We at Mountain Community Resources, along with the entire Community Bridges family, are deeply saddened by the passing of Mary Hammer, a steadfast community activist and pivotal founder of Mountain Community Resources, originally known as the Valley Resource Center. On Thursday, November 6, 2024, Mary passed away after a brief illness, leaving behind a profound legacy of service, compassion, and environmental stewardship.
Mary was born in San Francisco, California, to Charles and Claire Mehan and grew up as an only child in Alameda. She graduated from Sacred Heart High School and UC Berkeley, then traveled abroad to teach in Germany, where she met her husband, Joe. Following their marriage in 1965, they settled in the San Lorenzo Valley — a place Mary loved deeply and called home for six decades.
Mary and Joe adopted two children, Eric and Lisa, and Mary began teaching in the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District, where she left a lasting impact on her students. Many of her former students, now raising their own families in the San Lorenzo Valley, remember her fondly. Eventually, Mary left teaching to focus on her family but quickly became an active leader in the community.
She worked with the Save the River Foundation, engaged in local political campaigns, and organized efforts to protect the San Lorenzo River watershed. Her daily campaigning not only safeguarded vital water resources but also fostered lifelong friendships with fellow advocates, with whom she continued to champion environmental causes. As an environmentalist, she played a key role in shaping Santa Cruz County from the mountain areas in the north to the agricultural lands in the south.
Her visionary leadership in emergency response emerged in response to the devastating floods and storms of 1982 and 1983, which claimed 23 lives, left hundreds homeless, and isolated the San Lorenzo Valley from the rest of Santa Cruz County for weeks. Her work laid the foundation for the Valley’s resilience, and her impact continues to be deeply felt today. Mary’s dedicated advocacy pushed local leaders to prioritize emergency preparedness, setting the stage for the Neighborhood Survival Network and Volunteer Emergency Preparedness Project — early, community-led initiatives that paved the way for modern Community Emergency Response Teams.
Mary helped carry the Valley Resource Center through multiple crises, including the 1986 storms and the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. As the center’s first official executive director from 1989 to 1997, Mary led its transformation from a volunteer-led organization into a nonprofit. After her quick actions during the Loma Prieta Earthquake, she was flown out to Washington D.C. to receive the Outstanding Public Service Award from FEMA — one of her many achievements while leading the center, which was renamed Mountain Community Resources in 2001.
In Mary’s honor, Mountain Community Resources annually presents the Mary Hammer Green Heart Award to recognize exceptional volunteer service, celebrating the legacy she established.
“Mary was a force of nature, and I have never met anyone with such devoted and unanimous support for the things she cared about,” said Community Bridges CEO Raymon Cancino. “Throughout the years, I was so grateful to earn her trust, respect, and support for the work we do at Mountain Community Resources. Mary lived her commitment through everyday action, and instilled a lasting testament to ensuring reciprocity and mutual aid was part of what we do. This will be a lasting legacy that will continue to ripple for generations to come and will hopefully ensure we continue to keep the San Lorenzo Valley safe, prepared, and ready to respond to our communities’ needs.”
As a founding leader of the Valley Women’s Club of San Lorenzo Valley, she championed efforts for natural resource preservation and disaster preparedness. Before that, she was instrumental in the Save the San Lorenzo River Association, an initiative focused on restoring the river that flows from the Santa Cruz Mountains through downtown Santa Cruz to the ocean at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Her dedication also extended early on to serve on the County Planning Commission, where she advocated for sustainable, community-centered, environmentally sensitive development.
Susan True, CEO of Community Foundation Santa Cruz County remarked that, “Mary’s leadership is visible in the continued service of so many who have followed her. We know Mary is still with us because we can see her reflected in the countless community organizers, nonprofit organizations, acts of service, bright smiles, offers to help, and each of the caring leaders whom she mentored. Mary insisted on making our world a better place and she did everything in her power to bring people together to care for the Valley and for each other.”
Mary, who was an Honorary Trustee of the Community Foundation, also served on the Foundation’s board from 1999-2007. She partnered with the Community Foundation to care for the needs and dreams of her fellow valley residents by helping start a permanent resource—the endowed Fund for the Future of the San Lorenzo Valley to inspire giving to address San Lorenzo Valley needs now and into the future. Since 2004, the fund has been integral in funding nonprofit partners that include Mountain Community Resources, Valley Women’s Club, Mountain Parks Foundation, Highlands Park Senior Center, and other SLV nonprofits. Mary’s legacy endures in the institutions she shaped, including the Valley Women’s Club, SLV Rotary, and Mountain Community Resources, which proudly continues her mission following its merger with Community Bridges in 2010.
Today, Mountain Community Resources provides essential services such as food, clothing, counseling, legal assistance, and parenting classes to residents in need. In recent years, we also added showers and laundry facilities, which proved invaluable to firefighters and survivors during the 2020 CZU Fire, along with the hundreds of marginally housed community members which seek basic needs of showers and laundry daily.
Among her many roles, Mary loved being with family and friends, teaching, reading, and exploring nature as an avid cyclist, camper, and hiker. She also found joy in creating connections with others, often serving as the heartbeat of local campaigns and initiatives. People were drawn to Mary for her kindness, her unwavering optimism, and her ability to find goodness in everyone she met.
Mary is survived by her children, Eric and Lisa, and her grandchildren, Ruby, Charlie, and Nicole. She now joins her beloved husband, Joe, whom she fondly called “Joey.”
In honor of Mary’s remarkable contributions, we and the Hammer Family encourage donations to Mountain Community Resources, the nonprofit she founded to care for the Valley she loved so deeply. While we mourn the loss of this incredible light, we are comforted knowing Mary’s legacy of resilience, compassion, and unity will continue to shine brightly for generations to come.
