Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation

Past Article

From VYC Currents - July 2017

Inspiration and Leadership: A Very Special Combination
I have learned that the finest inspirations in life arise when you least expect them. Such was my experience when I first met P/C Dick and Doris Guba, who joined our Charitable Foundation Committee this year.

I was intrigued by their passion for service, and Dick and Doris invited me to their church, The United Methodist Church of Englewood, to help me understand why they were drawn to our Foundation. They had discovered that their church and the VYC were connected by our mutual passion to provide Nutrition, Education, and ShelTer (NEST) to families at risk.

The Gubas’ church is a support congregation in the Family Promise Program. Maria Ciampi (Congregational Lead for Family Promise) and Pastor Vic Willis sat down recently with the Gubas and me. They explained that the church has 75 volunteers staffing the program in service to at-risk families. Realizing that a family crisis or other sudden event can put any family at risk, the volunteers support and embrace each at-risk family as if part of their own. Both the Gubas and I shared how the VYCCF responded to Family Promise this year, when we committed $21,000 to help build a new outdoor “Family Scape” at their Venice center of operations. It is designed to help the families in the program to re-unite after a day of work, education, and school, before moving on to a support congregation for the evening.

Doris was quite open about how despite their years of VYC membership and leadership roles, including Dick serving as our Commodore in 2003, they did not know much of what our VYCCF (founded after their years on the Board) really did. They were pleasantly surprised to find a common passion alive in the two institutions they cherish. So, they now serve on the VYCCF, citing how the VYCCF NEST Signature Project (which includes Family Promise) makes a difference in our Venice/South County community. They now hope, through the Foundation, to share their passion for service with many of their friends and fellow members of the VYC. As our interview continued, Doris was enthused to have Maria and Vic show us how they implement their Host Weeks (one week every quarter). They turn their facilities into a true family host center with a full kitchen and a family room for gathering, dining, and relaxing. They also set up sleeping quarters for every member of the families and provide full-time volunteer resident hosts to assist with any need that may arise. Each week that they are assigned to host the program, they care for at least seven families, helping them find hope and a better future through the efforts of Family Promise.

I hope you, too, are inspired to find a way to give back to your community. And like this wonderful couple, Dick and Doris Guba, you will inspire others to help the Venice Yacht Club Charitable Foundation chart a course to a better community.

Respectfully, Don Healy, Vice Chair

VYCCF Committee: Chair Michael Nemser, Vice Chair Don Healy, Treasurer John O’Donnell, Commodore Kerry Carper, Cindy Abbot, Lloyd Abbot, Joan Bowen, Bill Bowen, Kevin Collins, P/C Jim DeNiro, P/C Joe Dombrowski, P/C Merle Graser, P/C Dick Guba, Doris Guba, Barbara Isaacson, Virginia LaPlante, Warren Major, Paul Nesipak, Beth Piel and Dave Slaman.

updated: July 2017 Currents