(Above) Chula Vista Charitable Foundation grant recipient I Love A Clean San Diego.
Letter from our Chair
Like the community of Chula Vista, the Chula Vista Charitable Foundation (CVCF) has exciting plans for 2016. CVCF starts the year off with a member mixer at a Chula Vista Craft Brewer, Bay Bridge Brewing. Stay tuned for more details.
To get Chula Vistans even more into the philanthropic spirit, CVCF will launch its community wide Corporate Membership Drive with the help of Baldwin & Sons, one of our very first corporate donors.
Baldwin & Sons leads once again by hosting the inaugural corporate donor event at the new Otay Ranch Village of Montecito Club House. At this inaugural event, CVCF will encourage our 14 business members — Adrian & Betsy Gonzalez Foundation, AMR, Aquatica, Integral Communities, LinkServ, Lolita’s Restaurant, MountainWest, NEI, Republic, Sea Coast Commerce Bank, Village Cremation, Walters-Management, Spirit Graphics and Baldwin & Sons — to share the reasons and values behind their philanthropy with our prospect guests.
2016 is also the year we welcome Debbie Discar-Espe, our hard working Chair Elect/Grants Chair, as Board Chair. And please be on the lookout for a calendar invite as Immediate Past Chair Christopher Redo, Chair of the Legacy Committee, will host the third annual luncheon for affiliated professionals in the development of trusts, wills and bequests.
In 2016, CVCF will award $45,000 in grants to Chula Vista social service providers. The funding focus and service agencies are selected by the vote and site visits of our 104 members in our 5th grant cycle. Members, look for your email ballots in late April!
The grantees will be unveiled at the inaugural corporate event and celebrated on the field at PETCO Park for our 4th annual Chula Vista Community Day.
(Left to right) Two grantees pose with CVCF Grants Chair Debbie Discar-Espe, Board Chair Michael Meacham, Member and Chula Vista Mayor Mary Salas, and Community Relations Chair Michael De La Rosa at Petco Park for the 4th annual Chula Vista Community Day in 2015.
Concurrently, as members we continue to celebrate the ongoing work our past 11 amazing grantees with particular interest in the progress of last year’s environmental focus; the CV Libraries’ Parklet, the Audubon Society’s School to Neighborhood Nature Discovery program, and the Living Coast Discovery Center’s Community Engagement Clean Up series.
In 2015, at the time members selected the “environmental stewardship” focus, we did not know that Mayor Mary Salas (and CVCF member!) would be one of 14 U.S. Mayors at the International Climate Summit. Our Board and members are working on a few new surprises for 2016 that we hope will have the same impact on Chula Vista social services and sustainable philanthropy for Chula Vista’s great community of families, nonprofits and businesses.
CVCF could not exist without the generosity of the first 104 founding members that had the faith and love of community to launch CVCF under the guidance and support of The San Diego Foundation.
In addition to Debbie and Chris, I want to thank our board and committee volunteers as well as the rest of our past committee chairs and current chairs: Rick Richardson, Finance; Michael De La Rosa, Community Relations Committees; and Mora de Murguia, Membership and Events. These folks are in the trenches doing the hard work and have not only given financially, but they invest a great deal of time in CVCF because they love Chula Vista and the community it represents.
Les deseamos un próspero año nuevo a nuestra familia de la Fundación de San Diego.
Aquatica Commits to Corporate Philanthropy
For David Cromwell, Vice President of Aquatica, “It is important for Aquatica to give back to the community. Ever since the park opened in 2013, the community of Chula Vista has welcomed us wholeheartedly. We are proud to be part of Chula Vista.”
Aquatica will be opening for its 4th season end of May and we hope to have a future membership event there before years end.
If you know of any other Chula Vista businesses that you feel would be good partners, please contact Estela Mitrani at estelam@sdfoundation.org. CVCF has a variety of different corporate giving options for small, medium and big businesses.
