Seven Portola Valley residents have answered a challenge from residents Bill and Jean Lane to match their gift of $500,000 toward the building of a new Town Center complex. The proposed $20 million complex includes a library, Town Hall and community hall.
The donors’ names and the sizes of their gifts are being withheld pending written permission of the donors, said Sally Ann Reiss, co-chair of the nonprofit Portola Valley Community Fund, which is raising money for the project.
The major donor campaign, begun in April 2005, had a goal of raising $10 million by the end of June. As of April 2006, the fund had $2.6 million in actual donations and written pledges for $2.45 million, said Steering Committee co-chair Jocelyn Swisher.
A new fund balance will be announced in July, said Ms. Reiss. A public campaign for smaller donations is set to begin in September. The overall goal is to raise $16 million to $17 million to complement $3 million coming from town reserves.
With this $500,000 challenge grant, the Lanes’ increase their total donation to the Town Center complex to $1.5 million.
Other major donors, in chronological order, are residents Charlene and Derry Kabcenell, who gave $500,000 in December and pledged another $500,000 if the fund’s total reaches $8 million; resident and Cisco Systems chairman John Morgridge, who donated $1 million in March; and Silicon Valley real estate developer and resident John Arrillaga, who recently pledged $2.5 million.
