The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors has accepted a donation of nearly $100,000 to a children’s shelter in French Camp.
Longtime resident Daisy A. Scaletta, of Lodi, left behind in her estate $98,299.06 for the Mary Graham Children’s Shelter, a private nonprofit organization that was formed by local people to give support to local foster youth.
According to Sam Kaisch from the county’s Human Services Agency, there are no specific details on what the funds will be used for, but they are looking to see how best to use the money to enrich the lives of the children at the shelter while they are there.
The gift, which was officially accepted at the April 25 Board of Supervisors meeting, did not go unnoticed during the health and human services consent discussion where the donation was listed. The donation was on the agenda because in 2010 supervisors had authorized the establishment of the Mary Graham Children’s Shelter trust account that would be used for proceeds of donated funds.
“I was just amazed by that … that’s huge for somebody to do that and help kids that are not in a good place, so I just wanted to commend the family and the resources that gave the money,” Supervisor Paul Canepa said.
The donation was received by the shelter on March 1, according to a board letter attached in the meeting’s agenda.
Supervisor Tom Patti suggested that the board contact the family of Scaletta to do a recognition during one of their next meetings to publicly acknowledge the donation.
Victoria Franco is a reporter based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. She is a Report for America corps member.
