\u201cCare Can\u2019t Wait\u201d<\/a> initiative, \u201ca strategic, $12 million, one-year initiative to help fill the funding gap for 17 PPNorCal health centers and safeguard access to sexual and reproductive health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cPPNorCal is pleased to report that not only has this goal been met, to the tune of more than $113,000, but that news of the gesture has also inspired another Bay Area donor to offer a $500,000 match for donations throughout Northern California,\u201d PPNorCal said in a news release issued Wednesday.<\/p>\n
PPNorCal \u2014 the Northern California branch of the nationwide nonprofit health care, education and advocacy organization \u2014 described the fundraising effort as part of a \u201ccampaign for survival\u201d following Trump administration efforts to defund Planned Parenthood nationwide.<\/p>\n
In July 2025, the Trump administration announced efforts to bar the distribution of Medicaid\/Medical funding to Planned Parenthood, effectively cutting the nonprofit\u2019s funding by 70%.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 80% of patients are no longer covered for essential sexual and reproductive care, including cancer screening, STI testing, vasectomies, abortion care and more,\u201d PPNorCal\u2019s press release reads. \u201cYet the organization assures these patients are not turned away. People are still being treated, regardless of ability to pay or immigration status.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funding women\u2019s health and other local causes<\/p>\n
Lutjens announced his plan to donate $100,000 in matching funds to the local branch of Planned Parenthood in December. He told the Times-Standard in early January that he \u201cselfishly\u201d opted to donate his inheritance to local organizations \u201cto steer my money where it will not go toward wars and genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI donated to the local Planned Parenthood and that way (the money) wouldn\u2019t be just vaporized into the nation,\u201d Lutjens said. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly concentrated right here. So, yes, I believe in women\u2019s health, and this is the way I think I can help support that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reached by phone Thursday morning, Lutjens said that he had read that the funding campaign had been a success and was pleased with the results. He said that most of his philanthropy had been done anonymously in the past, as pass-through funding distributed through the Humboldt Area Foundation to help distribute grants and scholarships and assist in local disaster relief efforts. Lutjens also made a $55,000 donation to Food for People last year to offset federal cuts to programs that feed the hungry.<\/p>\n
He said he had attached his name to the fund-matching campaign in an effort to spur other donations to local Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n
Lutjens said that in the new year, his circumstances have been financially straightened, saying his net worth had been halved, and that he would have to wait until late in the year to evaluate future philanthropic endeavors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see if I can short some stocks and make some more money, but, yeah, we don\u2019t know yet,\u201d Lutjens said.<\/p>\n
Readers can visit https:\/\/www.weareplannedparenthood.org\/a\/care-cant-wait<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about PPNorCal\u2019s Care Can\u2019t Wait initiative.<\/p>\nRobert Schaulis can be reached at 707-441-0585.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Planned Parenthood Northern California celebrated success in a local donation-matching challenge. Throughout January, Fieldbrook resident and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,3267,6461,584,73513,3607,251,223,10293,73514,73515],"class_list":["post-183612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-health","tag-humboldt-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-coast","tag-northern-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}