2024 Local Heroes Celebrates $2.5 Million in Pasadena Community Foundation Grant Awards

Attendees Thomas Lee, Mylo Santifer, Natasha Mahone, Judie and Jayson Johnson

Abiram Brizuela from The Unusual Suspects Theatre Co. and Elissa Barrett from Western Justice Center

Bill Kennedy board member Nancy Evans Dance Theatre

City of Pasadena Housing Director Bill Huang

Claire and Bill Bogaard, Tracy and Ken McCormick, Uma Shrivastava

Dan Davidson of Coffee with a Cause

Daryl and Susan Carr

David and Gayle Pintofrom Academy of Music for the Blind

Group shot of representatives from 2024 PCF grantee organizations

Howard Kahn from Union Station, Lisa Cavalier from Boys and Girls Club Pasadena, and Natasha Mahone from the African American Parent Council

Howard Kahn, Nic Arzen, Emily Hopkins, Mark Mariscal, Susan Carr, Victoria Knapp, Darryl Carr, Shelley Mitchell

Jeannine Bogaard and Ellen Kramer from Young and Healthy

Jessica Castillo_Roger Huang_Carrie Gan from East West Bank with Leslie Ito Armory Center and Megan Katerjian Door of Hope

Lisa Cavalier, Mylo Santifer, Suli Su, and Tom Coston

Nic Arzen and Victoria Knapp from Altadena Town Council and Nancy Rose Dufford from PEN

PCF board member Greta Mandell with Dianne Lewis

PCF board member Ivy Lee Keltner, Councilmember Jason Lyon, PCF board chair Maggie Sabbag, Wendy Munger, and Mel Cohen

PCF board member Scott Christopher and Tom Coston from Light Bringer Project

PCFs 25th Annual Local Heroes Luncheon at University Club of Pasadena

PUSD School Board Member Scott Harden, Superintent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco and Mo Hyman from College Access Plan

Spotlight Speaker Nancy Evans Doede shares information about Nancy Evans Dance Theatre

Spotlight Speaker Shelley Mitchell shares information about Altadena Meals on Wheels

Spotlight Speakers Sky Celine Page and Thomas Lee from First Place for Youth

Thomas Lee, Mylo Santifer, Natasha Mahone, Judie and Jayson Johnson

Tim Nistler with Friends in Deed and Ishell Linares with NDLON

Tom McCall Deveal Family Services and Dave Gordon from Sierra Madre Playhouse

Tracy and Ken McCormick

The greater Pasadena community joined Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF) for an uplifting celebration on Thursday, November 14 — the 25th annual Local Heroes Luncheon, a celebration of PCF’s $2.5 million in grant awards to 100 local nonprofits this year. In attendance at the University Club were more than 200 nonprofit leaders, community partners, civic and education officials, and PCF’s generous donors.

View the Local Heroes Event Program.

Jennifer DeVoll closes the event with heartfelt remarks. [PCF photo]

The event showcases the impact of local nonprofits and the way in which PCF’s funding strengthens each of their capacities and missions. PCF’s wide-ranging annual grant programs focus on areas such as affordable housing, food security, the arts, educational equity, youth and families, animal welfare, and the environment. At the podium, Greta Mandell, a PCF Board Member, noted that PCF board and staff have attended over 160 nonprofit site visits and events this year to learn directly from the experts about issues affecting the Pasadena area.

View the list of PCF’s 2024 nonprofit grantee organizations.

Attendees look forward to this convivial event to catch up with colleagues and to learn about the myriad ways that nonprofit organizations are making a significant difference in our community. One enthused that the event was “memorable, inspiring, and soul-satisfying.” Shelley Mitchell, a board member with Altadena Meals on Wheels, enthused that “it was absolutely awesome to be in the presence of, and network with, so many persons associated with organizations that support entities like ours.”

Spotlight Grantees

Representatives from three nonprofit organizations were invited to serve as “Spotlight Grantees.” Each shared remarks from the stage about how PCF funding has helped their missions in the past year.

Nancy Evans Doede from the Nancy Evans Dance Theatre shared how PCF’s funding has shaped its upcoming 2025-26 season and helped the dance company continue their role as storytellers as they emerged from the pandemic.

Shelley Mitchell from Altadena Meals on Wheels explained that PCF’s funding was instrumental in allowing the organization to refocus its services after the pandemic and reach new volunteers and clients.

Thomas Lee represented First Place for Youth, which partnered with PCF and several other organizations to create housing for six transition age foster youth. He was accompanied by Sky Celine Page, a resident in the new housing. Click below to watch the Spotlight Video about this project:

One last Local Heroes FOR JENNIFER DEVOLL

PCF’s President & CEO Jennifer DeVoll received a heartfelt, standing ovation as she closed the event, her last Local Heroes before retiring in June of 2025. She remembered that her first Local Heroes took place five days after she started her role with PCF in 2002 and that it was “beautiful chaos” as board members ran through the room waving checks at nonprofit recipients. “A lot has changed since then,” she noted, “but one thing that has not changed is the people in this room – nonprofit leaders, civic leaders, generous donors – all of you, our Local Heroes!”