Where Your Heart Lives: Community Outreach Recap

North Tahoe-Truckee’s vibrant community is in constant motion.  We have part time residents, international visitors, and local residents wrapped up in activities and adventures.  Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) has a mission to connect with all our community members, and there’s no better time than at regional summer events.

To get to know you where you play and interact, TTCF has set up a booth at community events for two years.  With a world map and handfuls of pins, we spent 2014 learning from where you all came and chose one lucky community member to award a $1,000 TTCF grant to a local nonprofit . For 2015, we asked which philanthropic areas you valued most.  Once again, we offered new newsletter signups a chance to grant $1,000 to your favorite local nonprofit.

You voted with your hearts and our Give Back Tahoe Bucks, and we loved seeing families and friends discuss their favorite areas of philanthropy.  It seems our children and adults all agreed on one thing: it’s impossible to choose just one area close to your hearts.

The seven areas of impact were:

• Animal Welfare
• Arts & Culture
• Community Improvement
• Education
• Environment
• Human Services
• Youth Development

We weren’t surprised that our nature-loving full-time residents split most of your Bucks between Animal Welfare (25%) and Environment (21%).  After that, you put your Bucks towards Youth Development (14%) and Human Services (12%).

Part-time residents focused first on people. Community Improvement (20%) and Human Services (18%) were voted closest to your hearts.  After Environment (16%) and Education (13%), the remaining votes split evenly across the sectors.

Our lucky raffle winner was part-time resident Sue Wood. When Sue and her husband were constructing their second North Tahoe home, they learned about Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue (TNSAR),

“Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue was formed by Larry Sevison and Doug Reed in 1976 after Larry lost his son in a back country incident at a time when no search and rescue services were available.  It is my pleasure to award them the $1,000 grant because I know what they do and have done and what they give back to the community with their time and services.”

One thing is certain, North Tahoe-Truckee attracts generous hearts and strong spirits.

This article first appeared in the 9/23/2015 Sierra Sun, on the Give Back Tahoe page.