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Morro Bay Open Space Alliance announces large donation 

–The Morro Bay Open Space Alliance (MBOSA) received two donations from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, totaling $50,000, in support of purchasing Cerrito Peak. Currently owned by the City of Morro Bay, Cerrito Peak is one of the few undeveloped plots of wooded land within the city limits. MBOSA is raising funds to purchase and maintain Cerrito Peak in its natural state as a conservancy.

Cerrito Peak, also known as Eagle Rock, is well known to local residents and Native American tribes for its wooded, boulder-strewn, slopes. Using the name Eagle Rock, the Salinan Tribe has registered the peak with the state of California as a sacred place.

Cerrito Peak was privately owned until 2017 when the owner offered it to the City of Morro Bay. The city accepted the opportunity, tapping its emergency fund for $350,000 to make the purchase. The city’s intent was to sell it to a nonprofit conservancy group, and MBOSA accepted the challenge. The city set a three-year timeline, keeping the right to resell the peak if MBOSA failed to raise funds in time.

The first donation MBOSA received to the Cerrito Peak Fund, of $25,000, came in September 2017 from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation. The Foundation has just made a second donation of $25,000. Together the combined $50,000 makes the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation the single largest donor toward the purchase of Cerrito Peak. To date, total donations have reached $150,000.

The Larry L. Hillblom Foundation is based in Petaluma, CA, with a satellite office in Kingsburg, CA, where Hillblom grew up. Hillblom was one of the founders of DHL Worldwide Express (1969), the pioneering global express courier company. Hillblom died in 1995, leaving funds for the establishing of the Hillblom Foundation, which primarily supports medical research through grants to universities and research institutions in California.

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The news staff of the Paso Robles Daily News wrote or edited this story from local contributors and press releases. The news staff can be reached at info@pasoroblesdailynews.com.