Local drive looking for groups to support financially
Published in the Jan. 22, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo courtesy Intero Foundation
From left, John Thompson, founder and executive vice President; Eric Berggren, manager of Intero San Carlos; Gino Blefari, founder, president and CEO and Tom Tognoli, founder and COO, stand among toys collected by the Intero Foundation last year.
The Intero Foundation is looking for groups in the South Valley to provide financial assistance to improve the lives of local young people. Since it was started in 2002, the nonprofit organization has raised about $2.8 million to support more than 120 charities that positively promote the well-being of children in need.
Morgan Hill Intero real estate agent Karlene DiNapoli recently took over from agent Russ Warrick in heading the local drive to find South Valley groups that could potentially benefit from Intero Foundation funds. Groups can submit their applications to DiNapoli by Feb. 6 to be eligible for this quarter’s grants.
“We’re really looking for some new grassroots programs that are coming up and going on in our town that need our help. That’s what we’re here for,” she said. “We’re looking for organizations that are serving children in our community that are at-risk, at need, underprivileged, whatever it might be. There has to be a cause.”
In past years, South Valley organizations that have received Intero Foundation funding include the Mt. Madonna YMCA, the Morgan Hill Pop Warner Football team, the Discovery Counseling Center, DreamPower Foundation, and Community Solutions.
The grants vary in their range of financial assistance. Applicants need to be specific about what program or service the money they are requesting will go to, DiNapoli said.
“When an application comes in, if it says, ‘We just need $10,000,’ it’s not looked upon very well,” she said. “But if they go, ‘We need to redo our computer lab and we need to buy this many computers and this is where it’s going to be spent,’ that is better.”
In 2012, the Intero Foundation gave the Discovery Counseling Center in Morgan Hill $7,000 as the key provider for after-school tutoring and life skills classes to support 55 disadvantaged children and their parents at Jasmine Square and Village Avante. “When we received funds from Intero Foundation it was as if it were very personal,” said Larry McElvain, executive director for the center. “All of the Realtors came to our site and jointly presented the funds. That was when I realized each local Realtor gives out of his or her personal earnings so that the less fortunate in the community can receive services and support they would not otherwise have. They have a heart for people and the community.”
DiNapoli developed a personal passion for being involved with the Intero Foundation when she saw the need for children service while she and her husband went through the process of bringing two daughters into their lives from foster programs.
“I know first-hand, having those children of my own, that a little bit of love and a little bit of guidance and whatever I can give them made a huge difference in their lives,” she said. “And that’s why when the opportunity to be involved with the Intero Foundation came to me, I was like, yeah, I have to be involved with this because I know that there are so many children out there who need our help. That’s what the Intero Foundation is all about. We’re here to help these organizations by provide them with grants so they can change these childrens’ lives.”
For more information about the Intero Foundation grants, call Karlene DiNapoli at (408) 612-7090, email her at [email protected], or visit the foundation’s website at www.interofoundation.org
