Wednesday, July 15, 2020

FOWV Board Secretary joins Arts Connection Board


FOWV Board Secretary Teresa (Sitz) Piccolotti joined the Board of Arts Connection. Friends of Wonder Valley made a $500 donation that had been contributed for that purpose by FOWV Board member Jill Reinig.

Arts Connection is the Arts Council of San Bernardino County, serving the entire county and surrounding areas. Arts Connection envisions a county that invests in each of our creative communities. A county that supports and integrates arts-based initiatives into every aspect of our daily lives.

Arts Connection was seeking board members from rural areas. Wonder Valley has many artists and the local representation could be adventageous.

Ms. Sitz is on the Advocacy Committee of Arts Connection, working on two initiatives:

  1. to formulate a public arts policy for the unincorporated areas so that art can be hung in public buildings, like the Wonder Valley Community Center.

  2. to have a portion of the Transient Occupany Taxes from vacation rentals returned to the unincorporated communities from which they came. Currently the funds are given to Chambers of Commerce. There is no Chamber of Commerce in any of the unincorporated communities of the Morongo Basin so the funds are not available to our commuities. We hope to have funds distributed to a local designated charity if there is no Chamber of Commerce.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Friends of Wonder Valley recipient of MBHD Grant

 

Marge Doyle & Teresa Sitz hold big check.

The Friends of Wonder Valley applied for and qualified for a $5000 grant from the Morongo Basin Healthcare District.

From a press release dated August 12, 2020, "As part of their “Feeding Morongo Basin” project, the Morongo Basin Healthcare District recently distributed checks to local food pantries, churches and community centers in support of their efforts to distribute free food to Morongo Basin residents."

The additional funds have allowed us to join with *** to provide free turkey and bags of fixin's to local residents. It has also helped us afford the supplies needed to run both the USDA and Grocery Bag program.

Thank you, Morongo Basin Healthcare District.