Admiration for Scholarship Programs Fuels Giving

For many years before moving to Vista del Monte, longtime Santa Barbara residents Roxana and Fred were members of Vista’s Fitness and Aquatic Center, which is open to the public. “We were very familiar with Vista, so when we decided to move to a retirement community, Vista was a natural choice,” Fred said.

After they settled into Vista in 2019, Roxana became president of the Resident Association and currently serves as its past president. She was also a member of Vista’s Philanthropy Committee, which helps guide how donations to Vista del Monte through the Front Porch Communities Foundation will be used.

The couple recently made a generous gift to the Foundation from Fred’s individual retirement account. The gift was made as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD), one of the savviest ways for those over 70½ to use their IRAs to maximize their charitable impact and realize tax savings. Fred, a retired university professor, and Roxana,
a retired librarian, have a particular affinity for the Foundation’s scholarship funds, which awards cash
grants to qualified Vista employees and also to their children. Scholarships benefit those who attend traditional two- and four-year colleges and those attending trade schools, pursuing certificate programs (like nursing programs), continuing education or GED studies.

“We donate to the Foundation because Vista is our home, and it’s our way of supporting an organization that we admire,” Fred said. “The staff here takes good care of us so we want to be generous to them in return,” Roxana added.