Company : Northgate Gonzalez Market
Program category : 2020 2020

Origins:

Established in 2002, the Familia González Reynoso Foundation honors the legacy of the late Don Miguel González, owner and founder of Northgate González Market, by supporting organizations involved with higher education, human services, schools, orphanages, scholarships and grants to individuals. The late Don Miguel’s wife Teresa González decided to start the foundation in 2002 after her husband passed and continue his charitable work in Mexico and in the United States. The foundation has a sister foundation in Mexico called, Familias Ayudando a Familias. The sister organization sends $2,000 a month to Mexico to help the convalescent home and assist underserved families pay for medical treatments. The Familia González Reynoso Foundation specifically focuses on four pillars: education, health and wellness, spiritual life and community. The foundation established its annual golf tournament 10 years ago, the organization has awarded more than $1.5 Million to programs including Cooking up Change and Viva La Salud community health projects, sponsoring youth sports leagues, and scholarships to help students pursue a college education. Due to COVID-19, this year the foundation exhausted their finances but that did not stop them from helping our most vulnerable in our communities. We were the first retailer to host a golf tournament after COVID-19 hit. Instead of one large golf tournament, the foundation decided to split it and host two events, on September 11th and October 7th, 2020. The events were successful, with a total of $450,000 raised during the event for our communities in need.

Contribution:

The Familia González Reynoso Foundation has hosted numerous events to serve the community year round. Our longest tradition has been our annual toy drive, hosted on the same day at all our stores over the past 20 years in December. Each year, we bring Santa Claus to all our stores and distribute over1,000 toys per location. During the spring and fall season, we grant scholarships to our associates, their children and relatives to support their educational goals. At Northgate González Market, we understand the importance of education and support our associates who decide to go back to school by assisting them financially. We sponsor our health and wellness program in one of their biggest events of the year Cooking up Change and other community events supporting health education & promotion. Lastly, our foundation assists our associates and our internal cancer support group financially with medical assistance and other services.

Objectives:

To continue our charitable work through our four main pillars: education, health and wellness, spiritual life and community. The Familia González Reynoso Foundation seeks to identify and support practices that expand education and training for those living in our surrounding communities, particularly low-income communities. The foundation aims to support organizations involved with higher education, cancer support groups, schools, orphanages, and scholarships and grants to individuals.

Impact:

Last October, we hosted 74 schools and 2,206 students supporting our educational store tours. We also hosted a Holiday Posada at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where we brought a Mexican holiday party to children who are battling serious health conditions. Our foundation provided traditional meals, desserts and a pinata making class. Last year our foundation donated 48,000 toys to our annual toy drive on December 14th, 2019 across all 41 stores. This year, is no different, we ordered 50,000 toys for our communities. We will be hosting drive by food distribution events at all 41 stores this December. Despite the pandemic, students persevered and graduated high school, and many are now ready to go to college. The González -Reynoso Family Foundation and Northgate González Market knew we had to do something special this year for our scholarship winners. The team surprised the students and their parents with a surprise home visit punctuated with balloons, congratulatory signage and a big check for either $500 to $1,000. The foundation awarded over $215,000 in scholarships this year alone, donated 40 Chromebooks and over 2,500 backpacks to support back to school efforts in the community. Due to COVID-19, this was our first year awarding scholarships to both our associates and their families, and community members who were nominated by their school staff. From October 2019 to October 2020, we have contributed $66,550 in medical and services to our associates and families who needed assistance with medical treatment or funeral services.

Quote:

“The Gonzalez Reynoso Foundation was started by my family and their belief that it is important to give back to the communities we serve. We believe that giving back to others in the areas we see important to us as a family; Education, Health & Wellness, Spiritual Life and Community Support is important to success of not only the family but the business. When we hear and see success stories like many of the students receiving scholarships, we at the Familia González Reynoso Foundation feel honored and blessed to be able to help young adults pursue their higher education goals,” said Estela González, president of the foundation.

Support Statement:

A past scholarship winner Carissa Blanco shared how the scholarship helped her, saying "As a first-generation college student navigating scholarship applications can be intimidating. Northgate Market's scholarship was the opposite and continued to be accessible through my entire higher education process. I received the Northgate scholarship while earning my bachelor’s degree and while earning my master’s degree. I am thankful for the scholarship, which helped to earn my degrees and start my career as a Geometry Teacher.”