UKIAH, Calif. – The Mendocino Family of Companies (Mendocino Forest Products Company, Mendocino Redwood Company, Humboldt Redwood Company, and Allweather Wood) announced it has received a unique donation for the Redwood Valley and Santa Rosa Community Recovery Fund, from a Ukiah graduate currently attending Boston College.

While not the first donation given to the Fund, it is unique in how the donation is from both far away and close to home.

The donor, Mariah Larwood, received the Mendocino Forest Products Community Scholarship when she graduated high school in 2014.

She started her postsecondary studies at the Boston College Carroll School of Management and was named to the Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program.

The donation she made to the Community Recovery Fund comes from Mario Gabelli, for whom the college’s Presidential Scholars Program was named.

Each year, Gabelli awards a sum of money to each Presidential Scholar with instructions to give to a charity of their choosing. Larwood has given to other organizations in past years, including the American River Foundation and the Community Fund.

“The idea is to teach us as scholars who are receiving so much, how to give back, to understand what it means to donate to a cause,” Larwood explained. “Being from Ukiah, where everyone was affected by the fires, I just felt like the right thing to do was to bring the money back home.”

“This donation captures the strength and pull of home for so many Ukiah young adults who are making their way through the world,” said Bob Mertz, CEO. “Mariah has inspired us with her generosity of thought and action, and sets a fine example for her generation.”

Larwood is currently in her senior year of her Business Administration and Marketing program at the College’s Carroll School of Management.

When she graduates in May 2018, she will begin working as a marketing associate in the San Francisco office of Deloitte.

The Redwood Valley and Santa Rosa Community Recovery Fund was established by the Mendocino Family of Companies through the Community Foundation of Mendocino County to support community restoration for youth, elderly, educators, emergency workers, and animals affected by the devastating Nuns, Redwood Valley and Tubbs fires.

Every dollar contributed to the Fund will be matched up to $400,000 by the Mendocino Family of Companies and distributed in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.

Funds will be disbursed by the Community Foundation of Mendocino County via an independent committee, until the fund is exhausted. To ensure each donation directly benefits the community, the Mendocino Family of Companies will also pay all related administrative and promotional costs to manage the fund.

To donate to the Redwood Valley and Santa Rosa Community Recovery Fund, please visit http://bit.ly/forward-together.