Lea este artículo en español aquí.
This month, Gary Byrne stepped down as CEO of the Community Foundation for San Benito County to take a break before seeking another job. Originally from Ireland, Byrne has been a central figure in the lives of many county residents, first as a pastor (or “Father Gary”) and later as a lead for several important community projects. He drove the campaign to build Saint Benedict Catholic Church in Hollister and the Community Foundation’s recently completed Epicenter building. He also fought hard to help rebuild local news by assisting in founding BenitoLink.
Here is a sort of exit interview with Byrne, who spoke with BenitoLink Executive Director, Leslie David before his departure this week.
BenitoLink: What kicked off the change that you’re making?
Byrne: I’ve been mulling it over for three or four months, just thinking. There’s never a good time, never a right time.
Every one of my board members has committed to coming back next year, which is amazing. So I’m losing no board members and we’re in a really good financial position. So Ria [Byrne’s wife] and I talked about it, and as scary as it is, we said, “Hey, now is a good time.” She’s going to have one more surgery on her knee. I want to be home for that.
Obviously there’s no other Gary Byrne out there. What do you think the community should be looking for in your replacement?
I think the board and the staff need to come together and say, “What type of person do we want to bring the foundation to the next level?”
I don’t know what the board is thinking. And that’s good. They’ve got to be bold. They’ve got to say, “Okay, the potential for the foundation is unlimited.”
You’ve been with the Community Foundation for 22 and a half years. But we have a lot of new residents in San Benito County. What drew you here originally?
I was fairly newly ordained as a priest. My first assignment was in Capitola, and I was there about a year and a half. Then I got a call from the bishop, who said, “Gary, I’m sending you on a new assignment.”
And I go, “Oh, really?” Normally you spend about three years in your first assignment. I thought I had done something seriously wrong when he told me he was sending me to Hollister.
I said, “Oh my God, what did I do?” And as a Catholic priest you have a vow of obedience. Right after Easter in 1989, I got in the car with my bits and pieces and drove to Hollister thinking, oh my God, what’s this going to be like?
Twenty-four hours later, I fell in love with the place. The hospitality, the people were so welcoming. And I was going to this gorgeous church [Immaculate Conception in Tres Pinos], over 100 years old.
So that’s how I got here. I was here as a priest for over 10 years.
I absolutely loved it. My mom’s background in Ireland is farming and ranching, and I got to meet and get to know the ranching community.
I also loved the ethnic makeup of the community. A Hispanic community was brand new for me. I’d been to Mexico, but this was phenomenal. Then you’ve got the old Portuguese community, you’ve got the Italian community, you’ve got the Irish community, German community, and I just love the makeup. Never been involved with anything like that before.
You’ve been involved in some big projects.
One of the big events during my time here was when we built St. Benedict Church. People said it couldn’t be done. This was the third attempt to build a new church. Sacred Heart was just way too small. We were having like seven services between Saturday night and Sunday night. Crazy.
I left the priesthood in the summer of 2000 and I didn’t know what I was going to do, job-wise. I took six months off and found a job with the Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District through a friend.
About a year and a half after I left that, I got an email or a call from, again, an old friend saying, “Hey, Gary, the Community Foundation is looking for its first executive director. Would you be interested?” My first reaction was, no, I’m not interested. I have too many friends in Hollister.
You know, one day you’re a priest. The next day you’re not. I just didn’t know how they’d take it.
But he persuaded me to come in for an interview. It sounded like a great concept.
I went, and I later contacted community leaders who were very supportive of me, and even some people who weren’t very supportive of me. I said, “Hey, I’m thinking of coming back to town. How would you take it?”
And they were unanimous, saying, “We’d love you back. It’d be great.” I came on board in January 2002.
Then you and the Community Foundation became community news builders. Why did you take that on?
It must have been 2006, 2007, the Freelance had gone from publishing five days a week to one day a week, the Pinnacle had closed, and there was a real lack of information in the community. We listened to the community and the board, then we took on a great thing: starting BenitoLink. Julie Morris was our first person, and she really was fabulous. It just grew, grew, grew.
