Celebrating 30 Years of Connection, Learning & Community
For 30 years, Healthy Cities Tutoring has brought students and volunteer tutors together to learn, grow, and build meaningful connections. Throughout our anniversary year, we’ll be looking back at the people and moments that shaped HCT, sharing stories from our community, and celebrating the impact of thousands of tutoring relationships.
Our 30th Anniversary Committee, made up of current and former board members, staff, and volunteers, is helping us bring this milestone year to life, from gathering HCT memories and photos to planning special events and sharing stories from across our community.
Check back each month for a new chapter in the HCT story — from where we began to where we’re headed next.
September 2026
Where It All Began: The Story of Healthy Cities Tutoring
Special thanks to former HCT Development Director and longtime tutor Cris Adair, who researched, compiled, and wrote much of the history and memories shared in this month’s story.
Healthy Cities Tutoring is turning 30! As we begin our anniversary year, we’re going back to where it all started — and sharing a few pieces of HCT history you may not know.
It started with a grant and a big idea
Healthy Cities Tutoring traces its roots to October 1996, when the City of San Carlos received a seed grant through the California Healthy Cities Project. The statewide initiative invited cities to create programs that would benefit their communities, and it’s where the “Healthy Cities” name originated.
Originally called the San Carlos Healthy Cities Project, the program was designed to support local children and families through tutoring and mentoring. The name would eventually be shortened to Healthy Cities Tutoring.
From an idea to the first tutor-student matches
Working with City of San Carlos Director of Personnel Leslie Loomis, community member Donna Becht was hired to get the new program off the ground.
By early 1997, volunteers were being recruited and trained, and the first tutors were matched with students at White Oaks Elementary School, HCT’s pilot school.
Pictured above: Leslie Loomis (Director of Personnel, City of San Carlos) with Donna Becht at Perfect Pairings 2016
A community steering committee helped guide the new program, bringing together representatives from the San Carlos Police and Parks & Recreation departments, San Carlos schools, San Mateo Youth and Family Services, parents, principals, business and community leaders, and volunteer tutors. The committee was chaired by community leader, and longtime 21 year HCT tutor, Caryl Holloway, pictured at left.
Leadership that shaped HCT
Donna Becht led Healthy Cities Tutoring from its beginning in 1996 until her retirement in December 2018.
During her 22 years with HCT, Donna guided the program through enormous growth, difficult funding changes, and eventually its transition into an independent nonprofit organization. Throughout it all, she drew inspiration from the hundreds of volunteers who stepped forward each year to give their time — one hour, once a week — to help a child succeed in school.
In recognition of her incredible service to the community, the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce named Donna 2018 Citizen of the Year.
Growing across San Carlos
Following the successful pilot at White Oaks, Healthy Cities Tutoring expanded to serve students throughout the San Carlos School District.
For its first years, the program operated under the oversight of the City of San Carlos. When significant budget pressures resulted in the loss of most program funding in 2011, HCT’s supporters were determined that the tutoring program would continue.
Recognizing the significant need for the program for the hundreds of children and families that benefit from the one-on-one support provided by the community volunteers, Donna Becht reestablished Healthy Cities Tutoring as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in September 2011.
A community steps forward
HCT’s first Board of Directors brought together volunteers and community leaders committed to helping local students succeed.
The founding board included Lauren Pachkowski (pictured at left), Roger Bodamer, Annie Mayoss, Joyce Strauss (pictured below with her student, Adriel), Betty Casey, and Sheryl Hinchman — several of whom were themselves longtime HCT tutors.
Reaching beyond San Carlos
In 2014, HCT expanded into neighboring Redwood City, bringing its one-to-one volunteer tutoring model to students at four Redwood City School District schools.
Today, as HCT enters its fourth decade, the organization serves 14 schools and community sites across San Carlos and Redwood City, including the Siena Youth Center, continuing the same fundamental idea that launched the program 30 years ago: a caring volunteer giving a student consistent, individual attention can make an extraordinary difference.
30 years — and counting
Over three decades, HCT volunteers have contributed more than 135,000 hours helping students strengthen their academic skills, become more engaged in learning, build confidence, and know that someone in their community is cheering them on.