{"id":67727,"date":"2025-11-24T15:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/67727\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:52:07","slug":"coronada-gives-community-story-how-the-cha-connects-past-and-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/67727\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronada Gives community story: How the CHA connects past and present"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coronado Gives<\/a> is raising money for community nonprofits now through Dec. 31 in partnership with the Coronado Community Foundation, The Coronado Times, and The Coronado Eagle & Journal. Below is a story of community impact.<\/p>\n

When Christine Stokes moved to Coronado ten years ago, she knew she was coming to a town steeped in history, and she was determined to help preserve it.<\/p>\n

Stokes serves as executive director of the Coronado Historical Association, a young organization despite the city\u2019s storied past: The CHA was founded in 1969, just as the San Diego\u2014Coronado Bridge opened, the Coronado Shores and the Cays were rising, and the community was undergoing sweeping change.<\/p>\n

Its mission: to preserve what makes Coronado special.<\/p>\n

Today, Stokes leads that effort as the association\u2019s executive director, supported by more than 50 volunteers and a world-class collection of artifacts and archives. For her, the real heart of the work isn\u2019t in the vault, the artifacts, or the exhibitions. It\u2019s in the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity history is my passion,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s story deserves to be in a museum. You don\u2019t have to be George Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the late 1960s, as Coronado shifted from a Navy-centric island to a city more connected to San Diego, residents feared losing the character that defined daily life. After all, when people talk about why they love Coronado, certain reasons are recurrent: Kids can ride their bikes to school, neighbors know each other, it feels like a small town, and yet its history runs deep. The National League of Wives of American Vietnam Prisoners of War organization, for example, began in the Coronado home<\/a> of Sybil Stockdale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe historical association really is community-based, and we were built by the community,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cPeople were working to preserve what makes Coronado special.\u201d<\/p>\n

That ethos carries forward today. The association continues to collect the everyday stories of residents alongside historic artifacts because, Stokes said, the everyday is integral to history.<\/p>\n

CHA\u2019s collections rival those found in major institutions. The Stockdale family, for example, has entrusted the museum with artifacts that are also loaned to national institutions such as the Nixon Presidential Library.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are items that could be in the Smithsonian,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cBut the families know they\u2019re just as safe here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum\u2019s dedicated collections vault, which was retrofitted in 2011 and is now undergoing further humidity-control upgrades, was specifically designed to protect sensitive items, including POW materials and military history collections.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to be a place where these stories and artifacts can be intact,\u201d Stokes said, \u201cnot just for now, but for future historians who come after us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes\u2019s grandfather loved history, and she grew up in museums. Later, a college professor inspired her career in public history, which examines how people and communities interact with their pasts.<\/p>\n

True to her focus on public history, Stokes has moved away from fixed, permanent displays toward an ever-evolving space of learning. The CHA encourages residents to bring in their own histories, whether it\u2019s a family photo, a taped interview, or a handed-down story. Exhibits evolve with new contributions, and even students get to leave their marks by creating their own personal flags as a part of the museum\u2019s educational programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery child gets to leave their story here,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cHistory becomes tangible when you understand how it connects to your life, your civic identity, and how you give back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Coronado Gives is a project that crowdfunds support for organizations doing good. Learn more, choose your cause, and make your donation here: www.coronadogives.com<\/a>.
<\/a><\/p>\n

Coronado Gives is a giving campaign sponsored by the Coronado Eagle & Journal and The Coronado Times and hosted by the Coronado Community Foundation. All proceeds benefit the residents of Coronado through 501(c)(3) organizations serving the Coronado community. Donors will receive a 100 percent, tax-deductible receipt from the Coronado Community Foundation via email or U.S. Mail. For more information, contact info@ccfcoronado.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coronado Gives is raising money for community nonprofits now through Dec. 31 in partnership with the Coronado Community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[40257,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-67727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-coronado-historical-association","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}