Community Corner

Banning Centennial Celebration Organizers Establish Community Fund with $50K Investment

Banning Centennial Celebration organizers recently announced a $50,000 investment to establish the Banning Community Fund to memorialize the city's 100th year since incorporation.

The fund was established with the Community Foundation serving Riverside and 
San Bernardino counties.

A check will be presented to the Community Foundation during the Phineas Festival at 4 p.m. Saturday Dec. 7 at the Playhouse Bowl in Repplier Park.

"The Fund will help local nonprofits in perpetuity," Barbara Hanna, chair of the Banning Centennial Committee, said in a statement. "We deeply appreciate the generosity of the businesses, organizations and individuals who contributed funds that were used to conduct the various Centennial events and to create the Banning Community Fund."

An advisory committee has been established to continue raising funds for the endowment, Hanna said. Once the Community Fund is at the $100,000 level, the advisory committee will recommend to the Foundation Board how annual distribution should be split among local nonprofits.

Here's more from the announcement:

In addition to Hanna, who chaired the year-long event, The Banning Community Fund advisory committee includes Don Smith, Ed Ball, Don Dorsey, Rosa Gascoigne, Helen Enriquez and Jan Spann.

Centennial sponsors included: the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, Diamond Hills Auto Group, Rancho San Gorgonio, Southern California Edison, Union Pacific Railroad, Aleshire & Wynder, American Medical Response, Banning RV, Beaver Medical Group, Dominium Apartments and Townhouses, IBEW Local #47, Inter Valley Health Plan, Rio Ranch Market, Southern California Gas Company, San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital, San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, Waste Management, Bank of Hemet, Inland Investor Visa Group 8, State Senator Bill Emmerson, Robertson’s Ready Mix, Urban Futures, Valerie Menefee State Farm Insurance, Western Riverside Council of Governments, Banning Rotary Club, Highland Springs Resort, San Gorgonio Pass Rotary Club, United Water, Village at Paseo San Gorgonio, Wildan,  Beaver Medical Group, Mary S. Roberts Foundation, and the City of Banning.

The Banning Centennial Celebration commemorated the 100th birthday of the City of Banning, located in the San Gorgonio Pass, California during 2013. According to historians, residents of Banning voted to incorporate on Feb. 6, 1913.

For more info about the Centennial and the Banning Community Fund, visit www.Banning100Birthday.com.


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