el dorado community foundation

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe wishes to extend our appreciation to the following for their help, support, and generous donations that help us to purchase and distribute brand new coats, beanies, and gloves to ensure that the youth in our community stay warm this winter.

The generosity of our donors:
• The Bob Baunhauser Foundation, in remembrance of member Bob Baunhauser
• TLC Investment, in remembrance of member Katy Fagan
• 2020 American Century Championship/Celebrity Golf
• El Dorado Community Foundation/Give Tahoe

The holidays this year are set to be especially hard for many families throughout El Dorado County and beyond, with many facing the threat of going hungry without the means to put food on the table. To help relieve some of this stress, and help ensure families can eat this holiday season, Feed El Dorado has provided $25,000 in food cards to be distributed by Choices for Children and Head Start on both the Western Slope of El Dorado County and in South Lake Tahoe.

Farwell 2020! We will always remember this year, but for most of us, we are also ready to kiss it goodbye with a swift kick to the curb. Our community, like all communities has been hard hit with lost income, closed businesses, stay at home orders, COVID and virtually learning at home. We have missed socializing, travelling, entertaining and being entertained, enjoying our extended family and cannot even see a friend’s smile behind their mask. We missed so much of 2020 and it has hurt, to be honest.

The Small Business Retention Workgroup, comprised of the El Dorado Hills Chamber of Commerce, El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce, El Dorado County Economic Development Department and various other entities formulated in March of this year to provide advocacy and strategies for the small business communities of El Dorado County.  The workgroup has met weekly as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our communities with awareness that the small businesses of our county are the backbone of our business community, employing neighbors and led by individuals wh

The Tahoe Chamber collected 190 nominations from the community for the 13th annual Blue Ribbon Award to celebrate the businesses, non-profits and individuals that make the South Shore of Lake Tahoe so unique. Local businesses have been a resilient backbone of the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and honoring their contributions, achievements and milestones is more important than ever before.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There's been movement at the Al Tahoe Historic Pioneer Cemetery, and thankfully it isn't from some of the occupants, most who have had that as their final resting spot since the late 1800s and early 1900s.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Every ten years a Census is taken of all people living in the Unitied States. While the state of California currently has a 64.5 percent response rate, South Lake Tahoe once again is lagging far behind.

As of August 6, 28.1 percent of those living in South Lake Tahoe had turned in answers to the Census Bureau. El Dorado County as a whole, 58.6 percent. Nationally, the Census return rate is 63.2 percent.

Why is it so hard to get South Lake Tahoe residents to participate?

It is undeniable that the areas hit the hardest economically by the COVID-19 pandemic are those heavily reliant on tourism. South Lake Tahoe is unquestionably one of these areas, suffering not only because of the closure of its tourist economy but suffering higher infection rates due to the very tourism it relies upon. It is for these reasons that so much of the focus of the El Dorado Community Foundation, who serves all of El Dorado County, has been directed toward South Lake Tahoe. We recognized very early on that South Lake Tahoe would be the hardest hit region in the county.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Eighty-seven small businesses have taken advantage of a special fund created to help them through COVID-19 related challenges.

The City of South Lake Tahoe put $50,000 into the fund and that was combined with other donations managed by the El Dorado Community Foundation. Other partners include the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, El Dorado Hills Chamber of Commerce, and many generous local donors.

Businesses in South Lake Tahoe were awarded $65,579.22.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Tahoe Home Connection (TaHoCo) is a community-based organization working to generate new rentals in South Lake Tahoe by working with second home owners. They have launched a new website to help local workers easily find housing on the South Shore.

It is estimated that 58 percent of homes in South Lake Tahoe are owned by second homeowners and 78 percent of these sit vacant for much of the year. Many of the second homeowners rent out their homes on both long-term and short-term basis, or leave for their own personal use.

Since the beginning of March as the COVID-19 crisis was just beginning to feel like it could become a threat in our community, the El Dorado Community Foundation has granted out over $280,000 to individuals in need and nonprofits striving to continue providing their services through lost funding and canceled fundraisers.

The Foundation is beginning to shift focus from response to recovery as they see sectors of the community start to open back up. One component of that needed recovery will be in the form of financial support to the small business community.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The May 12 agenda for the South Lake Tahoe City Council is a full one. The 9:00 a.m. virtual meeting will address the second reading of a wireless communication facility ordinance on private property, the first reading of the facilities on public property, a vote on $1,000 fines, reopening plans for City facilities and a hold on public events on City property until large gatherings are permitted.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Gold Medalist and South Lake Tahoe native Jamie Anderson has teamed up with Clean Tahoe to present a creative writing contest for students in the South Lake Tahoe and Meyers area.

