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At Philanthropic Ventures Foundation we spend a major portion of our time finding and funding people who are doing outstanding public service work.
The following are examples of the exceptional people currently funded by PVF:
John Luff - a man with a business background who started Serve the Peninsula, a youth program that has been successful in breaking the influence of gangs on youth.
Serve the Peninsula works with youth in elementary school through high school. A major component of the program is tennis, because as Mr. Luff explains, "None of the youth have ever played tennis, so they all start at the same place." He offers exciting adventures to kids such as rafting in the American River, dirt bike riding, and ropes courses.
Mr. Luff goes to churches and recruits volunteers to mentor the youth, asking that the churches' youth staff give one day a week free. It works. The kids get personal attention, build self confidence, aim higher in school, and don't become involved in gangs.
Shelley Bustamonte - a crisis counselor at Carlmont High School who is outstanding in her support of students.
I recently visited with 25 of Ms. Bustamonte's students and the crisis spectrum goes from a brain tumor to drug use. PVF gave her students $5,000 to use in helping others, sort of a miniature foundation. PVF also designated Ms. Bustamonte as an Ambassador wherein she can recommend other programs, teachers, and agencies for support. Delegating Ambassadors is another avenue the foundation uses to find outstanding people.
Carrie DuBois - a realtor, school board member, and a community activist.
She had the idea to get low income parents of middle school students together for a dinner, with the intent of bringing parents to the school to feel confident in supporting their children, and to help them become aware of the education process, especially for transferring to high school. The three PVF-funded Parent Involvement Workers telephoned all the parents, and 200 mostly non-English speaking parents showed up for the dinner. This was the first time in the school's history something like this had been held, and PVF funded it.
Melissa Hansell - a staff member at the Catholic Worker House in Half Moon Bay who serves the poor with no salary, just creates projects that help people.
She has started a breakfast program that anyone can attend, no questions asked. She also has a community garden project that gives away vegetables. Along with this, the Catholic Worker House offers limited housing, and counsels families.
PVF gives Ms. Hansell discretionary money to use as she sees fit. No application, no hurdles, just a signed letter of agreement that PVF sends with the money.
We are always looking for outstanding people to fund, so if you know of anyone let us know.
If you would like to make funds available to outstanding people, PVF stands ready to make it possible.
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