Disclosure: The Riverside Record’s parent company, Inland Empire Publications, is a nonprofit organization that has signed up to be one of the organizations Riverside County employees can donate to as part of this program.
Supervisor Karen Spiegel, co-chair for this year’s employee giving campaign, set an ambitious goal of raising at least $500,000 in support of area nonprofits at last week’s Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting.
“We can always go over the goal, but we have to do at least a half a million dollars,” she said at the September 9 meeting.
Outside of the board chambers, a number of nonprofits were on hand to promote their organizations and highlight the work they do. One of those nonprofits was TODEC Legal Center, which provides free legal services and information to immigrant communities across Riverside County and the Inland Empire.
“One of our big things is educating the community, empowering them so that they can protect and defend themselves in any situation,” Clarissa Ayala, who works with TODEC, said. “One of our other big things right now is we have an emergency hotline, so a 24/7 hotline for people in the Inland Empire who come into contact with maybe an official or have members [of their family] detained.”
Ayala said campaigns like this one that leverage the giving power of the county’s roughly 24,000 employees are incredibly important for TODEC to continue doing the work it does in the community.
“Any program we have, it’s all based on donations and fundraising,” Ayala said. “Every penny we get, anything that comes to us, that’s how we provide [our services].”
The same was true for Mayra Gonzalez, program director for Inspire Life Skills Training, and Rachel Bonilla, public affairs and events coordinator for Feeding America Riverside San Bernardino (FARSB), who were among the nonprofit organizations outside the board chambers.
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“Partnering with people that oftentimes live in the area, and know the need in the area, and it goes directly to the people in that specific region as well, it’s just really important to have those connections and relationships,” Bonilla said of the importance of having a local campaign like this. “It’s your friends, it’s your neighbors, it’s family members.”
Bonilla said 98% of donations to FARSB stay in the Inland Empire, with 2% going outside the region to assist in disaster relief efforts elsewhere.
In addition to bringing more money to area nonprofits, it also gives employees and other nonprofits a chance to meet and talk with one another about the work that’s being done across the county.
“This kind of brings everyone together, as far as being able to know what’s in your community, what’s going towards your community,” Gonzalez said. “So I think by just doing these events, it’s making that personal connection and showing the story behind it.”
Last year, the county’s employee giving campaign raised about $462,000 with more than 900 designated nonprofit agencies signed up for the program, according to Inland SoCal United Way President and CEO Kimberly Starrs.
“In Riverside County, there’s an emphasis on Riverside-based nonprofits,” she said. “But, with that being said, employees can choose to give to any nonprofit or church of their choosing, and our agency helps facilitate that giving.”
Starrs, who has been working with the program for the last 20 years, said her best guess was that it started back in the ‘80s.
“The purpose of the campaign is to let people know that this is a benefit that exists for employees of the county, and they’re able to utilize that benefit if they’d like to,” Starrs said.
Any nonprofit organization interested in being part of the campaign is encouraged to reach out to the Inland SoCal United Way to be included.
“Seeing that direct impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars going out to support people, our planet, animals, kids, service, there’s nothing better,” Starrs said. “There is no other group that is as generous as Riverside County employees, and it is such an honor to work side by side.”
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