Those ages 9-18 are invited to participate. $100 will be given to the winner from grades 4-5, $100 to the winner from grades 6-8, and $200 to the winner from grades 9-12.

The creative writing subject: It is the year 3030 and there is no such thing as trash.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. – Providing a much-needed service in the community, the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe (HSTT) has been filling a void with special pet therapy training, wellness clinics, spay and neuter programs.

Since opening in December 2019, HSTT has provided over 100 spay and neuters to the community for free or at a reduced rate. They have also trained 60 new volunteers.

Some of the other programs that are helping pets and owners in the area:

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz and his wife Elana Amsterdam, New York Times bestselling author and founder of Elana’s Pantry, today announced they were donating more than $2.8M to further strengthen emotional wellness programs in more than ten mountain communities where Vail Resorts operates. This is the second consecutive year their Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust has distributed behavioral health grants.

Choices for Children will be able to give away winter clothing and accessories to the youngest and most vulnerable members of the community due to a grant they received from the El Dorado Community Foundation (EDCF) for their Winter of Warmth (W.O.W.) initiative.

Community agencies including child care providers, social workers, and Head Start teachers can soon refer families of children ages 0-5 (not yet in TK or Kindergarten) to get the boots, gloves, socks and snow clothes that they need.

The Tahoe Prosperity Center (TPC) mission is uniting Tahoe’s communities to strengthen regional prosperity. TPC provides regional solutions to regional needs on behalf of the communities that make up the Lake Tahoe region. One of those critical issues is a lack of housing for local workers. This negatively impacts businesses trying to hire workers and local residents who want to live, work and play in Lake Tahoe. Many workers in our Tourism driven economy find themselves unable to afford a home or apartment.

Participants in El Dorado County Wellness Center programs will have a chance to show off their artistic skills in the “Each Mind Matters” art exhibit hosted by the Tahoe Art League. The exhibit is at Lake Tahoe Community College April 29 – May 3, in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month.

The art that will be on display has been created through Art Angels, a program of the Tahoe Art League.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - On Tuesday, April 2, 325 6th graders from South Tahoe Middle School, Zephyr Cove Elementary School and home-schooled youth, will spend the day at Lake Tahoe Community College going through the 16th annual Drug Store Project.

Since 2004, middle school students in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) have gone through the Drug Store Project (DSP), a day-long comprehensive drug prevention program designed to educate youth about the dangers of substance use and abuse.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Thanks to the Jean and Stephen Myers Endowment at the El Dorado Community Foundation, the South Lake Tahoe Library has been able to expand their operations to six-days-a-week.

On Monday, December 3 at 3:00 p.m. the community is invited to the library to celebrate with refreshments and a Monday Maker activity.

The celebration will continue all week:

- Tuesday will feature their Spanish language early literacy program for infants, Mama Gansa Anda Suelta, as well as their community-led Chess Club.

Our community has less than one week before November 6th, election day, arrives. There are many important issues on the ballot. My husband and I just mailed ours in on Monday and I was reminded again of how fortunate we are to live in a nation where the voters decide on such topics as daylight savings time, on new laws preventing cruelty to farm animals, allowing rent controls to stop spiraling costs that are eliminating housing options, and many other state and local topics.

It only takes a one degree change in temperature to convert water to steam, water to ice or water to snow. This is such a tiny change and yet most of us ignore making these types of minor changes in our lives, or the life of our community, as we think that the effect won’t be significant enough. That is because we live in an instant gratification society and want results now, when in fact a number of small changes done day in day out will make a massive difference to our lives and the communities of Lake Tahoe.

The "Angel of Tahoe" Lisa Maloff has made $100,000 available to students in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) to provide equitable educational trips for all students through 6th grade.

As a result, a F.E.E.T (Fulfill Equitable Educational Trips) Fund was started by a newly formed group founded by Kathy Haven.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – On behalf of Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless (TCH), I would like to thank our community for its support during the third winter season of the South Lake Tahoe Warm Room project. Our organization received donations from over 150 different individuals and businesses and benefited from 64 volunteers who provided over 675 volunteer hours in the Warm Room.