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SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2022 Peter Leon-Guerrero: A heart of service
By Caleb Hampton
Enterprise staff writer
In 2017, after growing up in a military family, which meant that he frequently moved, Peter Leon-Guerrero put down roots in Norther California, settling in Vacaville with his family as he took up the position of director of planned giving at UC Davis. This month, Leon-Guerrero, 39, began a second, simultaneous communityservice-focused role as president of Davis Rotary’s Noon Club.
“I’ve always been in some sort of service to the communities I’ve lived in,” he said.
During college, LeonGuerrero helped organize events for the American Cancer Society. After graduating, he worked with a nonprofit serving the homeless in Hawaii. “When you’re working with a grassroots organization, you really get to see the impact of what you’re contributing,” he said. “That’s what I fell in love with.” Over the past decade and a half, he hasn’t changed course.
As director of planned giving at UCD, Leon-Guerrero has helped raise funds for the campus’ Manetti Shrem Museum, the Mondavi Center, the School of Law, the School of Nursing and UC Davis Health’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. “For me, being a conduit for the donors that I work with is what’s rewarding,” he said. “I’m not the person who’s donating the money but it’s exciting to be part of that journey.”
At UCD, Leon-Guerrero often helps people create legacy gifts using deferred assets like wills, trusts, and retirement accounts. “To a person who’s trying to make a greater impact, this serves as an opportunity for them to do that,” he said. “This is a way for them to not only provide for their family members and the people they love but also for the charities they love.”
When he moved to Vacaville five years ago, Leon-Guerrero, a father of three, began searching for ways to connect with the town where he worked. “I was looking for a way to get plugged in,” he said.
That’s when he got involved with the Davis Rotary Club, where he has served as presidentelect for the past year. (Davis Rotary is actually three clubs, Sunrise, Noon and Sunset, each of which refers to the time of day its members meet.) “Things really took off,” Leon-Guerrero said. “I got really passionate about what the Davis Rotary Club was focused on.”
Rotary International, a worldwide humanitarian service organization with clubs all Courtesy photo
over the world, is both a philanthropic and community service organization. Davis Rotary partners with many local initiatives, including the Yolo Crisis Nursery, the Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels and other service-oriented programs. It has a particular focus on child abuse prevention, an issue Leon-Guerrero said was especially meaningful to him.
“The Rotary Club really aligned with the things I wanted to do,” he said. Recently, the club raised money for a relief fund for Ukrainian refugees.
While its community service mission has remained a constant, Rotary has gone through significant transitions. Formerly a male-only organization, in the 1970s, Rotary International revoked the charter of one of its California clubs because it admitted three women. The dispute ultimately resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court decision, which held that the organization had to admit female members.
“We have members in our Rotary Club who were some of the first women Rotarians,” LeonGuerrero said.
Today, Rotary is still striving to become more inclusive — a mission Leon-Guerrero plans to incorporate into his goals as president of the Davis Rotary Noon Club. “One of the important initiatives for our club is to invite more members of the community to join us and to really have an organization that reflects the community that we serve,” he said. The noon club currently has about 60 members.
One challenge in attracting younger members from more diverse backgrounds is the annual dues all members pay. “Especially for younger members of the community, those could be an obstacle,” Leon-Guerrero said. To make the club more accessible, the noon club has slashed the fee from $250 to $125 for all members under age 40. (The dues contribute to Rotary’s community service initiatives.)
For Leon-Guerrero, Davis Rotary provided a welcoming environment and a way to connect with the local community. “They embraced me with open arms,” he said.
As president, Leon-Guerrero hopes to continue serving the community and providing a way for likeminded people to join those efforts. “I think that being a Rotarian magnifies the impact you can make as an individual,” he said. “You are immediately connected to other people. If you have a heart of service and a vision of making a difference, this is a great organization to do that with. Our door is always open to all members of the community.” — Reach Caleb Hampton at champton@ davisenterprise.net. Follow him on Twitter at @ calebmhampton.
