Our Newest addition to Community Foundation Team

– What is your role at the Community Foundation? What is Peer to peer?
– How did you first learn about the Community Foundation?

I’m a student at Gavilan College, and one day in September, an email was sent by the school’s administration for a seasonal internship position offered by the Community Foundation. It was my first time hearing about the Foundation, so I did a quick Google search to understand what they were about. I liked the fact that they were essentially a nonprofit dedicated to helping others, so I applied and was thankfully offered the position.

My official role at the Community Foundation is (as) an intern working on the Foundation’s Peer-to-Peer campaign for their year-end giving. A peer-to-peer campaign is a multitier fundraiser in which individuals help join and support a specific cause by building their own personalized page that they share (with) their friends, family, and other contacts in order to reach more people in asking for donations. Our fundraisers are made up of our board and a few committee members, and I’ve been in charge of the technical aspect of the campaign, making the set up as easy as possible for the fundraiser’s page creation and edits.

The Community Foundation is incredibly involved with, well, the community; so, there are many people that stop by for a variety of reasons. The board alone is made up of 19 members.

– What do you find the most challenging at the Community Foundation?
– What do you like most about the Community Foundation?
It’s been a personal challenge getting over anxieties by simply saying hello to everyone who walks in the door. But everyone has been so nice, and so kind, which is one of the things I like most about the Community Foundation. The Community Foundation is made up of a lot of friendly people.

– What are 3 words to describe the Community Foundation?
The three words I’d use to describe (the Community Foundation are) compassionate, hospitable, and philanthropic. These are generous, charitable people that care about helping out their community and being involved and circulating the goodwill. In the couple months I’ve worked for the Community Foundation, I’ve learned more about Hollister than the whole 16 years I’ve lived here.

-Tell us about yourself.
I love baking and when I get my license would love to be part of a volunteer program that makes and delivers cakes to children. I love french fries; I hate fish, tomatoes, and mushrooms. I really would love to travel to different countries-- England, Japan, Ireland, South Korea, Italy are top of the list. I fell in love with scrapbooking when I was a kid and have loved crafting ever since.
I often watch Youtube videos on finding fun, cute things to create. I’m afraid of insects and terrified of spiders. I’m a sucker for a romance book, but I only like watching comedy (though I’m not a fan of movies). My favorite TV show right now is Last Man Standing.
I’m also a huge nerd/ geek. I love anime, Dr. Who, Star Wars, and Disney. One of the biggest forms of bonding I have with my 15-year-old brother is playing video games with him. My favorite colors are light pink and teal. My favorite book when I was a kid was about a little mouse named Chrysanthemum who was embarrassed (by) her name. My name, Genessis, is a bit long and a mouth full for many people and often gets mispronounced and miswritten, or made fun of/ joked about, or referenced to something else Genesis-related and I became super self-conscious. I had to learn to love my name (and not try to legally change it). And Chrysanthemums are also one of my favorite flowers.