It was a life-altering phone call. Not just for Alexa Benson-Valavanis and her twin sister, but ultimately the community of Chico and anyone impacted by last year's deadly Camp Fire.

As a high school basketball recruit from the Los Angeles area, Benson-Valavanis and her sister, Alisha, had verbally committed to UC Santa Barbara until legendary Chico State women's coach Mary Ann Lazzarini asked the pair to come to Chico and check out the campus.

"She called and said 'I want to bring you up to Chico for a visit'," Benson-Valavanis said. "I'd never even heard of Chico, but she called, and we took the trip and fell in love with Chico and Mary Ann."

That set in motion a course that ultimately positioned Benson-Valavanis to share her love for the North State in ways she could have never imagined.

After graduating from Chico State in 2000 with a degree in journalism, Benson-Valavanis, who played from 1995–98 and 1999–2000, spent time working and volunteering in southeast Asia and Guatemala. She returned home to Chico 14 years ago to rebuild the North Valley Community Foundation, an organization that would eventually become the hub and heart of the relief and recovery effort for Camp Fire victims.

"We've grown from a really small foundation to a robust foundation working with 500 clients and their philanthropic interests all over the world," she said. "Whether it was building water wells on the continent of Africa or helping local residents meet needs around seniors and children and animals, we were doing all of that."

And then, on November 8, the North Valley Community Foundation—with a part-time staff of nine and Benson-Valavanis its lone full-time employee—transformed overnight into a disaster relief organization.

"We had previously always established funds that community members could contribute to and that was true in the Carr Fire and the [Wine Country fires], but we'd never had to play an active role in the relief and recovery," she said. "Rather than distributing to another fund, we were the community foundation on the ground."

And her team grew … and gave, raising more than $25 million since the Camp Fire broke out and $140 million since she became the Foundation's CEO 14 years ago.

"We've had contributions from all over the globe but a large portion in California. The Warriors and 49ers have given and our wonderful relationship with Aaron Rodgers," Benson-Valavanis said. "It's been heartening to see the outpouring of support."

But it has not come as a surprise to the former Chico State student-athlete.

"Our entire mandate for the past 14 years was to reduce suffering on the planet, and we knew that we had to transform to help; we knew we were the right organization to do it," she said.

Her team—she called them Love Warriors and Healers—includes accountants and attorneys, but really, she says, they're just people who will do anything to help alleviate suffering in the world.

"It was an overwhelming transformation, but we were guided by the same compass that we had before—just a mandate to help as many people as we could," Benson-Valavanis said.

Lessons gleaned from Lazzarini and basketball played a crucial role in Benson-Valavanis' efforts to grow the scope and vision of the North Valley Community Foundation manageable.

"I learned the importance of building a team," she said. "For me it was understanding the strength of that connection. And that comes from being on a team where everything is on the line together. You are just as good as you are as a unit, so I learned about trusting and commitment and picking up the person that's struggling, and I learned about all of that because I've been on a team since I was 4 years old."

Another lesson she learned from Lazzarini, Benson-Valavanis said, is to trust and rely on your internal strength and the ability to overcome adversity.

"Mary Ann knew who I was and believed in me and that was important at that stage of my life," Benson-Valavanis said. "I have a different style as a leader, but the core values are the same: I want to meet people exactly as they are, and I want to encourage and support their highest evolution."

Benson-Valavanis did not yet know it, but all of that inner work and her efforts to help expand the work of the North Valley Community Foundation equipped them to meet their greatest challenge yet.

"All of it is preparation for when a tragedy of this scale strikes. You have to reach in and take strength from every part of yourself," she said.
Benson-Valavanis' relationship with Lazzarini gave her strength. Her relationships with her wife and their son give her strength. Her relationship with the North Valley gives her strength.

Benson-Valavanis and the North Valley Community Foundation, in turn, have strengthened the people of the North Valley, providing a beacon of light in one of its darkest hours.

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