By Carolyn Mish
The Aptos Chamber of Commerce recognized Tricia Wynne, vice president of the Aptos branch of the Friends, as Woman of the Year for her incredible contributions to the community. A lifelong library lover, Wynne knew she wanted to get her feet wet with volunteer work as soon as she joined the community.
“I worked in Sacramento for 30 years, and when I retired I moved to Aptos,” Wynne said. “My first stop was the volunteer office at the Aptos branch of the library, to find out what I could do and I got involved in several programs.”
Over the course of her time with the Friends, Wynne has been an integral part of several fundraising efforts. The Realizing the Promise Capital Campaign , which supplemented bond funds from Measure S, provided a jumping off point for Wynne and her collaborators. Today, the more than $1.3 million dollars raised from over 500 donors was used to renovate the Aptos, Branciforte, and Garfield Park Libraries. In spite of their success, it was Wynne’s first fundraising endeavor.
“I didn’t have any experience fundraising at all; I had never done it before,” Wynne said. “Although I was inexperienced, I had a very nice roadmap on how to do the work.”
Wynne primarily worked with Cindy Jackson, current vice-president of the Friends, to fundraise for the campaign, and she recalls the experience fondly. “We had a blast!” she said. “Of course, we also raised money, which was nice, but we really had a good time and met a lot of nice people who were really generous, and we got a beautiful library out of it, so that was awesome.”
Wynne attributes part of the campaign’s success to the nature of the community in Santa Cruz.
“This is a really nice, generous community,” she said. “You start talking to people, and they’re so wonderful, they care about their libraries, and they’re generous. [Fundraising] was a labor of love, but it was also really fun.” Wynne remembers one wild card donation that she and other fundraisers were pleasantly surprised by.
“We had a list of people who may be willing to give to the library, or who had given to similar groups in the past,” Wynne explained. “Out of the blue, we got an extraordinary donation from somebody unexpected, who wasn’t on the list. He’s an Aptos guy, and he is at the library every single day. Every time I go, he’s there. He’s got a huge smile on his face, and he loves the library. He reads his newspapers and gets online and really uses the library, and his generous donation added to the beauty and the wow factor of our new Aptos library.”
While Wynne was honored individually, she credits all those she works with for their contributions to their shared effort.
“This is a very generous community, with all kinds of people who give back in hundreds of ways,” Wynne said. “The fact that [the Aptos Chamber of Commerce] singled me out is a little overwhelming, because there are a lot of people who do everything that I do, and I’m the one who got the award. It’s a huge honor, but we did it in tandem, together!”
In addition to the Friends, Wynne is also a tireless volunteer with the Second Harvest Food Bank and Resurrection Church. Above all, she stresses how fruitful her time spent volunteering has been in her own life.
“I spent my career in public service, and I’ve always been someone that is community minded,” she said. “When you give of yourself, you get more than you give, in every way. I started volunteering, but in a lot of ways I feel like I’m the beneficiary.”
Carolyn Mish holds a position at the Division of Undergraduate Education at UCSC as a Student Writer. She reports on events and community stories in order to highlight voices and perspectives.