Connolly Ranch Receives Independent 501(c)3 Status
Since 1991, the Land Trust of Napa County has owned and operated the Connolly Ranch as part of its permanent preserve program. Located within the city limits of Napa, it is a much beloved community treasure, offering summer camps and farm-oriented educational programs for children and the community throughout the year.
Because the Land Trust is predominantly focused on saving land, the board of directors recognized that Connolly Ranch could be a much greater asset to the community if it were run as an independent organization with its own board and distinct mission.
On September 24, the board voted for Connolly Ranch to take on a separate 501(c)3 status and allow Bob Pallas, Connolly Ranch’s director, to begin the process of forming a board of directors. At this time, Eileen Gordon Chiarello, Barbara Pahre, Leona Siadek, Julie de Polo and Bruce Ketron have signed on to the developing board. Bob Pallas will be Chairman of the Board and Executive Director.
The act of making the Connolly Ranch Educational Program an independent organization is in line with the donor’s wishes. Harold Kelly, a close friend of Ms. Connolly said, “If Peggy Connolly were looking down on us now that it has been decided to have Connolly Ranch become an independent organization benefiting kids and the community, she would have a big smile on her face.”
The Connolly Ranch property is owned by the Land Trust and will never be developed for use other than as an educational farm facility. The Land Trust will continue to work closely with the new organization in order to ensure its success.
About Connolly Ranch
Over the years Connolly Ranch has worked with the Napa Valley Unified School District to bring children to Connolly Ranch on field trips. Here they learn about farm life, the environment and the concepts of ecology and sustainability through an earth, life and physical sciences curriculum that meets standards set by the state of California. Included in these field trips are opportunities to learn about organic gardening, the sources and benefits of healthy foods and an appreciation of how nature works to sustain us.
Summer day camps have become an important program at Connolly Ranch. This past summer Connolly Ranch ran seven weeks of camps and another two weeks were run by Stone Bridge school. The Parks and Recreation Department of the City runs daycare programs at Connolly Ranch and the University of California’s Master Gardeners use the ranch for its programs.
Peggy Connolly died in 1991 and left Connolly Ranch to the Land Trust of Napa County. It was her wish that children continue to enjoy the farm, the farm animals and hiking trails. The ranch is a 12+ acre working farm one mile from Hwy. 29 on Browns Valley Road. It has two barns, organic gardens, pastures, a duck pond and farm animals including a miniature horse, miniature donkeys, goats, sheep, a cow, a pig, ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys. Michael Lauher, the Education Director and caretaker of Connolly Ranch, lives on property in the ranch house with his family.
Bob Pallas holds a BBA from Western Michigan University with a major in marketing and minors in economics and general business. Former President and Founder of Pallas Advertising; Vice President/Management Supervisor of J. Walter Thompson Company. Former board President of the Hamilton Family Center (a nonprofit program in San Francisco providing services and housing for homeless families); current board member and past board President of Summer Search North Bay (a mentoring program for at-risk, low-income high school students); and former Chairman of the Environmental Education Coalition of Napa County. Bob joined the Land Trust in 2005 as Director of Connolly Ranch and lives in Napa with his artist wife.
