Grants

The Rob Benzon Foundation awarded two scholarships through the annual PFLAG Scholarship Awards to two LGBTQ students pursuing higher education. The Rob Benzon Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Aranzazu Salgado-Gutierrez. She was a high school senior that planned to pursue a degree in Social Work at San Diego State University. Her passion has always been to help others and she is honored to do so in Rob’s name. The second annual, Daniel J. Ferbal Memorial Scholarship was awarded again this year in honor of our beloved past RBF President and dear friend, Dan. Derrick N. Herrera was the much-deserved recipient. Derrick is a first-generation, Indigenous college student, second-year student at San Diego State University studying Political Science & American Studies striving to achieve a Juris Doctorate & practice Tribal Law. He hopes to achieve great things in Dan’s name.

Grants were made March 2021

Children of Holiday Magic Project produces yearly, several thousand, 12-page activity/coloring and interactive CD books, that are distributed to sick, and hospital-bound children at Rady’s Children’s Hospital of San Diego during the holiday season. The Rob Benzon Foundation once again approved a grant to pay for the printing costs of these much-anticipated children’s books for the hospitalized children.

Grant made December 2020

Judith M. was a lifelong caregiver who tragically and ironically was suffering from the end stages of FTD dementia. We received a grant request from her life partner, Edna M., asking for emergency financial assistance. Judith was near death, but all of their family’s financial resources were exhausted at this point. We provided funds to the caregiving facility so that Judith could avoid eviction and live out her last months left on earth in the comfort and constant care needed at the long-term care facility.

Grant was made November 2020

The Rob Benzon Foundation has again answered the call to assist with costs of the annual Scott Carlson/ Dan Ferbal Community Thanksgiving Dinner held at the San Diego LGBT Community Center on Thanksgiving Day. Started in 1988 by Scott Carlson as a dinner for HIV/AIDS patients, and later also named after our late board president, Dan Ferbal, in 2020, the tradition of giving continues to provide a hot Thanksgiving meal for those in need in our community on the day we earmark to give thanks. The dinner now includes people with cancer and other ailments, homeless people, and anyone needing a safe and inviting place to come together as a community on this holiday. More than 500 individuals benefited from this year’s dinner.

Grant made in November 2020

Our foundation worked with local chef and RBF supporter, Shawn Sei, by allowing our foundation to pay for meals over several weeks for him to prepare and then give away to those in need during the pandemic. This way, we helped Shawn’s catering business when work was scarce during the pandemic, and we were able to feed hundreds of hungry citizens in need within the San Diego Community. The meals were prepared by Shawn Sei and then delivered through Jewish Family Services on September 7, 2020, September 14, 2020, September 21, 2020, and November 16, 2020.

Grant was made August 2020

The Foundation was able to support Camp Erin in partnership with the Center for Compassionate Care of the Elizabeth Hospice and part of network of free bereavement camps for children and teens ages 6 to 17 years of age who have experienced the death of someone close to them. Camp Erin’s counselors run specially designed activities to assist these children with the bereavement process and this grant provided funds for grief journals for the kids attending the camp. A second grant was also approved to supply all of the kids and volunteers attending the camp with much needed event-themed T-shirts.

Grants were made in July 2020

Lakesha was suffering from a debilitating illness during which she was unable to work. She was not only out of money for food, but she was also going to lose her apartment and become homeless when she reached out to our foundation. We provided several months of rental assistance and a food gift card. Because of the help from our foundation, she was able to recover from her illness remaining in her apartment and had food during this time as well.

Grant was made June 2020

Hannah’s House is a non-profit organization, that since 1988, has served over 23,000 families. They have provided over 268,000 hours of warm and peaceful child-parent supervised family time. In 2016, Hannah’s House made the transition to electronic note taking. Most of their older laptops were outdated and were in desperate need of replacement. The Rob Benzon Foundation answered their call and approved a grant for 8 new Chromebooks for their inventory.

Grant was made May 2020

The Rob Benzon Foundation awarded two scholarships through the annual PFLAG Scholarship Awards to two LGBTQ students pursuing higher education. The Rob Benzon Memorial Scholarship was awarded to G Trupp who was honored to win and said, “I look forward to being able to pay it forward.”

The first ever, Daniel J. Ferbal Memorial Scholarship was awarded this year in honor of our beloved past RBF President and dear friend, Dan. Patrick Loehr was the much-deserved recipient. Patrick said that was honored to receive the award. He said, “This support means a lot to me, it’s tremendously and sincerely appreciated.” Patrick’s goal is to achieve great things in Dan’s name.

Grant was made March 2020

Carlitos D. was a cancer survivor with many other health ailments including diabetes, renal failure, a recent heart attack as well as being septic. His huge health hurdles made it impossible to work and the out of pocket costs not covered by insurance were tremendous. he and his family got behind on their household bills. Our foundation provided financial assistance for their phone bill, and utility bills in order to avoid disconnection.

Grant was made March 2020