Welcome, Summer!
I hope this letter finds you and your family having a wonderful summer and that, unlike last summer, you may even be able to vacation.
Please know that your Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation (RBCF) Board is hard at work reviewing grant applications so that we might present you with a ballot in early September. Watch your email for more information from us on your upcoming ballot.
The wonderful news is that you have already granted over $35,000 this year to COVID-19 recovery and relief needs.
Also, if you are interested in recognition on the Pathway of Pride, please contact Dave Brooks davebrooks@san.rr.com or Trudy Armstrong trudy@sdfoundation.org to get more information. We are in the midst of preparing for our next Pathway celebration. Your donation to be recognized on plaque is fully tax-deductible and funds our community endowment that will support Rancho Bernardo nonprofits in perpetuity!
Please SAVE THE DATE Friday, November 19th for our Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. It may look a little different this year, but we are working with the Rancho Bernardo Inn and our entertainment to give you a fantastic holiday experience!
Please know that your generosity is making a difference in the lives of so many. No one of us can do it alone but together we can make a great impact on the community that we love. We are better together! Thank you for your generous gifts to your RBCF.
I look forward to seeing you sometime soon,
Daniel Wilson, Chair
Member Spotlight: Dave Brooks
Dave Brooks is a retired engineer who started his community service career in 2001 when he joined the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo. Rotary has since taken him many places including India to do polio immunization and Ecuador to visit water projects in schools and villages funded when he was club president. Rotary connections also led to involvement in Spirit of the Fourth which holds an all-day celebration on July 4th. He has been president of that group since 2015.
Another Rotarian invited Dave to join the Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation (RBCF) Board in 2010. Dave serves on the grants and scholarship committees and coordinates the Pathway of Pride fundraiser. This annual event allows donors to place a plaque in the sidewalk around Webb Lake in downtown Rancho Bernardo. Many of the plaques are memorials, but others record anniversaries, graduations or publicize businesses. Since 1993, the Pathway of Pride has generated over $350,000 in donations to RBCF.
“I joined RBCF to make Rancho Bernardo a better place. I love talking to our scholarship students and grant recipients about their plans and efforts. I also love designing plaques that will convey donors’ messages many years into the future.”
Grantee Spotlight: Voices for Children
The Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation made all the difference for children in foster care thanks to your generous grant in support of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program in FY 2019-2020. The CASA program matches community volunteers with a child in foster care. Your grant enabled us to recruit, train and match 215 new CASA volunteers that year.
Your support helped us at a critical time. As the pandemic unfolded, children were no longer able to see people outside of their immediate home placement. It was a year of isolation for many children in foster care in Rancho Bernardo and elsewhere. Your gift, however, ensured that children had a consistent adult presence – a CASA – in their life during this scary time. CASAs and children develop a personal relationship, which helps the CASA to advocate on the child’s behalf to the court resulting in better outcomes for each child served.
Recently, Voices for Children spoke with one of our CASAs to learn more about his experience during the pandemic. CASA Peter says, “The biggest challenge has been maintaining the relationship with my case child. As an older teen, building the connection and trust did not happen quickly nor easily.
Through this difficult year, CASAs like Peter have made extraordinary efforts to help youth feel a sense of connection. Because of those relationships, CASAs have been sources of comfort and consistency and have been in positions to recognize and respond to children’s needs when they arose. They have gone beyond the expectations of their role to support children. Thank you, Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation, for your incredible support of our program. We would not have been able to recruit, train, match and support volunteer CASAs without you. Thank you!
