Message from the Executive Director | |
Friends and Supporters,
These past first few weeks as your Foundation Executive Director have flown by at warp speed. I have had the sincere pleasure of connecting with many of you and look forward to working with more of you in the coming months.
While many of you may have seen the formal press releases highlighting my professional accomplishments and commitment to our region, what those formal communications and resume highlights do not outline is my why.
El Dorado County is my home. I grew up here and choose to raise my children here. I am passionate about ensuring our continued greatness for the future. My drive behind every professional choice and every volunteer hour outlined in those press releases is my whole-hearted dedication to serving this passion.
We are fortunate to live in a community with a multitude of multi-generational families, individuals, businesses, and nonprofits dedicated to elevating El Dorado County. I approach my work with a deep respect and understanding of the work done before me, as well as the energy and initiative to explore fresh ideas. I show up daily with a humble heart and a genuine desire to sustain our greatness as well as enact positive change in the community that I love.
Thank you for your commitment to El Dorado County and for standing with EDCF in our dedication to our County. We live here, we give here, and we move forward together, unified in our love for where we live.
In Community Spirit,
Amy Pooley
PS: If I have not had the pleasure of talking with you and you would like to connect, please schedule a time and let’s chat.
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New Board Member:
Margie Kovarik-Maxhimer
| El Dorado Community Foundation is pleased to introduce the newest member of our Board of Directors, Margie Kovarik-Maxhimer. Part of the South Lake Tahoe community since 1987, Margie has a BA in Accounting and Business from Carroll College and has been the owner and operator of Tahoe Summers, Inc. since 1992. In addition to her business acumen, Margie brings her 10 years of experience serving on the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority Marketing Committee and her 31 years of experience as a member of the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe, including several leadership roles within the Club. She has also been a member of Soroptimist of Tahoe Sierra for 4 years. | |
Margie already has a great deal of experience with the El Dorado Community Foundation as a member of the Give Tahoe Cabinet going on ten years and trustee for the Myers Library Trust at the Foundation. In addition to her new role as Board Member, Margie will also be serving on the Foundation's Finance Committee. She is very excited to join the Board of the El Dorado Community Foundation and we are very excited to have her. We expect Margie to bring a fresh perspective as well as fresh energy to our Board. | |
Fund Spotlight: Shelbi's Helping Hand Fund | There are many ways a person can give, from donating money or time, to simply giving the gift of understanding and acceptance, or to leaving a legacy that will impact the lives of others long after the person is gone. Regardless of what is being offered, giving is about love, always. What follows is a story about love, sacrifice, and a life of giving back, which is being shared in the hopes of inspiring others to think about legacy gifting in a new light. | | |
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Every great story needs a beginning, and this one begins many years ago when Shelbi Flahive and Lee Bennett met in high school. Theirs was an immediate friendship that was meant to be, one that carried on through college when Lee gave up a scholarship to UC Davis to stay close to Shelbi at Sacramento State. You see, giving is also sometimes about the things we give up in life to pursue what really matters to us.
Generous by nature, Shelbi has always had a philanthropic side. One of the founders of the Buy-A-Day Charity Golf Tournament, the El Dorado Hills Area Foundation, and the El Dorado Hills Giving Circle, Shelbi has spent decades giving back to the community she loves and calls her home. Together, she and Lee also instilled the importance of philanthropy and love for others in their two children.
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Shelbi has also given back to her husband, Lee, giving him unconditional support while he grew his company, OnCore Consulting, into the business it is today. Lee recently sold OnCore Consulting, and with a part of the proceeds, gave the gift of a legacy to the person he cares most about in this world. This legacy comes in the form of a new fund under the El Dorado Hills Area Foundation, and by extension, under the El Dorado Community Foundation called Shelbi’s Helping Hand Fund. The fund was created to impact the lives of thousands into perpetuity, providing a helping hand to those in need.
What is a legacy? To most, a legacy is something they leave behind that persists long after they have left this world. To Shelbi, her husband’s gift put a different spin on the meaning of legacy. It’s also about what she can do right now, in this moment, while she can respond to current needs and see the impact her giving can have on the community around her. With this new fund, people today who live in our local community will have a place to turn to for a helping hand in times of need. Often, a helping hand can mean the difference between relative stability and a financial crisis with seemingly no solution.
Shelbi’s Helping Hand Fund is unique in that it will provide assistance to individuals and families in a more direct way, helping those who have exhausted their financial resources and are faced with an unanticipated expense. As Shelbi puts it, “Everyone has been in a situation in their life where, if they just had someone to lend a helping hand, they could make it through a rough patch and see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want this fund to be that for people who just need a little lift, and one day maybe they’ll be able to lend a helping hand of their own to someone else in need.” This will be Shelbi’s legacy, a fund that will continue what she has done long after she is gone - help the community she loves, always.
If you would like to support Shelbi's Helping Hand Fund, you can do so here.
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Tahoe Women's Community Fund's 2024 Grant Cycle Opening Soon! | |
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Opening on February 12th, 2024, The Tahoe Women's Community Fund grants will be open to any nonprofit serving the South Shore of South Lake Tahoe! Applications will be accepted through March 7th, and nonprofits will be invited to apply for only one area of need each. Additionally, any nonprofit that received a TWCF grant in their 2023 cycle must sit this year out, but will again be eligible in 2025.
The Tahoe Women's Community Fund will be granting $100,000 for their 2024 granting cycle as focus grants and impact grants within specific areas of need. RFPs will go out on February 12th and the grant application will be available on the TWCF website here. If you would like to be added to TWCF's mailing list so that you receive this and future RFPs, please email tahoewomensfund@gmail.com.
Huge thank you to the Tahoe Women's Community Fund membership, and the Super Sponsors who matched the membership's contributions, for making these grants possible!
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Local Sustainable & Equitable Jobs
Brainstorming Workshops
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Did you miss last month's newsletter? Check in out here! | | | | |
