It’s no small accomplishment to be indispensable to your community. That’s true of Catherine Peery, who has spent years working to make Pescadero a better, healthier, more resilient community. But to hear her tell it, it’s Pescadero that was indispensable to her. Peery has a lot of appellatives. She is a mother, a community organizer, a philanthropist, an affordable housing warrior and a ham radio operator. She has wire-rimmed glasses and a plainspoken manner. She runs one of the most well known companies in town, Peery & Associates, which does pension administration. She is on the board of the Pescadero Foundation and KPDO, a Pescadero radio station she is working to revive with a new, $56,000 grant from San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley’s office. She is also a close friend of Puente and makes recurring monthly donations as a member of Puente Partners for Sustainability. When Puente does its back-to-school backpack drive each year, students can always count on 50 scientific calculators from Peery & Associates. Peery discovered Butano Canyon, a redwood enclave outside Pescadero – “heaven,” she says, “God’s gift to the world” – on Memorial Day weekend in 1989 during a road trip with her late husband. They left Fremont and moved to “the Butano,” as it is locally known, just two months later with their children in tow. “The … Continue reading Why I give to Puente: Catherine Peery