2024 ViewPoints
2024 ViewPoints
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Your Community Foundation wishes you a happy holiday season. Please read on to learn about the ways you and the WCF have impacted Woodside in 2024 and new opportunities to support our greater community.
With grateful thanks and wishing you all the best for the coming year,
The Woodside Community Foundation
Viewpoints 2024
New opportunity for our Good Neighbor Fund!
Help Provide Safe & Affordable Housing for Farmworkers
Puente de la Costa Sur, through its affiliate Puente Housing Solutions (PHS), LLC., works toward housing solutions for unincorporated South Coast communities in San Mateo County, California.
PHS’ first project is to preserve farmworker housing in Pescadero through the acquisition of the former Pescadero Union High School. Built in 1925, the former school was converted to farmworker housing in the 1980s. Puente is committed to making the necessary improvements for safe and dignified living while keeping these units affordable for community members. The building currently contains family living units with ensuite kitchenettes and bathrooms, as well as additional single units that share a communal kitchen and two bathrooms (one each for women and men).
PHS has raised over $440,000 towards their goal of $535,000 for immediate needs including:
- Roof & Gutter Replacement
- Central Water Treatment System
- Septic System Refurbishment
- Building Foundation Repairs (waterproofing, water damage)
- Health & Safety Updates (electrical, mold remediation, cracked concrete, deferred maintenance)
The WCF is providing a matching grant of $5,000 and hoping you will help us help Puente raise the needed funds to complete restoration of the badly needed housing provided by the former Pescadero Union High School building. As Gabriel Garcia, Puente Board Chair, states:
“…the food we all eat starts its journey to our kitchen tables in the hands of our farmworkers…their families need affordable, safe and dignified housing.”
For 20 years, Puente has been fostering wellness and prosperity in the San Mateo County South Coast communities of Pescadero, La Honda, Loma Mar, and San Gregorio by promoting and advocating for equitable access to education, health, and economic security.
Good Neighbor Fund off and running
Launched in October 2023, the Good Neighbor Fund establishes a permanent source of funding, allowing the WCF to quickly respond to all types of needs and emergencies in our region. Last December, with your support, we raised funds for the La Honda Fire Protection District to add an ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle) to their firefighting and emergency rescue fleet. An ERV is a small vehicle that can travel into the brush/forest, carrying water for small spot fires and a cargo area that can evacuate injured hikers, horseback riders, bicyclists, etc. The CZU fire showed that a crew needs to go where a larger fire truck can’t.
2024 Community Project Details
‘Shred It’ Again!
Our 4th annual free ‘Shred It’ Day was held on Saturday, May 18 at Woodside Town Hall. WCF Board members and volunteers helped Woodsiders deal safely and handily with post-tax filing and other accumulated paperwork. Start collecting your paper for April 2025!
‘Big Read’ at Woodside High School
Woodside High School’s Big Read is an ongoing, all-school summer reading program. This past summer, students read books on the Nisei soldiers of World War II which depict stories of resilience and courage, motifs that will be embraced throughout the 2024-25 academic year. The goal is to foster a community effort that creates a deeper understanding of the historical period and the plight of these great heroes.
With your help and a $1,000 grant from WCF, we were able to provide $3,000 to help WHS reach their goal and put books in the hands of all students.
Giving Woodside Vaulters a Leg Up
Even a group as grounded in the community as the Woodside Vaulters, a Woodside institution founded in 1990, can sometimes use a leg up. The Vaulters unexpectedly lost a horse to cancer last year and are due to retire another next year. As a result, the club is working to raise funds for 2 new horses ($70K). Additional needs include facility improvements ($10K) and building back a 3-month operating reserve decimated by Covid ($50K).
Woodside Vaulters is a 501c3 non-profit, providing year-round instruction in recreational and competitive vaulting, emphasizing horsemanship, safety, team building, communication skills, and trust between horse and vaulter. A center of excellence in vaulting nationally and internationally, their 33 vaulters include beginners, national champions, and world champion competitors most of whom are from Woodside and the neighboring area. Their squad vaulters, national champions, are now training to earn a spot on the 2025 World Championships in Basel, Switzerland.
The Vaulters were able to raise almost $27,000 at their June Woodside Fest event but have a long way to go to meet their goal and keep the program going at full strength.
Please consider making a contribution in any amount to support this wonderful community program.
2024 Updates from Our Funds
The Woodside Village Band
The Woodside Village Band invites you to our free Winter Concert:
Sunday, December 8, 2024, 3:00pm
Woodside High School Performing Arts Center
199 Churchill Avenue, Woodside
The Woodside Village Band is composed of amateur musicians from the communities of the San Francisco Peninsula. The group was organized by Richard Gordon in 1988 with the goal of bringing the music of the wind ensemble and the concert band to the local community. The Band is in its 36th year and continues to grow and perform under the direction of Yessica Gallagher.
The WVB holds weekly rehearsals and is always open to accepting new members that share the same love for music. If you are interested in joining the band, please contact the director Yessica at [email protected]. For more information, visit our website.
