Oct 28, 2022
An anniversary is often a special occasion, but for Philanthropy Inspired by the Needs of our Community Sacramento this year’s 10th anniversary signifies a decade of helping those who help others.
“It’s been quite a 10 years—I get quite emotional when I talk about it,” says Margot Hunt, founder and president of the local chapter. “The first year, we didn’t know what we were doing. We just knew our mission was to be a nonprofit that supports other nonprofits.
“We threw our first fundraiser for Angels for Hearts, an organization that assists families of pediatric heart patients, at the Croatian Center. We raised $17,000. From that point on, we grew and grew and grew and now we’re raising a quarter of a million dollars or more per year for the Sacramento Children’s Home.”
Oct 28, 2022
With an appetite for risk and a willingness to invest in dreams, Misty Sueño advanced her cosmetology career and built two Sacramento studios from the ground up.
That’s an accomplishment anytime. But Sueño did it all during the pandemic.
She opened Wild Heart Beauty at 24th and J streets in June 2020, during the height of COVID-19 lockdowns. Unable to operate indoors, she set up shop on the sidewalk outside her studio. With characteristic determination, Sueño vowed she “wasn’t going to let it fail.”
Sep 28, 2022
My husband and I noticed something amiss when our 13-year-old chihuahua mix, Tammy, was uninterested in breakfast. She was moving slowly, not the perky wide-eyed pooch spinning in circles for a morning treat.
I called our veterinarian’s office, assuming it would be booked for the day but hoping staff could squeeze us in. They couldn’t.
I reached out to six other veterinary clinics near our home in Wilhaggin. Only one was accepting new patients, but the wait was three weeks.
Sep 28, 2022
A farmer in overalls and rugged brown boots kneels next to a large, orange pumpkin, its stem neatly crosshatched in vivid green. This is the work of Matthew Patrick Callaghan, son of celebrated oral storyteller Mary Lynne McGrath and illustrator of McGrath’s book, “The Farmer, the Thief and the Pumpkin Patch.”
“People often ask Patrick how he got the ideas for the images to match and support the words,” McGrath says. “He’s very good at figuring out the heart of each page.”
This collaborative project is the result of years of work by both writer and illustrator. McGrath, a local legend who has taught and performed storytelling for children and adults, got the idea for the book while studying for her master’s degree in early childhood education at Sacramento State.
Sep 28, 2022
Raymond L. Ledesma has been an athlete, army medic, engineer, bar owner, writer, husband and father. At age 88, he recently learned to play guitar. But in some ways, he’s just getting started.
“My ambitions for the rest of my life are to get a boulevard in Sacramento named after my grandpa, who was a famous saddle maker, and get a book published,” Ledesma says.
Endless ambitions have taken Ledesma around the world. As a kid growing up in Fruitridge and Curtis Park, he attended C.K. McClatchy High School where he played baseball and football. When he got drafted, he attended medic training in San Antonio before spending six months in Korea.
Sep 28, 2022
What’s the most important thing Anne DeStefano wants people to know about Sacramento Fine Arts Center in Carmichael?
“That we exist!” says DeStefano, a fiber artist and jewelry maker who joined the center 10 years ago. “I don’t know if people realize that the center is there and that we have significant gallery space. Each month, we have a different show on exhibit. It’s quite a range of variety.”
Sacramento Fine Arts Center was founded in 1986 by several local, independent art clubs that came together to share their love of art and pool resources for shows and classes. The center now boasts roughly 300 members from different disciplines—painters, sculptors, fiber artists and more. They share responsibilities, run the giftshop and teach classes.
