POST Announces $3 Million Gift at 'Under the Harvest Moon' Event

September 22, 2005

Ms. Kathleen Scutchfield, a longtime friend and supporter of Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), made a $3 million gift to the organization's Saving the Endangered Coast campaign on the eve of POST's 'Under the Harvest Moon' event on September 17.

"I got involved with POST in 1991 and have watched them do a wonderful job acquiring major pieces of property to preserve," said Scutchfield. "The preservation of the beautiful open space we have is so important, especially considering what's happening up and down the Coast with development."

The gift from Scutchfield benefits POST's $200 million and 20,000-acre Saving the Endangered Coast campaign, the largest land protection initiative ever undertaken by a local land trust. Scutchfield's gift pushes the campaign past the $193 million mark and moves the organization closer to earning a $1.75 million Kresge Foundation challenge grant.

"Kathy Scutchfield's extraordinary gift comes at a critical time for us. We are so close to completing the campaign with $4,585,800 million remaining to meet the Kresge challenge by December 31," said POST President Audrey Rust. "We announced Kathy's gift at our 'Under the Harvest Moon' event and hope that it will encourage other friends of POST to step forward and help us complete this important campaign."

Scutchfield was born and raised in Texas. An avid equestrian, she has called Woodside home since 1973. Scutchfield co-founded the non-profit organization Until There's a Cure (www.until.org) that raises funds for AIDS vaccine development, care and services for AIDS patients, and AIDS education. She is also a trustee emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet.

"The Coast is a spectacular, unspoiled swath of land that we're so lucky to have a half-hour away," said Scutchfield. "I enjoy looking at the hills and love the fact that you don't see them dotted with houses and big estates, and having it be so close to San Francisco. If this land were available to be developed, it would be developed."