Rebecca (Van Donk) Kendall started fundraising in 2006 and since then has helped raise over $55M to address homelessness and poverty in California. For the past 13 years, she has worked with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, currently serving as Chief Development Officer. She spearheads the organization’s campaign to build Caritas Village, a historic $125M housing and supportive services development in downtown Santa Rosa, slated for completion in 2022. She regularly speaks and writes about the intersection of poverty and philanthropy for audiences across Northern California. Rebecca holds a BA in Philosophy and Theology from PLNU (07), where she received an Academic Merit Scholarship and the M. Estes Haney Award. She completed her MBA in 2015, graduating with distinction from Sonoma State University. She is a Leadership Santa Rosa graduate (20) and member of the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals-Wine Country Chapter. Rebecca recharges through music, speed-reading, and taking in the beauty of Sonoma County with her husband Jonathan Kendall, daughter Lily (age 5), and son Elias (age 3).
What have you learned in this current season of your work that will fuel your hope for the future?
When the work of fighting poverty feels too big, I remember the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero: "We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.”