The Pasadena Community Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of 2016’s Yes, Virginia Fund Grants! Established in 1994, the Yes, Virginia Fund has raised money to support children at the holidays in the Pasadena area, and has awarded over $273,000 to local non-profits in Pasadena that host holiday parties and purchase gifts for needy children. The Fund was named after the famous 1897 editorial published by the New York Sun in which eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote to the editor, Frank Church, to ask if there really was a Santa Claus. Church’s famous reply, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist…” has become part of popular Christmas folklore.
PCF recently hosted its annual Classy and Sassy Boutique & Luncheon at the Altadena Town & Country Club to raise money for the Yes, Virginia Fund. Guests enjoyed shopping at a well-received Boutique followed by a lovely lunch with friends.
This year, the Fund granted out to the following 12 organizations:
- Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena
- ChapCare
- Door of Hope
- Elizabeth House
- Flintridge Center
- Friends Outside in LA County
- Harambee Ministries
- Impact House
- Pasadena Altadena Community Endowment Fund – LINKS Mentoring
- Mother’s Club Family Learning Center
- Professional Child Development Associates
- Treasure Little Children
(Pictured above: children decorate ornaments at Flintridge Center (photo: Emma Gerch))
You can still support the Yes, Virginia Fund 2016. Please click here to donate.
2016 Yes, Virginia Committee:
Diana Rafeedie-Nofal
Chair
Naomi Farley
Marcia Hoffer
Shereen Kelly
Jeannine Lee
Jenny Lim
Angela McLaren
Michelle Tyson, MD
Design and Communications:
Cynthia Cohn
Sarah Rothenberg
Advisors:
Rita Diaz
Lisa Krueger
Kathleen Shannon
Gretel Stephens