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Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
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February 2010
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progress
a newsletter for our donors
and colleagues
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PVF's Focus on Poverty:
A Profile of Larry Purcell
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Who is Larry Purcell? At PVF we find outstanding people and we fund them. Larry Purcell is one of those people.
 Larry runs the Catholic Worker House in Redwood City.
It doesn't have 501(c)(3) status as a nonprofit organization. "I'm not asking the IRS for permission to do
my work," says Larry, but their work is clearly charitable and possibly one of
the most effective efforts aimed at poverty.
Larry founded the Catholic Worker House in 1975 to serve the needs of
the very poor, basing the program on the Catholic Worker model: No one is paid
to work, and no one is charged for services.
Larry takes no salary.
He dedicates his life to working with the poor.
Through the Catholic Worker House, Larry serves homeless
families and troubled teens who have run out of options. There is also a food
program for the hungry, a breakfast program for day laborers and an English
language school for immigrant women.
Larry is an ex-priest who grew up in San Francisco in a large well-off Catholic
family. He left the priesthood, got
married and has raised two children. Larry's
wife is a teacher and her work provides the family's income.
Bill Somerville at PVF and Larry Purcell of the Catholic
Worker House have worked together for 35 years and never once has Larry had to
write a proposal for funding. Funding of
the Catholic Worker effort has included purchasing a truck which Larry takes to
the San Francisco Produce Mart at 5:30 in the morning, where he asks for
produce donations. For years this truck
has supplied produce for the Padua Kitchen a free dining room in Redwood City.
On one occasion PVF funded Larry to hold an eye clinic in
his living room, run by the University of California Graduate School of Optometry. He found Sister Monica Asman to run the
clinic. Monica worked at the University of California,
School of Public Health where she was a world
expert on mosquitoes. After the clinic
was over she stated to Somerville
"I'm tired of working with insects. I want to work with people." And she established the program
that is now the Saint Francis
Center in Redwood
City.
Larry has established four other Catholic Worker Houses in San Mateo County.
He raises the money through his newsletter to the community, and
donations are deposited in his Catholic Worker House Fund at PVF. With this funding Larry can set up a
house. He finds young couples who want
to dedicate their lives to serving the poor, and they transform each house into
a unique center to serve the poor.
We are indebted to Larry Purcell and it has been an honor
for those of us at PVF to work with him.
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About the Editor
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Bill Somerville has been in non-profit and philanthropic work for 49 years. He was the director of a community foundation for 17 years, and in 1991 founded Philanthropic Ventures Foundation where he serves as Executive Director. PVF is a demonstration foundation practicing unique forms of grantmaking and conducting innovative philanthropy. Bill has consulted at over 400 community foundations in the United States, Canada, and the U.K., on creative grantmaking and foundation operations. His primary interest is in the creative and significant use of the philanthropic dollar.
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Board of Directors
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John P. Carver, Chair
Retired Senior Vice-President
The Gap Inc.
Duncan Beardsley
Marketing Consultant
Howard H. Bell
Attorney
Bell, Rosenberg & Hughes, LLP
William E. Green
Attorney
William Green & Associates
Albert J. Horn
Attorney
Carr, McClellan, Ingersoll,
Thompson & Horn PC
Bill Somerville, President
Executive Director
Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
Jackie Speier
U.S. Representative
12th District of California
Moira C. Walsh
Attorney and
Philanthropic Advisor
Colburn S. Wilbur
Trustee and Former President
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
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Follow PVF on Twitter
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PVF's Work Serving the Poor
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PVF's giving is primarily to innovative programs assisting
the poor: to support legal aid and immigration advisors for the poor, programs
hiring low income women as parent involvement workers, day worker programs,
and programs to benefit youth in foster care.
We give discretionary grants to programs serving the poor,
to spend as they see fit to meet the critical needs of their clients. This is high trust giving and we are one of
the few funders to do this. At PVF, we
see ourselves as partners in the giving process. Thank you to all of you who give funds to PVF
to make our work possible.
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Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, 1222 Preservation Park Way, Oakland CA 94612-1201Telephone: 510-645-1890 Fax: 510-645-1892www.venturesfoundation.org |
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