Santa Maria students visit Altrusa-fest’s magical Christmas tree fundraiser
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria students visited a magical Christmas tree display today.
Altrusa of Golden Valley's Holiday Forest is on display at Santa Maria Kia.
“Our purpose is to do good, to be helpful without any thought of reward,” says Linda Cordero, foundation president of Altrusa of Golden Valley.
Altrusa is a non-profit group of men and women dedicated to serving multiple needs including education improvement - right here in the Santa Maria valley.
“We focus quite a lot on literacy. We support teachers in the local area with teacher grants. We also give community grants,” says Cordero.
The holiday forest is an annual fundraiser, which anyone can participate in.
“We are so appreciative of our sponsors who come in and decorate. We provide the trees and they decorate and provide the gifts under there,” says Cordero.
The proceeds enable Altrusa to provide campus facility grants, literacy projects, and further monetary donations to local schools and community services.
“Today we're receiving a generous donation from Altrusa, which is an annual donation during this time of year. We do have food that's been donated by them as well,” says Jenifer Sanregret, corporate giving manager at Food Bank of Santa Barbara County.
“This tree fundraiser is our primary fundraising event that allows us to continue to do the grants and the projects that we do in the community,” says Cordero.
Students from Battles and Libbon elementary schools in Santa Maria came by Wednesday on a field trip.
“We're just so grateful for our community and Altrusa. When we receive these monetary donations, We can actually leverage our food partners, agencies and stretch that amount five times further,” says Sanregret.
