GILROY—The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association announced distributions totaling $250,000 will flow to 138 charities and nonprofit groups from the 2015 festival, which took place in July.
That’s down about 17 percent from 2014’s $300,000 figure, but brings the festival’s 37-year total in charitable distributions to $10,931,725.
“It was such an honor for me to serve as president this year and represent all of our amazing volunteers—more than 4,000 of them!” 2015 Gilroy Garlic Festival President Deanna Franklin said. “We all work so hard to throw a great party for our visitors. I’m thrilled that everyone’s hard work is being rewarded through these distributions to such worthy causes.”
In the Volunteer Equity Program, instituted by festival founders in 1979, net proceeds from the three-day event are distributed to local schools, sports teams, nonprofit groups, and service organizations based on the number of hours logged at the festival by volunteers for those organizations. Many nonprofit groups in Gilroy and surrounding communities depend on the Garlic Festival as their primary fundraiser each year.
For 2015, the top five beneficiaries are: South Valley Community Church Youth Group, $11,247; Gilroy/Christopher HS Alliance Choir, $10,918; Live Oak Emerald Regime, $8,369; South Valley Young Life, $7,988; and Gilroy Police Explorers Post 818, $7,931.
The average distribution among the 138 recipients was $1,811 compared to last year’s $2,013 among 149 organizations. This year’s lowest distribution was $32 to the Gilroy Gang Taskforce.
In addition to the Volunteer Equity Program distributions, the Festival also donated $8,000 for scholarships at local universities which competed in the Garlic Bowl cooking competition.
Although attendance and revenue were strong this year, festival organizers contended with record-high expenses because of the need for off-site parking. Overall, the directors were pleased that the shuttle bus system worked smoothly for visitors, and they are working on solutions to close the revenue gap in the future, according to a festival press release.
For a complete list of distributions, seehttp://gilroygarlicfestival.com/media-information/
