Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation awards $100K in grants

The Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation has awarded $100,000 in grants, shared among 24 organizations and projects that benefit Rancho Bernardo residents.

The foundation’s 2025-26 grants were awarded on Nov. 20 during the 37th annual Rancho Bernardo Thanksgiving Celebration, which was held at the Rancho Bernardo Inn.

The event had previously been called the Rancho Bernardo Community Thanksgiving Luncheon. Its name was changed this year to better reflect the event, according to RB Community Foundation President Debbie Kurth.

“We have so many nonprofit groups in Rancho Bernardo deserving of grants that it makes it difficult to choose,” Kurth said. “This year alone, we received over 60 applicants.”

Representatives from the 24 recipient groups were present to accept the funds that must be spent within the coming year.

“Rancho Bernardo is a very close-knit community, and it is wonderful what these individual organizations do to provide services for people of all ages,” Kurth said.

Daniel Wilson, the foundation’s grants chairman, said the grants program is very important to the community.

“It is how we are preserving our past, protecting what’s good in our community and creating a better future for all residents of Rancho Bernardo,” Wilson said during the RB Thanksgiving Celebration.

The largest grants were $7,500 each, which were awarded to two organizations. Poway OnStage received the grant for its Professional Performance Series and Arts in Education Initiative, which provides live performances for students throughout the county, especially those in Poway Unified School District. The other went to Rancho Bernardo Senior Services to support the free services it provides to seniors, including tax preparation, legal help and Medicare advice.

The foundation gave 11 grants worth $5,000 each. The recipients were:

• Friends of the Rancho Bernardo Library Concert Series to support its free concerts provided to the public.

• Meals on Wheels San Diego County for its senior meal delivery and supportive services in Rancho Bernardo.

• Poway Symphony Orchestra Foundation for the symphony concerts held in the community.

• Rancho Bernardo High School Foundation to support the campus’ robotics team. This includes its Bridging Generations and Connecting Community through Cutting Edge STEM programs.

• Rancho Bernardo High School Friends of the Library to support its 21st century learning center. The grant will go toward purchasing a smart TV and a research subscription.

• Rancho Bernardo High School PTSA for its Breaking Down Walls and Community Building workshop for sophomores, which provide mental health support for high school students.

• Rancho Bernardo Historical Society so it can preserve old and fragile historic images by digitizing them.

• San Diego Oasis for its Intergenerational Tutoring Program that pairs older adult volunteers with kindergarten through fourth grade students to provide literacy support.

• Tremble Clefs San Diego for its Together, We Grow! therapeutic singing program for people living with Parkinson’s disease.

• Voices for Children’s Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program to help it recruit, train and supervise CASAs as they advocate for foster children.

• YMCA of San Diego County for its Teens in Motion program at Rancho Bernardo High School. The money will go toward transportation costs for teens and young adults with disabilities.

A $4,000 grant was given to the Ride Above Disability Therapeutic Riding Center in Poway to support its therapy horse rider show team.

A $3,750 grant was given to the Ed Brown Center for Active Adults to support its Music for Seniors program. Its purpose is to defy isolation and dementia through music.

Two $3,000 grants were awarded. They went to Best Buddies in California to promote school friendship and inclusion among students at Rancho Bernardo campuses. ElderHelp of San Diego received a grant for its legal and financial resources used for low-income seniors’ care coordination.

A $2,750 grant went to Morning Creek Elementary School so it can revitalize the campus’ library and update its library catalog.

Four grants of $2,500 each were awarded. The recipients were:

• Let’s Light the Cross for maintenance and lightning needed for upkeep of the Battle Mountain cross.

• Poway OnStage for its Introduction to Instruments Program for fourth graders.

• The Continuing Education Center at Rancho Bernardo to support 25 history classes offered to seniors in the community.

• The RISE Concept for its retail store’s technology and software, office supplies and delivery support. Proceeds from the store in Rancho Bernardo support at-risk youths, trafficking survivors and veterans.

A $2,000 grant was given to Rancho Bernardo High’s Science Olympiad program, which connects students and the community through science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and will go toward students’ competition fees.

A $1,500 grant was given to the Morning Creek Elementary Foundation for the campus’ musical theater program.

The grant money was raised by the foundation through various sources. These included foundation memberships, proceeds from the Thanksgiving celebration, the Pathway of Pride plaque sales in Webb Park and interest from the Rancho Bernardo Community Endowment.