Coppola pledge boosts Santa Rosa pools fundraising

<p>A successful 5K fundraiser followed by a pledge from vintner Francis Ford Coppola have buoyed the City of Santa Rosa's efforts to keep its pools and senior center open this year. </p><p>The outpouring of support has swelled the total raised by the city to $40,000, still well shy of the $92,000 needed to keep the facilities operating through the end of the year, but nearly double what it had two weeks ago. </p><p>A recent pledge by the owner of Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville to make a $6,000 matching grant toward the pools promises to boost those numbers even higher, said Marc Richardson, director of Recreation, Parks & Community Services for the city.</p><p>“We are exceedingly grateful to him for stepping forward and very appreciative that he considers Santa Rosa part of his community,” </p><p>The fundraising drive accelerated Aug. 29 when the turnout for the 5K run/walk at Juilliard Park exceeded expectations, Richardson said. The city netted $9,000 from registrations, while pledges and other direct donations from the event added $10,000, he said.</p><p>“That's pretty remarkable that we made more in pledges than we netted on the race itself,” Richardson said. </p><p>Two aquatics instructors raised a total of $5,000 in pledges, according to Kelley Magnuson, parks department marketing coordinator.</p><p>After reading about the city's fundraising efforts, Coppola decided to step forward with a matching grant to encourage the community to continue to support the pools, said Cory Beck, winemaker at Francis Ford Coppola Winery. </p><p>Coppola is such a fan of pools he's building one at his Geyserville winery, which is reopening in October after a multi-million dollar renovation. The famed filmmaker has a soft spot for pools, Beck said. </p><p>“Pools are places that a family can go and just enjoy the day and those are some of his fondest memories,” Beck said. “That why it resonated with him.” </p><p>Even though Coppola doesn't have direct ties to Santa Rosa, his winery buys grapes from dozens of Sonoma County growers, and many of their workers live in the city, Beck said. “We're just trying to do our part,” he said.</p><p>The agreement is that Coppola will donate a dollar for every additional dollar raised by the community up to $6,000, Richardson said. That would raise a combined $12,000 and bring the total to $52,000. </p><p>Richardson said he hopes Coppola's generosity will keep the momentum going. </p><p>“We're hoping that people who may have been thinking about it will consider helping us,” Richardson said. </p><p>The city has been in touch with several other potential donors who have expressed interest in making significant contributions, and those discussions are ongoing, Richardson said.</p>