Donor Spotlight: Ron and Nina Gilson

Ron and Nina Gilson have been donors to Facing History & Ourselves for over a decade. Before they were involved with Facing History, Nina worked with two San Francisco nonprofit foundations directed at improving the public schools. Nina said, “Those years taught me a lot about what was going on in the schools and what I thought the teachers needed.” The two foundations made many donations to the schools, such as gardens, bookcases, and other physical things. But what became obvious to Ron and Nina was that teachers needed guidance on how to deal with the increasing difficulty of the problems that both teachers and students were confronting, both within the four walls of the school and outside them.

The more Ron and Nina learned about Facing History, the more they felt that supporting Facing History was a direct way to make a difference. Nina shared her sentiments about what our organization represents:

“That is what Facing History means to me: direct involvement with the children, many of whom would never get it any other way. I’ve sat in Facing History classrooms and have seen the way the students were eager to participate in the discussions. I’ve seen how Facing History comes up with information for teachers when local disasters or global tragedies had to be confronted quickly. Our children need, more than anything, to understand the world they are living in and how they can participate in trying to make it a better place. Many of the Facing History alumni I’ve spoken with have told me how our programs have changed their lives. Ron and I want more and more children to have this opportunity. We see Facing History as a way to make this world a more inclusive, understandable, and better place.”

We are so grateful to Ron and Nina for the incredible support that they have given Facing History, and for helping to make a direct difference in students’ lives.