Believe in Celebration

Dear Friends,

This month we are kicking off our 20th year celebration, and are overwhelmed by the support from this community. Since our inception in 2001, we’ve invested more than $26 million in organizations that provide health access, mental health and early childhood development services. So far in 2020, Healthcare Foundation grants to the community total $520,000. Thanks to your generosity, this month we are poised to deploy another $100,000 in Emergency Healthcare Grants to local nonprofits that are providing essential safety net services to our most vulnerable populations.

In the midst of the global crisis surrounding the pandemic, we are finding creative ways to come together and support each other. The success of BELIEVE IN OUR FUTURE, our virtual gala on August 29th, depends on you. As our beloved Board member and Miracle Sponsor Barbara Grasseschi describes in the article below, the power of celebration cannot be underestimated. The more we raise, the more we can get out into the community to help those on the front lines. We invite you to join us in recognizing our Miracle ($50,000), Visionary ($25,000) and Champion ($10,000) sponsors below, who have helped us raise, as of today, almost $340,000. We are deeply grateful for their commitment to improving health equity in Northern Sonoma County.

Let’s keep it going! All sponsors will be invited to the VIP Speakeasy Cocktail Lounge featuring award-winning mixologist Tara Jasper of Sipsong Spirits. The virtual gala that immediately follows is free and open to all! Event links will be emailed to you next week. Join us on August 29th and raise your paddle, bid on an auction item, have a cocktail and/or a glass of wine, and let’s celebrate together!

With gratitude,

Kim Bender
Executive Director

Spotlight on Our Sponsors

Miracle Sponsor

By Barbara Grasseschi, Board of Directors

I became involved with the Healthcare Foundation in 2009 because I believed in its mission of supporting the health and well-being of this community. In 2014, when former Executive Director Pat Callahan asked me to help organize the first Wine, Women & Shoes event, I learned that an organization with a serious mission can also be serious about celebrating. So many supporters stepped up in a big way for that event, including 108 volunteers!!! Wine, Women & Shoes was enormously successful, with three events raising nearly a million dollars for local healthcare organizations, but just as importantly, it really brought our community together and was loads of fun.

Then, starting with the Tubbs Fire in October of 2017, this community was hit hard by floods, more fires, more evacuations, more losses. The Healthcare Foundation pivoted to address the mental health crisis caused by these multiple traumas. COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd have brought new challenges, and a new level of attention to racial inequities that result in life-threatening health disparities for people of color.

The Healthcare Foundation is looking deeply at these issues and considering our role in improving health equity in northern Sonoma County. We are developing an understanding of how racism functions on multiple levels: internalized, interpersonal, institutional and structural. This framework is useful as we look at disparities in health outcomes, and search for effective interventions to eliminate those differences.

Even as we confront these painful realities, we also need to find ways to celebrate small victories. I believe in the power of celebration to lift our spirits and provide us with hope, especially in difficult times. That’s why I love leading the Healthcare Foundation’s event committee. We’ve had a fantastic time adapting our 20th anniversary kick-off event BELIEVE IN OUR FUTURE to be our first virtual gala on August 29th. We’ve invited world-class musicians and special guests to entertain you for this livestream event. I’m so excited for all of you to join us!

Thanks to over one hundred sponsors, we have already reached the $300,000 mark, and still have the silent auction and paddle raise ahead! The success of this effort means we can continue to provide emergency funding to organizations on the frontlines, helping essential workers and other vulnerable groups among us who are suffering as a result of the pandemic.

Thank you for joining us! When you receive the email with the link from us next week, be sure to add the event to your calendar. It’s free! We’ll see you and celebrate our success together in the virtual world!

Visionary Sponsors

Mark Freed and Talon Creek Farms

My inspiration for sponsoring this event is solely wanting to help people in our community who are disproportionately impacted by the COVID pandemic. My belief is that if we can build a stronger safety net, then we can keep more people from falling through it, which will lead to a healthier and more rapid recovery. I was introduced to the Healthcare Foundation when I moved here in 2018 and I’ve been a strong supporter ever since. Since mental health support services in our community will not reach all, my Foundation’s mission is to help maximize the reach and effectiveness of healthcare services in our community.

