Support the Consuelo Velasco Fund for Riverdale High School

Friends & Family,

We recently learned that Dr. Marilyn Winkleby, a retired professor from Stanford Medical School, has decided to donate $50,000 ($25,000 in 2024 and $25,000 in 2025) to help establish an endowed fund for Riverdale High School students who need financial support for college.

To receive the funds, we need to match the donation, and once we do, the interest from the fund will generate enough money for ten $1,000 scholarships to be offered annually in perpetuity!

To our surprise, Dr. Winkleby wants to name the fund after our mother, Consuelo Velasco, who was a teacher at Riverdale High School for 37 years. Our mom was one of those teachers who went above and beyond for her students, many of them, like her, were children of farmworkers and first-generation college students.

We humbly ask you to invest in our effort to raise the $50,000 match. As of December 2024 we raised 44,000 and only have $6,000 left to raise to activate the forever fund (endowed scholarship).

We have two donation options. You can use this Go Fund me link and the funds will be sent to the Central Valley Community Foundation, the non-profit organization that will hold the fund and distribute them annually to Riverdale High School.

Alternatively, if you want a tax-deductible donation, please make a check to the Central Valley Community Foundation and write Consuelo Velasco Fund for Riverdale High School in the memo. The address is:

Central Valley Community Foundation

Consuelo Velasco Fund for Riverdale High School

1260 Fulton St.

Fresno, CA 93721.

Please help us invest in youth from Riverdale High School and help us honor our mother’s life work. Anyone who knows our mom knows that she is always selling olives and candied walnuts to raise money to help students go to college. Let’s help her make college more financially feasible for youth. It’s really a forever fund!

Once we meet this goal, we hope to work on a similar fund for Laton the town next door, where we all grew up and where our parents still live and farm. So Laton friends, show some love to our Riverdale neighbors and donate, and we hope they will do the same for Laton.

Sincerely,

The Velasco Girls (Marie, Vivian, Chelo, and Rosemary)