Donation Electrifies Foundation

Longtime local resident Lynn Lowry recently met with Laguna Beach Community Foundation Executive Director Dan Pingaro and presented him a $60,000 contribution.

Its origin is as unusual as its benefactor. Lowry purchased a Tesla Model S a year ago with the intention of driving it for 12 months, selling it and donating the proceeds to charity.  “It was always meant to be a one year love affair,” says Lowry.  “The car was fantastic in every way.”

Lowry’s best moment in the car was when she drove “Coco,” so named for “her” metallic brown color, up the coast to Vandenberg Air Force base to glimpse and touch Elon Musk’s space capsule, Dragon V2. Lowry is a fan of Musk’s, especially because he shares his patents. “I think electric cars are the solution,” she says.

Although she misses the car and hasn’t yet been able to take the app off her phone which tracks it and its battery level, she says that in reality her hybrid Toyota Camry is more her speed, technically. The Tesla can do amazing things like cooling the car’s interior before the driver even gets in, but she says, “you can live without that.”

Since the Laguna Beach Community Foundation was established in 2004, it has distributed over 250 charitable grants locally and nationwide.