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feel like it’s home,” said Paula. “Everyone has to
be out by the middle of January, so I have been
helping the tenants relocate. I know it’s very hard,
hard, but change is hard for everyone!”
Paula, too, is having a difficult time with this
chapter of her life coming to a close. After all,
Pete was the love of her life for over 38 years, and
some of the best times they spent together were
while working at Pete’s Harbor, pouring their
hearts and souls into their professional work, as
well as their charitable work through the Pete &
Paula Uccelli Foundation. The Uccellis created
the foundation because they firmly believed that
the success of our future lies within the hands
of the young people of today. Each year, the
foundation assists the younger generation and the
annual Sequoia Awards by helping to provide over
25 educational scholarships ranging from $500 to
$10,000, in addition to several annual awards for
outstanding volunteerism.
“Pete even selected the
developer whom he felt was
an honorable man and would
be a caring steward of the
land. So it has come to pass
for me to honor Pete’s vision
and legacy. I am very excited
about this project and how
it will be an asset to the
community in so many ways.”
“Education has always been so expensive,”
explained Paula. “And that’s what made us start
thinking about this, because we were already
in the community doing other philanthropy. I
happened to be on the Sequoia Hospital board
at that time, and then one day someone came in
and spoke on foundations and what to do. When
I came home later that day, I talked to Pete about
this and said, ‘My God, we do this anyway, so
we might as well do this under the umbrella of
a foundation that helps younger people.’ And a
lot of these younger people may not have been
academically up to par, but what they were doing
in the community as a volunteer was phenomenal.
So Pete and I started talking to a few people.
Then we brought all of these people together and
started the Sequoia Awards to give volunteerism
the outstanding student, the outstanding business
and outstanding individual awards. We did this
for a few years, then we started to focus in on
scholarships too. So far, we have given over a
million dollars in scholarships over 20 years.”
Paula is also well-known as a powerful force
to be reckoned with when it comes to bringing
key people together to work for local charities
and coaching others who wish to get started as
volunteer workers. Paula has served with and
contributed her expertise to more than three
dozen nonprofit organizations, such as Kainos
Home & Training Center, the Police Activities
League, Sequoia Hospital Foundation, St. Anthony’s
Church, the Salvation Army and the Sequoia High
School Student Fund. And as a result of her humanitarian
lifestyle, Paula herself has been the recipient of
numerous awards, including Woman of the Year.
But she credits turning 70 this past summer as an
even bigger milestone. “I’d like to believe the line
that 70 is the new 50,” said Paula. “The reality is
that I have just begun. I am retiring and will focus
on the Pete & Paula Uccelli Foundation work to
help others.”
As the development of Pete’s Harbor goes through
the approval process, Paula is reflective about having
to leave her home of 44 years. “There is an ache in my heart
because of all the memories, but to fulfill our (Pete’s and
mine) dream of what we always wanted not only
for ourselves but for our community is exciting,” she said.
She plans to stay in Redwood City during the
construction and will then move into one of the
units once the Pete’s Harbor development is completed.
When asked what Pete might say to her today
about starting a new chapter after the closing
of Pete’s Harbor, Paula replied, “Stay positive
because new beginnings can be exciting!”
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