Bombarded. At this time of year, we are all bombarded with extra “noise.” The noise of the holidays — joyful noise, laughing children, feelings of good will, the noise of the holiday plays and music, the noise of the delivery trucks, the extra noise that impacts one’s own thoughts.
It is to those thoughts that I offer the following quote: “If you’re scared, just holler and you’ll find it ain’t so lonesome out there,” Joe Sudgen in “Joe Garagiola, Baseball is a Funny Game.”
This time of year often finds people lonely and fearful. That is the “noise” I would like to eliminate. One way to help eliminate that fearful noise is to offer one’s help to others and in that regard there are wonderful groups and organizations in your community that help ease those fears.
Foundations help ease those fears. The premise of a community foundation is “we help our own.” In that regard I would like to invite you to join the foundation in your community. I volunteer my time as chairman of the board of the Carlsbad Charitable Foundation. In Carlsbad, our volunteer members and staff raise funds to take care of those in Carlsbad who need an extra effort. Although we are only 2.5 years old, we have successfully helped (a) all Carlsbad fifth-graders learn an economics curriculum; (b) all Carlsbad eighth-graders through the purchase of equipment and supplies for science projects; (c) needy Carlsbad senior citizens who require extra help with food and transportation; and (d) Carlsbad hospice professional staff members who are learning the important new techniques to identify and diagnose pain in patients.
The Carlsbad Charitable Foundation is made up of people like you who hear the noise of the community and who choose to pool their financial contributions to make a greater productive result.
The Carlsbad Charitable Foundation has been challenged to find 25 additional members by Dec. 31. Those 25 new members would be able to pledge $1,000 per year for five years to assist their neighbors in Carlsbad. Half of each year’s contribution would be placed in a long-term, permanent endowment that will be used to assist Carlsbad for years to come. The remaining half of the donation is used for grant-making in the current fiscal year. Through the generous dollar-for-dollar matching grant opportunity offered to Carlsbad Charitable Foundation by the Leichtag Family Foundation, we invite you who live or work in Carlsbad to join the 125 current members who are positively affecting the “noise” of Carlsbad. We are attempting to answer the call of those who “holler.” We are trying to take care of our own.
The Carlsbad Charitable Foundation is focused on Carlsbad. It is an affiliate of the San Diego Foundation, and other affiliates are also specific to their communities: Oceanside, Rancho Bernardo, 4S Ranch, Chula Vista and La Jolla.
In this time of increased “noise,” please consider your long-range effort to answer the need: Join your local community foundation. Be the change you want to see!
For further information, visit www.carlsbadcharitablefoundation.org, www.sdfoundation.org or e-mail [email protected].
