The Santa Ana College Foundation President's Circle Campaign recently exceeded its 2024 goal to raise $200,000 for student scholarships and other projects at Santa Ana College (SAC).
Founded in 2007 with 10 members, the President's Circle is a philanthropic giving campaign made up of donors, prominent alumni and friends who support the Foundation's commitment to ensuring no student is denied educational opportunities due to financial constraint and allows the SAC Foundation to strengthen its overall annual fund to ensure more students thrive. Today there are 113 President's Circle members who support the SAC Foundation operations and the ability to respond to urgent student funding needs, fund program innovation for all academic departments across the campus and enable the foundation to raise money for high impact scholarships.
“This year, our annual fund campaign exceeded our $200,000 goal and raised 50 percent more than last year," said Dr. Annebelle Nery, SAC president. “This is a remarkable philanthropic achievement. We are incredibly thankful for the generosity of our new and long-time President's Circle members whose support not only helps relieve financial worries for students, but also allows them to reach their full potential."
Dr. Annebelle Nery (president, Santa Ana College) with President Circle & Scholarship donors, Michael O'Neill & Frank Correia at the President's Circle reception earlier this year
The $204,000 raised by the President's Circle Campaign also concludes the SAC Foundation's $6 million, three-year comprehensive Raising The Game campaign.
On February 29, 2024, the SAC Foundation hosted a President's Circle reception at the Newport Beach Country Club, where 150 guests, members and donors directly connected with students, alumni, faculty and staff whose lives have been changed with the assistance of President's Circle funding gathered.
President's Circle recipients and SAC alumni, Katie Rivero and Kenji Taniguchi, spoke at the event:
Katie Rivero told guests that she never thought in her wildest dreams that she would be a full-time student in business school at 45 years of age. She said she became pregnant at 22 and dropped out of school. Within two years, she was married with two children. After she divorced her husband, she had to work full time as a server to support her family as a single parent. Although she worked her way up, it wasn't enough for her to live paycheck-to-paycheck. When the COVID-19 work closures happened, it gave Rivero a much-needed break after 20 years of working to reflect on her future, leading her to enroll at SAC.
Rivero said receiving the Allan & Sandy Fainbarg Scholarship from the SAC Foundation felt personal for her. During her time at SAC she was not working and relied on the school to fill in the gaps for her and her kids. She was a regular shopper at the Thrive Center, a free, on-campus grocery store coincidentally also funded by the Fainbargs and Chase family.
“When I was chosen to receive their scholarship, it was so much more than money for me," she explained. “It was a gentle nudge to keep moving forward, a loving reminder that I'm not alone, and a tender approval for hopefulness. I felt seen. I felt cared for."
Rivero took full advantage of the scholarship and is a proud SAC alumna today. She is currently in her junior year at the California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) majoring in Business Administration.
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SAC alumni Katie Rivero with Nancy and Irv Chase and Kenji Taniguchi, with SAC Foundation Board Member, Jayne Munoz at the President’s Circle reception
Kenji Taniguchi shared with guests how he was determined to go to college to become a firefighter when he graduated from high school in 2008. However, shortly after he started school a new law impacted his immigration status. He ended up relocating alone to Japan, where he was a citizen through his father. When he was able to return to the U.S. and obtain his citizenship, he immediately enrolled in school again and chose SAC for its Fire Academy program. During this time, his father was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease and his priorities shifted. He had to make a difficult decision to put the Fire Academy on hold to work three, part-time jobs to support the family financially.
Eventually, he decided he could not keep putting his dreams on hold and went back to school while working. But then the pandemic hit and he lost his jobs. At a time when he needed it the most, he was awarded two President's Circle urgent action awards that were able to help him respond to his challenges swiftly, allowing him to continue focusing on his studies at SAC.
Now a proud member of the Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Department, Taniguchi emphasized the impact of the President's Circle members and their contributions.
“These urgent action support grant monies and other financial support systems like SAC Foundation scholarships will pave the way for people like myself to be able to take a step back, breathe, refocus and finish strong," he said.
“Hearing our students' stories affirms the importance of our donors and the crucial difference their giving makes when it comes to changing lives," said Kristin Crellin, president of the SAC Foundation Board of Directors.
With an increase of more than 20 percent in new donors this year, as well as loyal donors who increased their annual donations significantly – $30,000 from The Kennedy Foundation and $20,000 from the Fainbarg's and the Chase's – the success of this year's campaign raises the bar for next year and affirms the relationships we have as collective community and the importance the work of the Foundation is, Crellin said.
“We hope the success of the campaign will inspire others to join the President's Circle and support our commitment to ensuring the highest quality education for producing the leaders of tomorrow," she added.
To learn more about the Santa Ana College Foundation, visit www.sac.edu/foundation or contact the office at (714) 564-6091 or foundation@sac.edu. To learn more about the President's Circle, how to become a member, and for the full list of its 2023-2024 members, visit www.sac.edu/foundation/Pages/President-Circle.aspx.
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About Santa Ana College
Santa Ana College (SAC), founded in 1915, serves more than 54,600 students yearly for credit and noncredit classes. At present, SAC students can work toward completing an associate degree, university transfer, career/workforce training or a bachelor's degree in occupational studies. In 2025, the college will offer a second bachelor's degree in Paralegal Studies. As part of Santa Ana College, the School of Continuing Education located at Centennial Education Center offers free classes throughout the community for adults of all ages and academic backgrounds. Santa Ana College is an award-winning college and was recently ranked as one of the nation's top two-year colleges awarding associate degrees to Latino and Asian students and named one of the best community colleges in California by Intelligent.com for a 2nd consecutive year. The college is also recognized throughout the state for its comprehensive workforce training programs for nurses, firefighters, law enforcement and medical personnel.