Sonoma County has endured one devastating emergency disaster after another over the last three years, and I’m very concerned about the mental health effects on everyone – especially our rapidly-expanding homeless population, and those folks not currently homeless but finding it impossible to afford housing in this environment. We need to address the problem of homelessness and, more importantly, the problems that force people into homelessness. How? It all starts with strong leadership from our elected city and county officials, and with the help of strong community organizations like the Healthcare Foundation.

Marc and Jeanie Kahn

Ever since we became full-time residents of the Healdsburg community, we have been impressed by the work of the Healthcare Foundation. Our work with the Foundation has helped it to expand mental health care for all members of our community. During this challenging period, we have recognized the urgency of getting immediate funding to those areas of greatest need. We are confident that every dollar raised for this event will go directly to benefit the physical and mental health care needs of our region.

Champion Sponsors

Kim and John Lloyd and Big John’s Market

We have supported the Healthcare Foundation since its inception almost twenty years ago. Back then the Foundation raised funds to save Healdsburg Hospital. Today, it has morphed into a critical component of overall community well-being. Because of the current pandemic crisis, it will be needed more than ever to address the needs of the underserved in our community. We believe in the future of the Healthcare Foundation, and that is why we support this event.

Elisha and Bob Finney

As part-time Healdsburg residents, we have come to love our tight-knit community. These are unprecedented times, and we are blessed and thrilled to be able to help our most vulnerable residents with their healthcare needs. We both spent most of our careers in the Life Sciences industry, focused primarily on cancer and diagnostics, and we understand that good, accessible, affordable healthcare benefits our entire community. Given the pandemic, our immediate concern is educating our community on how to avoid COVID-19, providing PPE, and ensuring that those who are infected have access to treatment.
Hotel Healdsburg, Circe Sher and the Sher Family

Our support is about the longstanding good work that the Healthcare Foundation has been doing for almost twenty years. As a local business owner, I am thrilled to continue to support the organization in meeting the greatest health and mental health needs in our community. There is a real shortage of bilingual mental health providers who can serve the needs of our Latinx community members. The Healthcare Foundation recognizes this need and in response has made critical investments in increasing the number of bilingual providers. Making mental health services available to everyone in our community is crucial right now. Between the current pandemic, fire season on the horizon and insecurity about the near future, there is so much stress for everyone to take on. The Healthcare Foundation is addressing these issues, bringing vital resources where they are needed most.

Medtronic has long been a part of the Sonoma County community and believes its global mission “to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life” is equally important in the communities in which its employees live and work. This is seen in Medtronic’s unrestricted grants and sponsorships to the Healthcare Foundation which supports deep community partnerships that deliver targeted, culturally relevant programs for the people who need it most. By addressing and solving inequities in underserved populations, positive change is seen in our communities. In addition, Medtronic’s strong culture of volunteerism is realized with the addition of a Medtronic employee to the Board of Trustees, further contributing to the vibrancy of the community and the impactful work of the Healthcare Foundation.

Redwood Credit Union

Credit unions were founded on the philosophy of “people helping people.” Perhaps now more than ever, caring for one another is critically important. As a result, Redwood Credit Union (RCU) is proud to support the Healthcare Foundation’s Emergency Healthcare Fund. The North Bay has been through so much even prior to this pandemic, and RCU is committed to both the emotional and financial wellness of our more than 366,000 members, 700 employees, and every single one of our communities. These two vital needs are often linked, and we value partners like the Healthcare Foundation that are helping to make a powerful and lasting difference. As a community, we’re going to get through these unprecedented times. Together, we are resilient.

We’d also like to offer our most sincere appreciation to Visionary Sponsors

Douglas and Juli Muhleman

And to Champion Sponsor

The Foley Family Charitable Foundation

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Saturday | August 29, 2020

5:30-6:00pm VIP SPEAKEASY COCKTAIL LOUNGE

6-7pm FREE PROGRAM
LIVE MUSICAL PERFORMANCES by:
Cantares de mi Tierra LBC | GroupLove
Jared Huffman and Craig Anderson | Stanley Jordan
Charlie Musselwhite | Marcus Shelby
Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers | Pete Stringfellow
Along with GUEST APPEARANCES and OTHER SURPRISES!

Click Here to Become a Sponsor
Click Here for Silent Auction Preview
(Auction opens August 24th and closes at 8pm on August 29th)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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