So I really became a believer from Day One that this is critical to democracy—that the word “democracy” covers a lot of sins—the good, the bad and the ugly. But we need it. The people need a voice.
One thing that I learned is that we really need investigative journalism. When we had people like Kate Woods and Tracy Cone [from the Pinnacle], they were good. They asked questions, they pushed the buttons they needed to to get the information out to the community. Was it always perfect? No, it wasn’t. But that’s journalism. It’s flawed, but it’s great.
Going forward, what would you like to see in local journalism?
We need to build a major endowment for BenitoLink. We need to make sure that it’ll be here for generations to come.
When people say “BenitoLink,” for some people, they need to fear hearing that word. And some people, they need to just love it. If you have got anything to hide, you need to be fearful of us. Yeah, that would be my dream.
Talk about making the Community Foundation building happen.
I probably would have left a few years ago, but we embarked upon this incredible, ambitious project downtown, and it was stopped and started. I stayed because of Randy and Rebecca Wolf. Randy and myself a few times wanted to give up, but we also knew that we had this golden, short opportunity to make it happen. Randy was so generous with his time and his resources. He was clear he didn’t want recognition, just a building to benefit the community.
Yeah, the project was very difficult. I had some friends—good friends—who originally did not want it. They thought, “Oh my God, this is terrible because it’s a beautiful open space.”
They didn’t know the history of the land. They didn’t know that there were 13 businesses here. They didn’t know that it was redevelopment money, redevelopment land that had to be sold. And then other people said, “Oh, they’re building these super high luxury condos” or “They’re ruining the 4th of July rally” and all this sort of stuff.
So there were objections and mistruths told about the whole project. And the sad thing is the two-year delay added $2 million to the cost.
What do you see as a worst-case scenario for San Benito County?
There’s a leadership vacuum. There’s a small minority of people who want to close the barn doors, who do not want to see good, strong, bold leadership because they will be called out on some of the stuff that they’re saying and doing.
How about a best-case scenario? What is the San Benito of your dreams?
The dream is nearly there. All the elements are there. It’s just getting the right people to bring their expertise.
Best-case scenario is that San Benito County is going to be where everybody wants to live, wants to raise their kids, wants to send them to the good schools, have a great health care facility. I mean, it’s a little bit of Shangri-La.
Eventually, Highway 25 will be expanded, and our other roads will be expanded. But we also want to bring more good paying jobs to our community so people can choose not to commute. And that’s going to be huge.
What are you looking forward to?
I am really looking forward to a little break. I truly am. I’m looking forward to spending some time in the garden pulling weeds. It’s been neglected. I’m looking forward to time with my wife. And come fall, I’m open.
Open to what?
I love the nonprofit field. Absolutely, I love education. I am going to see what’s out there, what’s available. And I don’t have to be CEO. I’d love to work with somebody who inspires me.
I just know that whatever job it is, it has to be mission-driven. I’m not going to work for a cigarette company or a liquor company. My son Brendan is still at college, and he has four to five more years there. So I feel I’ve got energy, enthusiasm for a final job to make a difference. Where? I have no idea.
Anything else you would like to add?
When I drive out of the county, I drive out of the job, in a sense. But all my friends are here. I come back nearly every other weekend, whether it’s a barbecue, a baptism, a funeral, that’s not going to change, please God. And then I’ll do this next job for five, seven years, then I retire. And God only knows where. Maybe Ria and myself will retire back here.
You’re young enough that you can change direction and still get a lot of satisfaction from your next job.
Yes. Well, and that’s just it. And you used a great word, satisfaction. I mean, I’ve never had a job. Even when I worked for the Los Gatos-Saratoga High School District, I was working with a friend that I really liked. It was fun, I learned a lot. It didn’t feel like a job. And when I was here for 10 years in the parish, it wasn’t a job.
And I’ve never looked upon the Community Foundation as a job. It truly has been a pleasure to come to work for 22 years. Not everybody can say that. Not everybody can say that at all.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
The post Gary Byrne leaves Community Foundation appeared first on BenitoLink.