Sonoma, Calif.—Fifty-four Sonoma County non-profit organizations will benefit from nearly $380,000 in grants recently awarded by the Sonoma chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities (SCC), the charitable arm of Sonoma Raceway.
In total, $378,000 was distributed to youth-serving organizations in Sonoma County, bringing the chapter’s total distribution of funds to nearly $6.8 million since 2001. The amount raised this fiscal year includes $30,000 donated to the Fire Resilience Fund by Comcast after Sonoma Raceway President and General Manager Steve Page was named as a finalist for the 2018 Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award. The Fire Resilience fund supports youth-serving non-profit organizations that continue to work on recovery and rebuilding after the 2017 Northern California fires. The chapter’s Board of Trustees recently approved the distribution of 2019 funds at its annual meeting.
“The Sonoma Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities grant for the Family Support Center is a key source of funding enabling us to provide preschool and educational support to the most vulnerable families in our community,” said Toni Horde Abraham, Children’s Resource Manager, Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa.
“Additionally, the Fire Resilience Grant will help fund the development of Catholic Charities’ Disaster Preparedness Plan for the Family Support Center, the largest family emergency shelter serving homeless families with children north of the Golden Gate to the Oregon border,” said Len Marabella, Executive Director, Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa. “Clearly, such a plan is needed now more than ever, especially for this highly-vulnerable population that lacks a safety net.”
SCC’s success was due to several fundraising events and partnerships in 2019, the majority of which are held during the raceway’s major-event weekends, including NASCAR and NHRA race weekends. The highlight of the year included the Speedway Children’s Charities NASCAR Banquet and its Fund-a-Need fundraiser at Viansa Sonoma, which combined to raise $145,000 during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekend in June. SCC’s NASCAR live auction at the banquet combined with its online charity auction raised more than $28,000 in donations prior to race weekend.
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