Our Beneficiaries

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Through our fundraising efforts with our annual gala fundraiser and monthly luncheons, we are very proud to extend our financial support toward educational programs and charitable organizations that benefit local youth throughout the Coachella Valley. As of 2024, we have donated approximately $950,000 since our founding in 1963. Some of our beneficiaries include:

Armed Services YMCA Twentynine Palms -  Established locally in 1992 with a mission to assist and serve active duty military members and their families stationed at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. 

Boys and Girls Club of Coachella Valley's Diplomas to Degrees Scholarship Program -  Since 1974, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Coachella Valley has helped hundreds of families send their children to college. Our program works to ensure that all members graduate from high school on time, ready for a post-secondary education and a career of the 21st century. To help students attain higher education, we offer college scholarships and support services in partnership with OneFuture Coachella Valley, and Alignment USA community. Our program is significant in that it is a renewable award. Once a student is on our program they are then eligible for continued funding throughout their college education. 

Cathedral City Boys and Girls Club - Reading Program, this program offers year-round reading intervention with the assistance of retired teachers and educators. Many kids are not reading up to grade level. Some not even past the 3rd grade. 

Children’s Discovery Museum - They have completed their “restructure” and have made the museum attractive to a wider range of kids. 

Coachella Valley History Museum - They provide educational classes and tours for all valley students. Junior Historians is an after-school program for children in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, at local low performing schools. They need money for equipment, etc.

COD McCarthy Child Development Center is nationally accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). MFCDTC serves as the model lab/demonstration program for the Child Development & Education (CDE) Department and related disciplines at College of the Desert. College students perform observations and participate in on-the-job training as well as conduct student teaching in the Center. The Center welcomes and supports children ages 12 months to 5 years from diverse backgrounds with differing abilities in a safe and welcoming setting. Responsive and professional teachers and caregivers build trusting relationships with the children and families. Children learn by doing in an environment that offers challenge and support. We proudly serve College of the Desert students, faculty, staff, and local community members. The children of COD students receive priority enrollment into the Center; however, all are welcome to apply. The Center’s fees are determined on a sliding fee schedule based on family income.  

Debbie Chisholm Memorial Foundation - A “make-a-wish-come-true" for children in our Coachella Valley that are suffering and may not recover from catastrophic health conditions. 

Desert Hot Springs High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC - DHSHS posseses the only Marine Corps JROTC Program in the Coachella Valley, and selected as one of the top Marine Corps JROTC Programs in the country.

Father’s Heart Ranch - A group home for abused and neglected boys, ages 6 - 12.  They care for children by providing a safe and stable home environment for them so that they can heal from the abuse they have endured.  It is located in Desert Hot Springs. Their goal is to provide skills that each boy can take with them through life.

Olive Crest is dedicated to preventing child abuse, to treatment and education of at-risk children, and preserving the family...One Life at a Time. Olive Crest is active in most high schools in the desert.

Ophelia Project - Mission: “Empowering young teens to increase their sense of self-worth and maximize their potential contribution to society.”  

Pegasus Therapeutic Center provides equine-assisted therapy to all special needs children ages 4+ with a range of physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive challenges.They currently serve over 250 youngsters. Their current programming focuses on youth, with a goal to develop more programming to serve Wounded Warriors as well.They always need more equipment, saddles, etc.

Rancho Mirage Elementary School - Our donation will go toward materials for the after-school leadership academy which cultivates leadership skills through community service and experiences.

Rancho Mirage High School Scholarship Program - Our donations go toward six scholarships for outstanding senior students who will be attending college. Each student submits a six-page application and is interviewed by our philanthropy committee. All are from low-income families. 

Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory

Raymond Cree Middle School Band promotes student and community interest in the performing arts by providing musical, cultural, and educational experiences not otherwise offered in school. Specific goals of the program include developing skills in reading and listening to music, performing with self-expression and an awareness of the role of music in history and culture. Students are encouraged to set high standards, develop problem-solving strategies, learn new skills, and explore their artistic creativity. Self-esteem is increased through individual and group accomplishment while combining musical performance with travel opportunities. 

SafeHouse of the Desert provides emergency shelter, intervention and outreach services to runaway, homeless or other youth in crisis. SafeHouse offers youth positive alternatives to becoming victims of the streets. All of SafeHouse’s programs are designed to improve the health, wellness, and well-being of our clients.

The Stan & Bobbie Gold Rite Care Childhood Language Center -  Since 2004, the Stan and Bobbie Gold RiteCare Childhood Language Center of Coachella Valley has provided free, life-changing speech, language, and literacy treatment of childhood language disorders to children to improve their speaking, reading, writing and communication capabilities. 

Tools for Tomorrow provides free, after-school and online arts literacy programs integrating Creative Writing, Art, Music and Theater for children ages eight to eleven to promote cognitive, emotional, social, multi-sensory and critical thinking skills by offering children a hands-on experience. Tools For Tomorrow encourages the children’s artistic self-expression and nurtures the positive self-esteem resulting from the discovery of their inherent creativity. As they create their own works of Art they acquire a coping mechanism for the future; a “tool for tomorrow” and a vision of what their lives can become.

Variety of the Desert - They serve children up to age 18 who are disadvantaged or have a physical disability including but not limited to cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and Down syndrome. They get no financial assistance from the national organization – a common misconception! 

Washington Charter School - The purpose of the Charter school is to provide a total educational experience focusing on the “whole child” with high standards of expectations to meet the individual needs of all students.