In 2007, over a year after her mother died in an auto accident, Jessica Cera founded the Cera Works Foundation (CWF), based in San Diego, California. According to Cera, planning the foundation came out of the memory of her mother, Sharon, who always wanted to start a program such as CWF, and an awakening that led Cera to quit her job. Cera’s mother had a generous and compassionate heart, traits which had a great influence on her. “It really hit me that life is fleeting, and through the grief process, I re-examined my own life,” said Cera. “I was working as a computer systems engineer at the time, and was working long hours … I decided life’s too short to continue what I was doing … life’s too short to allow fear to keep you from doing what your heart really wants to do!”
CWF started as a private 501(c) 3 foundation with the intention of becoming an operating charity. CWF’s mission is to support existing charities and newly forming charities, such as Fristers, a program that provides information and skills to help young moms with the issues they face today and help prepare them for tomorrow. According to Cera, the greatest joy of running CWF has been reaching out to the community. CWF’s recent projects include adopting low-income, single parent families during last Christmas; providing restaurant or grocery gift cards to families who lost their jobs; and providing basic needs to single teen moms.
Earlier this year, Cera’s friend Beth Preece invited her to join her nonprofit, Project SAVE, an active start-up that originated from Preece’s passions as a naturalist and educator. Project SAVE’s primary objective is to lead schools in community stewardship and minimize their environmental footprint by recycling, composting, and gardening. It educates and trains staff, provides curricula to support the implemented programs, ensures program maintenance, and mitigates potential issues through follow-up visits. Preece, a master composter, is the leader, speaker, and educator for projects such as setting up vermi-composting for Girl Scout Troops and participating in an elementary school’s Earth Day festivities. Cera is the business guide for the CWF project; her focus is on green schools and research.
Cera is currently in the process of combining CWF and Project SAVE. The new organization, Nourish with Nature (NWN), will be a marriage of CWF’s focus on supporting family children and Project SAVE’s focus on environmental education for kids. NWN will be dedicated to nourishing children with nature, whether nourishing their bodies with organic food or their minds with environmental education. CWF’s transition from a private foundation to an operating public charity, NWN, will enable it to increase funds and volunteers to keep moving forward with its mission. NWN plans to offer several projects, e.g., nourishing their minds: environmental education, nourishing with food: farm-to-school, creating wildlife habitats at schools and shelters, as well as programs for organic and healthy lunches and school gardens. While NWN’s long-term goals are still under development, its general goals are to educate children about environmental responsibility, create a better future for children through eco-friendly programs, and foster healthier lives for leaders of the future.
To learn more about the Cera Works Foundation, Nourish with Nature, and ProjectSAVE, visit Jessica’s blog or follow her on Twitter.