Woodside Horse Owner’s Association (WHOA!)
WHOA! Celebrates 20 Years of ‘Day of the Horse’!
With the Anniversary theme of “Looking Back, Galloping Forward”, historical reflection and plans for an even brighter future were the focus of the organizers and their 150 volunteers who make Day of the Horse weekend possible.
Friday, October 11: Kick-off Reception Town Hall
Some 250 attended to hear emcee, Rebekah Witter, note that this year, WHOA!’s motto, “Woodside is Horse Country.” has been elevated to “Woodside is OLYMPIC Horse Country” with four direct Woodside connections to USA Equestrian participation at the Olympics in Paris. Signe Ostby and Scott Cook, whose son, Karl, earned a Silver Medal, were present to accept an Olympic Appreciation Award. Karie and David Thomson and Akiko Yamasaki, whose horses competed, were also honored.
Presentations on the history and accomplishments of WHOA! were made by Susan Lang, Signe Ostby, Donna Poy and Fawni Hill who introduced the new commemorative photo book, “Looking Back, Galloping Forward”
Saturday, October 12: Progressive Trail Ride
This year’s theme allowed participants to re-visit any of the past years’ themes for their costumes or invent entirely new outfits. Jo Egenes and Sarah Rivers managed fourteen ride stops spread over a longer trail this year, due to the addition of a circuit around the Horse Park. Buck’s BLT and lemonade lunch stop was back, along with the “It’s A Wrap Party” at the Horse Park where demonstrations were given by Sweet Beau Ranch showing off their talented Mustangs for adoption, and the Woodside Vaulters presenting exciting gymnastics on horseback. Phillip Whalen announced the costume prize winners, as well as raffle and door prize winners and all went home with great memories of another fun, costume-fantasy ride along the trails of Woodside on horseback!
Sunday, October 13: The Family Fun Horse Fair at Town Center
More than 1200 visitors enjoyed a perfect day, featuring expanded exhibits organized by Kristina Chancholo and her cadre of 78 volunteers. including forty enticing equine exhibits and a new innovative activity in the form of a timed Barrel Racing Game run with stick horses!
About WHOA!
The Woodside-area Horse Owners Association (WHOA!) ensures that the presence of the horse in Woodside and surrounding communities is recognized, protected, and promoted. Find out more at whoa94062.org and mark your calendar for DOTH 2025 on October 10, 11, & 12.
Woodside Community Museum
The Community Museum is housed in the former Mathisen Farmhouse. It is a good example of adaptive reuse of an historic structure and sets the tone for preservation in Woodside. Exhibits in the Museum are rotated periodically and highlight various topics from the Town’s past. The current exhibit features the history of winemaking in the Woodside area, and coming in 2025 will be a new exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Woodside Fire District.
The Woodside History Committee members maintain the Town archives and curate new exhibits at the Museum. The Committee also participates in several community programs, including Day of the Horse and May Day Parade. During National Preservation Month in May, the History Committee hosts a presentation of the Historic Preservation Award. A plaque is awarded to residents who have restored, repaired or saved an historic structure. The History Committee also participates in the San Mateo County History Association Walking Tours annual program.
Archival collections are available to residents and the general public for historical research. The Committee encourages anyone with photographs or documents pertaining to the Town’s history to donate or loan these materials to the Museum to help expand our collection.
The Museum is located in Town Center and is open on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month, 1 – 3 pm, or by special appointment. Contact the History Committee at 650-851-1294 or email [email protected]
This year the WLC developed a proposal for a “median beautification project” for the EAST side of the Woodside Road/Highway 280 intersection that will reflect the successful transformation of the median on the WEST side. The Town is implementing our recommendation to engage the same design firm to produce a conceptual plan and ballpark cost estimate.
WLC also recommended that the Town purchase and install a “walk-in” picnic table in the grassy swale between the Museum and Town administration buildings, and provide a pedestrian path to it. The table now provides a pleasant spot for Woodsiders to rest and refresh.
Biannually, committee members wash and lightly wax the ‘Spring & Sprite’ horse sculptures on Village Hill to keep them “well groomed”. (The WLC spearheaded the fundraising and installation of the sculptures.)
Committee members will continue to weed and prune plants at the Woodside Community Museum and other landscaped areas near the Town Center, to advise the Town on landscape maintenance needs, and consider good ideas that our members propose,
Currently numbering 11 members, the group is seeking new members who want to help with WLC’s mission to beautify landscaped areas of Town-owned properties. If interested please contact Chair Peggie MacLeod at [email protected].
The WCF General Fund
In addition to supporting our funds, a gift to the WCF General Fund helps ensure that the Foundation stays ready to meet the ever-changing needs of our community.
General Funds are often used to establish matching grants to partner with our loyal donors to support charitable projects. A small portion of General Funds are also used to “keep the lights on,” to cover administrative costs for things such as bookkeeping accounts, and communications.
Thank you for caring about your community and for your generosity. Your support truly makes a difference.
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