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While attending a veteran’s funeral in 1996, Sunnyslope Elementary teacher Connie O’Connor turned to her mother, Joan Perreira, and remarked that to her, the large floral displays there were a waste of money.
“If you’re still here when I go,” O’Connor said, “I don’t want flowers. I want the money to go to my kids at Sunnyslope.”
Just one month later, two days after her 26th birthday, O’Connor died in a car accident. Perreira’s memory of her daughter’s request became the seed out of which the Connie O’Connor Education Fund grew.
“Her husband Michael and I started it at her funeral,” Perreira said. “I said that there’s to be no flowers and the money needs to go to her memory. We set up the fund the next day, and it’s been going ever since.”
Since that initial $1,600 investment, the fund has grown over the last 30 years to more than $300,000. More than $80,000 has been distributed to teachers throughout San Benito County.
O’Connor was a double major in theater and English at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She did her graduate work at Chapman University in Orange. At the time of her death, she was studying Spanish to better communicate with her students.
She was able to teach for only three years before the accident but, according to Perreira, O’Connor spent every moment of that time working to make a difference in the lives of “her kids.”
“Along with the other curriculum,” Perreira said, “Connie introduced them to Irish dancing and to poetry and to writing their own stories and little plays. She just made it fun.”
R.O. Hardin teacher Mary Villegas, who has applied for funding many times, had a personal connection to O’Connor. She knew her as a child and attended her memorial service.
“Connie was very vibrant and very kind,” she said. “Her students adored her. I remember the service was almost standing room-only because so many of her former students and community members wanted to attend. It was definitely a very big loss to our community.”
At first, the fund grew slowly, working up to $6,000 in the first 10 years. Then Perreira began holding raffles along with a fundraising luncheon at her home, featuring her cooking for up to 80 guests.
“Nobody got to leave,” she said, “unless they bought a raffle ticket or made a donation. My young granddaughter Jessica [BenitoLink Reporter Jessica Parga] would get people at the front door when they came, and she’d catch them again at the back gate. People bought tickets again just because she was so cute.”
Parga remembers running around selling tickets and “sprinting back and forth” delivering prizes to the winners.
“When I was in the sixth grade,” she said, “my class got some of the funding because my teacher knew about it. I knew what it was from helping out, and I could give the pitch from a very young age. But my grandma is a hard worker, and she’s carried 98% of it.”
Besides a tax deduction and whatever raffle prize they might have won, those who contribute to the fund in any way also get a thank-you note from Perreira, who writes around a hundred a year, and a loaf of her homemade Irish soda bread.
“She’s from Ireland,” Parga said, “and her recipe for bread is kind of iconic in our household. She must make dozens every year for donors, and her kitchen just smells so good. She’s grown so many connections to the community, and it all means so much to our family.”
Perreira said her goal is to spend the accrued interest on the fund every year, which is intended to benefit preschool through eighth-grade students.
There are conditions for applicants: an invoice must be submitted before any orders for materials are placed, and the money must be spent on educational materials such as books, which will last for years.
“It can’t be for basketball scoreboards,” she said, “or for reading material for the teachers’ lounge. At first they asked for things like tables for the teachers’ meeting room. I’d say, ‘How’s that going to benefit Connie’s kids?’”
Perreira said she has a particular fondness for new teachers who are just starting to gather libraries for their classrooms and lack the funds for everything they need.
“I like to introduce them to new materials,” she said, “and have them do the same for me. The things kids read now are very entertaining, educational and colorful, and relate to their own lives as well. I want to inspire them in their growth and give them a more positive journey.”
Maylani Mahler, former assistant principal at Rancho Santana School, recalled meeting Perreira four years ago when the school first opened. As a nod to O’Connor’s interest in early literacy and intervention, she asked for and received multiple sets of Bob Books, a well-regarded series that teaches phonics, for the school’s fledgling library.
“They are the kind of books that withstand time,” Mahler said. “This fund has been really beneficial and important to us, because we know that if we help students early on, they become strong readers in the future.”
Inspired by the Perreira’s generosity, Hill’s Bookstore now offers books at cost to all teachers, librarians and administrators who are purchasing for their classrooms and libraries.
“This is such an incredible fund,” bookstore co-owner Adam Hill said. “Teachers are the lifeline in our communities, and to give them a chance to connect with their students in a way that is tailored to what’s current is priceless. When the students win, everyone wins.”
Perreira has already recommended Hill’s Bookstore to a teacher from Spring Grove School.
“I told her,” she said, “that she could be the seed that plants this and grows forward to other teachers. Because it’s a local store and local businesses are fabulous at donating, even though they are small individuals trying to make their way in life. They’re so kind every year.”
Perreira personally visits the classroom to deliver a teacher’s check, bringing an 8×10 photo of O’Connor, the last one taken before her death, to show the students. Then she hands over the donation and tells them, “You’re all Connie’s kids now.”
One of Perreira’s favorite stories, she said, involves such a visit to a special needs teacher at Sunnyslope.
“I always take a picture of me presenting the check for our family records,” she said. “But that day, a sweet little boy stopped me. ‘No, no, no!’ he said, stretching his arms up to hold Connie’s photo in the frame with the teacher. ‘Connie has to be in this too!’ It was pure magic.
To apply for support from the Connie O’Connor Education Fund, contact Joan Perreira at (831) 637-7185. Additional information, including how to donate, is available through the Community Foundation for San Benito County at givesanbenito.org/connieoconnorfund.
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