‘Sowing Seeds, Nurturing Dreams’ takes place April 25
Published in the April 16 – 29, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo courtesy Gavilan College
Gavilan College Superintendent Steve Kinsella congratulates Izzy Quistian, last year’s recipient of the Karl Pfister award and a $20,000 scholarship to UC Santa Cruz.
Gavilan Community College student Justin Alnas is a working dad now majoring in administration of justice and planning to transfer to California State University at Monterey Bay. His long-term goal for his career is to practice family law so that he can help other low-income families. He said the Gavilan College Educational Foundation has helped him deal with the financial pressures of attending his classes to pursue his dream.
“There are times my gas tank is on ‘E’ — a gas card (from the foundation) gets me through the rest of the week,” he said. “Without it, I wouldn’t be able to be where I need to be. I work, but scholarships and other assistance helps me with basics so I can go to school and raise my daughter.”
Even with dreams of a better life through higher education, many Gavilan Community College students such as Alnas struggle to attend classes because of the high financial costs for textbooks and transportation and the challenges of work life and family. To address this challenge and raise money for students, Gavilan’s educational foundation will hold its first Sowing Seeds, Nurturing Dreams food and wine gala starting 6 p.m. April 25 in the Gavilan College Student Center at the Gilroy campus. The foundation hopes to make it an annual event.
“A lot of times, the challenges that keep students from completing their educations aren’t in the classroom, but in their lives,” said Jan Bernstein Chargin, Gavilan’s public information officer and an organizer of the gala. “We see so many students who are having trouble buying food, paying rent, finding a way to get to school — yet they persevere and sacrifice to achieve their dreams and create better lives for themselves and their families.”
With budget cutbacks, the foundation strives to make it possible to do things that can’t be done with state funding, but that have a huge impact on students’ education, she said. The gala, which costs $50 per person to attend, will feature food and wine from South Valley wineries and restaurants including Guglielmo Winery, Martin Ranch, Sycamore Creek Vineyards, Rosy’s at the Beach, Mama Mia’s and Ladera Grill.
“The proceeds will provide new scholarships and also create an emergency fund to help students meet the basic short-term needs — food and transportation, that keep them from attending,” Bernstein Chargin said.
The nonprofit Gavilan College Educational Foundation is the fund-raising entity that raises funds for a wide range of programs at the college, said Douglas Marshall, president of the foundation. Funds raised by the foundation can only be used to support Gavilan College and its students. The foundation supports athletics, student scholarships, and other special student need requests that may arise over the course of a year.
The first foundation supported the San Benito Junior College, which in the mid-1960s became Gavilan Community College, and has since been restructured with the last legal change occurring in 1994, Marshall said. It has raised a total of $xxxxx dollars since it started.
The Sowing Seeds, Nurturing Dreams gala will be the foundation’s first major event on Gavilan’s campus since it was started.
“This is going to be an evening you won’t want to miss … a chance to mix and mingle with friends (old and new) learn more about the college and support our students,” Bernstein Chargin said. “We have an incredible silent auction with some one-of-a-kind items. We don’t usually serve wine on campus, so this will be a very special evening.”
