Why we give to Puente: Rob Johnson and Lary Lawson

It’s wonderful when an organization succeeds – but there is a special kind of parental pride that comes from having been there from the beginning and witnessed its first steps in the world.

That is how Rob Johnson and Lary Lawson feel about Puente. The longtime Pescadero residents have been volunteers from the earliest days of the Puente Ministry, founded in the back of the Pescadero Community Church. Their generous continuing efforts and donations have helped Puente grow its programs. Today, Johnson chairs Puente’s 13-member Board of Directors. Lawson is the South Coast CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) coordinator, helping Puente and the wider community prepare for emergencies.

As Puente celebrates its 15-year anniversary this spring, both men reflect on how they contributed to Puente’s origins – and how it’s been to watch the ‘little nonprofit that could’ become the go-to resource for the entire South Coast community.

“I realized that I was afraid to talk to anybody in town”

Johnson and Lawson, who are a couple, moved to Pescadero in 1988. Johnson describes the South Coast back then as a place even more insular than it is today, cut off from the outside world and stratified between the English-speaking Anglos and the Spanish-speaking Latino field workers.

“I realized that I was afraid to talk to anybody in town,” recalls Johnson. That changed when Rev. Wendy Taylor founded Puente and started offering Spanish classes — really conversation classes that gave Johnson a chance to learn about the background and culture of the fieldworkers in town.

That spirit of connection grows each year with community events that bring locals together, like Puente’s seasonal Pescadero Grown! Farmers’ Markets and the Christmas Posada. Puente’s twice-weekly Zumba classesbring women, children, and sometimes a few men of different backgrounds together to exercise. And Puente’s new upstart ESL curriculum (designed by Professor Guadalupe Valdés of Stanford University) is already paving the way for a new generation of Latinos to learn English — just in time to more fully benefit from forthcoming federal immigration reforms as well as, of course, so much more.

Rob, Rita (Puente's Program Director), and Lary

And the learning continues. Johnson has watched the first generation of Puente youth go from teenaged interns to college students.

Johnson joined the Puente Board of Directors as Treasurer four years ago. He says he feels a “good energy” now. He sees it as a direct result of Puente’s spirited staff and dedicated cadre of volunteers.

“I think the town is much more integrated, much less segregated now. I think people are learning from each other.”

From bicycles to tax returns

Long before Puente came along, Lary Lawson used his connections at the Pescadero Thrift Store, run by South Coast Children’s Services, to bring t-shirts and other secondhand clothing to the migrant farm workers scattered around the area. After Rev. Taylor founded Puente, Lawson took on a ‘truck driver’ role – giving single men a lift to the homes of family members, especially at holiday time. Lawson would also pick up donated bicycles and convey them to their recipients in the bike donation program.

Those were the hand-to-mouth years, when Puente was there with a hot meal for field workers. Today, the organization still offers that along with a great deal more.

“They’ve grown from nowhere, to the church back room, to a small space in town, to the elementary school,” says Lawson, describing how Puente’s office space has shifted to accommodate its growth.

One perfect symbol of how much life has changed on the South Coast is that many of the people who never used to have the wherewithal to get around on their own are now filing annual tax returns with Puente’s free tax service. Both Lawson and Johnson are income tax volunteers with Puente, a job they both enjoy this time of year.

“I used to drive them around. Now they’re coming to us to do income taxes. That’s a huge leap,” marvels Lawson.

Rob filing taxes

 

To donate to Puente, visit https://rally.org/puente. To learn more about volunteering with Puente, contact Abby Mohaupt atamohaupt@mypuente.org or (650) 879-1691 x196.

Why I give to Puente: Pat Farquhar

Pat Farquhar grew up on a farm in Ohio. And even though her life is pretty different now – she lives in urban Foster City and works at Verizon – she’s never forgotten the place she left behind. More than a decade ago, learning about the lives of farm workers in Pescadero sparked a relationship with Puente that continues to this day.

“I know what hard, physical, repetitive work is like,” says Farquhar. “I don’t think people know what the physical tasks are that these people do.”

Farquhar has donated a fixed amount to Puente every year since before 2002, a portion of which is matched by Verizon, her employer. Other Puente donors have had the same idea over the years – Symantec, Genentech and other local companies also have employee matching gift programs that allow Puente to maximize each gift.

Executive Director Kerry Lobel says she’s grateful for every single donation. “We’re constantly trying to find ways to stretch the giving that we have,” she says.

Farquhar’s introduction to Puente came from founder Rev. Wendy Taylor, a former pastor at the Congregational Church of Belmont. Rev. Taylor took Farquhar and other congregants on her behind-the-scenes tours of farm worker encampments, barracks and trailers. These housing sites were well off the beaten path, and seeing them was deeply affecting.

“That was eye-opening,” reflects Farquhar. “I was totally unaware of it – the conditions that people were working and living in.”

She was also deeply influenced by Rev. Taylor’s recent memoir, “No Longer Strangers: The Practice of Radical Hospitality,” which provides an account of the early days of Puente Ministry.

Over time, Farquhar has watched Puente grow from a church-based effort to funnel lifesaving essentials to single migrant workers on the coast, to a community-based nonprofit focused on improving the lives of every resident.

“It’s pretty remarkable… If you look at a decision that one person like Wendy can make, and how it all unfolds,” says Farquhar.

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To donate to Puente, visit https://rally.org/puente. To learn more about how you can involve your employer in a matching gift program with Puente, contact Kerry Lobel at klobel@mypuente.org or (650) 879-1691 x 144. 

Léonie Walker, Super “Diaper Donor”

Leonie Walker, KL, Kate O'Hanlan

Of all the monthly gifts Puente could ask for, none are less glamorous than diapers. But for Léonie Walker, that may be part of the appeal. Puente’s resident “Diaper Donor” has single-handedly purchased diapers for Puente’s South Coast families for four years straight.

“It’s so much more fun to go out and buy diapers than it is to write a check,” enthuses Walker, who lives in Portola Valley with her spouse (and fellow Puente supporter) Dr. Kate O’Hanlan.

Walker makes one trip per month to Costco to purchase a load of diapers, which are delivered to Puente.

Diapers are expensive, even at Costco. Walker’s extraordinary generosity tallies $5,000 per year – that’s $20,000 for four years of diaper runs.  She also makes occasional financial contributions to Puente.

Walker and O’Hanlon have a long history of philanthropy. They have a donor advised fund at Horizons Foundation and give generously to organizations that focus on LGBT human rights and the rights of women and girls. Walker is a past member of the Board of Directors of Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and The Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York.

But the work they do for Puente feels different, says Walker.

“Puente feels closer and more connected to me than the organizations we support in different cities. We feel like we’re making a visceral difference,” she says.

They are, says Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel.

“Kate and Léonie are a steady presence in the lives of hundreds of children who will never know their names,” attests Lobel. “For Léonie, the diapers are a meditation, a belief that one simple gesture, repeated over and over again, can literally bring comfort to those she will never meet.”

Walker is a longtime friend of Lobel’s and she takes the time to endorse Puente at every opportunity – even in the checkout line when she’s buying diapers.

“Somebody will give me a look and say, ‘Do you run a daycare center?’ – and I get to tell them about Puente,” laughs Walker. “I’ve had people hand me a twenty and say, ‘This is for the organization.”

 

To make a donation to Puente, contact Kerry Lobel atklobel@mypuente.org or 650.879.1691 x144.