Generosity’s Faces, Forms and Functions

Sonora Area Foundation is privileged to witness generosity in action every day.

It has many faces: A yoga-studio owner offering donation-based classes; a donor-advised fund representative suggesting a local grant.

It takes many forms: A $5 bill slipped through the front door; a six-figure check in the mail.

It serves many functions: Supporting a food bank; building an evacuation road.

Its goal is singular: To make life better for others.

Sonora Area Foundation (SAF) in March opened the Community Recovery Fund (CRF) to assist local nonprofits in their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Support for this fund has been extraordinary and ongoing: As of November 25, 2020, CRF donations have exceeded $350,000.

As remarkable as that number is, the people and organizations who have paired creativity and legwork with generosity are even more so: Mother Lode Food Project volunteers this spring locally distributed dozens of donation envelopes to generate contributions for a matching grant to benefit ATCAA Food Bank; The Sierra’s Table owner Tim McEwen twice has organized fundraising dinners: Gold Country Yoga owner Ellen Cremer offered online donation-based classes; and StorQuest Express collected donations at its drive-in grand opening.

Donors are the mainstay of SAF’s charitable endeavors, whether their gifts result from public events or private convictions, and those gifts help meet the local community’s needs. Sonora Area Foundation is grateful for your gifts and for you.

Thank you, Tuolumne County, for making life better for your friends and neighbors by channeling your generosity through Sonora Area Foundation.

Would you like to join Sonora Area Foundation in supporting our community? Donations may be made online at sonora-area.org.

Darrell Slocum is the Executive Director of Sonora Area Foundation. Contact him at (209) 533-2596 or darrell@sonora-area.org.