San Diego, CA–More than 350 guests gathered at the Allgire Foundation’s inaugural gala on April 23 to officially honor the longstanding legacy of Allgire General Contractors (AGC) founders, Rick and Mary Ann Allgire, while wishing them farewell into their retirement during a lively celebration filled with memories.
The celebration took place at the Intercontinental Hotel with San Diego’s bayfront as the backdrop.
Friends, family, colleagues, and community leaders gathered to honor the outstanding work Rick and Mary Ann completed to not only build affordable housing communities throughout San Diego but to lift the residents who occupied them. They did this through altruistic gestures that always kept residents’ well-being top of mind, and now with the Allgire Foundation, which has completed over 20 campaigns that have served over 50 thousand residents in 120 different affordable housing communities. Additionally, the Allgire Foundation strives to ensure that people impacted by affordable housing have the resources available to better themselves through education.
This year, the Allgire Foundation initiated the “Transforming Lives by Creating Opportunities Starts with Education” scholarship program, to aid students with scholarships that would assist with their financial academic expenses to go to college. In 2022, the Allgire Foundation will award more than $50,0000 to students in San Diego, with nine initial scholarships being awarded in the coming weeks. Additionally, the Mike Pavco Memorial Scholarship was announced by Jenna McDermott, in honor of her late husband Michael Pavco of the San Diego Housing Commission, and his dedication and commitment to affordable housing.
Needless to say, when it became time for Rick and Mary Ann to retire, AGC employees thought the best gift they could offer is a foundation that would carry on their legacy and goodwill within the community, and this is how the Allgire Foundation was born.
“Ultimately, we were going to prepare a proper retirement party but as we thought about it, we wanted to give Rick and Mary Ann a lasting legacy type gift so we formed the Allgire Foundation, a 501c non-profit organization, designed to give back to affordable housing, in the same way, affordable housing has given so much to Rick and Mary Ann, Allgire General Contractors, Grant, Laura, everyone, all of us, it’s put a roof over our heads…and everyone here is a piece of the puzzle,” said Scott Silber, executive director of Allgire Foundation, in his opening remarks at the April 23 celebration.
Other keynote speakers drove guests through memory lane as they reminisced on Rick Allgire ’s early days.
“First off, I’m going to tell you, Rick wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth so I’m going to give you a little history. In the early ’70s, I had a construction company, here in California. Rick came to look for a job, and we told him to go away ‘we don’t hire hippies.’ He came back, he was an anthropology college student, so we ended up hiring him. He started digging ditches until he figured his way around construction. Years later, we hired him as our general manager when we opened our office in Carlsbad. He was absolutely excellent,” shared their friend Dave Harshbarger.
Fast forward to today, the legacy continues and will live on through the company’s successor, son Grant Allgire who showed gratitude to his parents and guests during an optimistic speech about the future of the company.
The official celebration of the launch of Allgire Foundation had been placed on hold for the past two years due to the pandemic, but during the weekend celebration, attendees dressed in their best smiles and were able to toast the future of the foundation and Rick and Mary Ann’s retirement while being present for the official announcement of the succession of their son Grant Allgire as CEO of Allgire General Contractors in Carlsbad, Calif. Rick and Mary Ann received a giant Magnum of wine handcrafted by Sam Kaplan of Maxem Wine – which held 18 bottles of wine with hundreds of signatures representing event guests, family, and friends on the bottle.
“I’d like to thank my mom and dad for the incredible opportunity they have given me to lead AGC into the future,” said Grant Allgire, CEO, Allgire General Contractors. “It’s an honor to carry on their legacy and I look forward to upholding the company’s strong reputation that they built for the years to come. Thank you to the AGC team, you are the lifeblood of the company, it’s your commitment and hard work that has and will continue to make our success; and to the community here tonight, thank you for your contribution, for making a difference and leaving a positive impact in affordable housing. I look forward to building a bright future with all of you.”
The event is one of many that the foundation hopes to celebrate for many years to come.
