie Wagner and Ian Vaux, delighted us with their hospitality and delicious wines. Most importantly, we welcomed Lanny Cornell and Kathleen Reynolds as new members.

RCF has awarded close to a quarter-million dollars to benefit the community of Ramona over the last seven years. This is due to your generosity and pooled philanthropy. Please 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. Contact Trudy Armstrong at trudy@sdfoundation.org for more information or assistance.

Member Spotlight

Pictured above: Tom and Sallie McKelvey

Tom and Sallie McKelvey moved to Ramona from Escondido in 2003. Both had worked at General Atomics in La Jolla where they met, Tom as an engineer and Sallie as a Purchasing Agent. Today, Sallie is fully retired and Tom still operates his consultancy, QED Engineering Design, on a part-time basis.

“We have been overwhelmed by the genuine needs of others in our own country and the world,” shared Tom and Sallie. “As Christians, we try our best to address those needs through church and other giving. But we wondered, how can we more directly attend to our friends and neighbors here in Ramona? We joined the Ramona Community Foundation because the grants benefit the needy right here in our own backyard.”

As a member of the RCF Board, Tom is grateful to be able to help guide the allocation of these grants.

Grantee Spotlight

The Ramona Community Library is a hub for education and development for youth, individuals and families in the region. Among the many programs led by the Library is the Green Teen Garden.

Supported through a grant from RCF, the purpose of the Green Teen Garden is to inspire and educate teens about growing their own food. The garden provides local youth with hands-on activities and teaches them the skills to plant/maintain a garden. Teens work together to grow organic edibles as an after-school activity, which will enrich their lifestyle by developing life skills such as growing food, building confidence and appreciating the rewards for their work.

Also, the garden has established an empowering environment where teens are encouraged to learn and explore nature. They discovered and experienced frogs, bees, garden grubs and more. They had the pleasure of sinking their hands into the warm earth and get their hands dirty. They even designed and built a spiral herb garden out of bricks.

Thank you to all the RCF members who helped make this impact possible.

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