Thanks to the generosity of donors like Alexandra (Alex) Kwoka and Robert Semmer, dreams are coming true in the coastal North County region of San Diego.
One $5,000 scholarship they funded enabled a single mother at MiraCosta College’s Registered Nursing Program to not only complete her studies and pass her state licensing exam, but also to advance to University of California San Diego for a bachelor’s degree and specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. Another scholarship supported a young man inspired to pursue nursing after a roommate was critically injured in a snowboarding accident.
“A little bit of philanthropy can make a big difference,” says Alex, who, along with her husband, Robert, has been a steadfast supporter of the Coastal Community Foundation at San Diego Foundation for more than a decade.
Their commitment is deeply personal; Alex recalls her own life-changing experience at UC San Diego, where philanthropic gifts from the Jacobs family made possible the university’s Jacobs Medical Center that provided life-saving brain surgery in 2022.
“That’s the power of giving,” notes Alex. “It’s not always about huge sums. So many people are creating enormous impacts by giving what they can, right here in our community.”
A True Partnership
In August of 2024, the Coastal Community Foundation, based in Encinitas since 1987, joined forces with San Diego Foundation (SDF) to expand the two nonprofits’ philanthropic impact in north coastal San Diego County, with Coastal Community Foundation integrating its assets and staff into SDF. This year, SDF is celebrating its 50th anniversary with the Fifty & Forward Campaign – aiming to grant $500 million to advance education, support children and families, and protect the environment.
Education is among the core areas of Alex and Robert’s giving.
“Students are our future,” says Robert. “They’re our community’s future. Any way you can help them is a worthwhile investment.”
Recent recipients of Alex and Bob’s giving include engineering students at California State University, San Marcos, who have embarked on building an Autonomous Navigation Golf Cart.
“Our vision is to create a project that leaves a lasting impact, one that future generations of students can build upon, and benefit the CSUSM community in the long term,” the students wrote in a recent update to Robert and Alex.
Most of the students now serve as interns at firms in the engineering field. A couple have already landed a job as they embark on their new careers.
A Pathway to Philanthropy
Robert and Alex are retired lawyers who met when they were working together at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
“As assistant U.S. attorneys, it was ingrained in us to do justice, and there are parallels to philanthropy in that you are trying to do good,” says Robert.
But their dedication to uplifting those less fortunate runs deeper and reaches back even further. Alex grew up in rural Pennsylvania and recalls her grandmother taking a bus into town to purchase canned food for neighbors in need.
“Taking care of your community was just something you learned to do from an early age,” she says, adding that her father, a doctor, often volunteered his services and traveled periodically to New Guinea to treat patients there.
“We travel. We have everything we need. But the greatest satisfaction for us comes from helping others,” says Robert. “I’ve seen the government waste a lot of money, quite frankly, in trying to help people. The Foundation, in my view, ensures dollars are efficiently spread to those who need it. If I’m giving money, I want it to be given to those people who need it. I don’t want it to be siphoned off on overhead. If I’m donating money for a scholarship, I want all of that money to go toward a scholarship.”
A Pressing Need
After moving to Del Mar in the early 1980s, Alex discovered the real needs in coastal North County while working as a private attorney on family law cases at the North County Regional Court.
“You’d see people who couldn’t meet their own needs. They just didn’t have the resources,” she shared.
After connecting with Coastal Community Foundation, Alex discovered older adults struggling with food and housing insecurity, and former foster youth trying to get on their feet.
“My belief is that the more people who are shown the need and who are shown what is possible, the more people are going to want to help out in some way,” explains Alex.
Joining the Cause
You, too, can join the Coastal Community Foundation in transforming lives.
“Coastal Community Foundation to me is really right for people like us who are retired, or people who are just starting out with their families, and are limited in what they can give but want to give to a community foundation that is making a big impact,” says Alex.
If you’re inspired by Robert and Alex’s story, or other stories of generosity, you, too, can make a big impact. Whether through an endowment, donor-advised fund, legacy gift, or online donation, support our efforts in a way that makes most sense to you.
