About Us
Una Vida is a grassroots community organization serving people in Petaluma, California and La Descubierta, Dominican Republic.
About Una Vida
Una Vida serves as a year-round resource for Petaluma community-members, rallying resources and distributing donations to make sure local people are clothed, fed and connected to people and organizations that help them thrive. We do this by:
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Collecting and sharing donations of food, clothing and household items with community-members in need
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Inspiring generosity, cultivating connection, lovingly serving others, and distributing financial support and/or gift cards to at-risk individuals
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Fostering collaboration and helping community-members discover their unique gifts
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Helping people plug in and use their unique gifts to benefit our community
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Serving as a bridge between residents, local non-profits and community organizations to ensure that no community-members fall through the cracks of social safety nets.
Mission
To empower community-members with the resources they need to thrive while building community, fostering connection and inspiring a lifestyle of service.
Vision
We believe that everyone has a role to play in solving the issues facing our global and local communities. Our vision is that Una Vida participants are affected and impacted by the lessons of poverty and community such that they carry them always and use them always to solve global challenges, to serve others, to create change.
Our Work
We believe that serving our neighbors locally is just as important as meeting the needs of families overseas. Una Vida works tirelessly throughout the year to meet the needs of local Petaluma families, making sure that the most vulnerable among us don't fall through established community safety nets.
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Una Vida also provides annual opportunities to embark on a life-changing journey in the Dominican Republic to experience community development in another cultural setting. These service-learning style trips are designed to meet the needs of Dominican & Haitian community-members while offering Una Vida participants a transformative experience of compassion, solidarity and community.
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Our Founder
Lynne Moquete is an award-winning educator, mentor and community leader known for teaching compassion, empathy and civic responsibility in her classroom and in the community at large. She is committed to empowering students and adults to reach their fullest potential and live a life of service to others. Lynne is a creative problem solver who mobilizes resources & inspires generosity.
With a master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas, Lynne taught Human Interaction at Casa Grande High School for 27 years. The job is as fulfilling as it gets, as she encourages her students to become involved in the local and global community.
In conjunction with teaching, Lynne reaches out to marginalized communities in Petaluma and Sonoma County: feeding the hungry and being present for those in need. A skilled networker, Lynne connects community members to ways in which they can be of service to others in a dignified and loving way.
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For more than 20 years, Lynne has also led transformational community-development and service-learning experiences in the Dominican Republic, continuing the work she started there as a Peace Corps volunteer in the early nineties.
Lynne doesn’t believe in volunteering in so much as she believes in a lifestyle of service- seeing the needs of others and working to meet those needs while encouraging others to join her along the way.
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I volunteered at a Petaluma food pantry after a mutual friend encouraged me to meet Lynne Moquete. She has the unique ability to help you see outside of yourself, bringing people together of every background and life condition, so that you understand a common purpose together that is built on love. Lynne shows you how to feel a deep level of compassion and service.
- Julie T., long-time Una Vida Volunteer