As charred smoke filled the sky of Butte County on the first day of the Camp Fire, Alexa Benson-Valavanis, a 2000 Chico State alumna, sprung to aid the community. As president and CEO of the North Valley Community Foundation, she started the Wildfire Relief and Recovery Fund. It aimed to help small businesses that were ravaged by the flames by facilitating donations from donors all over the country.  

“The fire was a surreal day. We had to figure things out as quickly as possible, and started fundraising midday,” she said. 

Alexa was born and raised in Indiana, but moved to Thousand Oaks when she was 10 years old. She was recruited to Chico State along with her sister, Alisha, to play for the women’s basketball team in the fall of 1995. The sisters started playing basketball at 4 years old and learned the importance of teamwork early on in life. She originally enrolled as a psychology major, but gravitated toward journalism and public relations because it resonated with her heart. “I have always wanted to help people,” she said.

“Basketball was a full-time job,” Alexa said, while sharing that she also coached at Sunshine Kids Club, in her leisure time. She was in charge of the wheelchair basketball program.

The sisters pursued the public relation option but took an alternative route. Instead of participating in Tehama Group Communications, the sisters created Wildcat Communications, a public relations program catered to the athletic department.  

“Alexa was in my Intro to PR class, along with her sister, eons ago. They were fun to have in class, always prepared and ready to go,” said Katherine Milo, former J&PR chair at Chico State. “The only time I had an issue with the twins was when they came to class late, and I required them to sing Happy Birthday to the class. They were never late again and we got along great.” 

After graduating Chico State in Spring 2000, the loss of a dear friend prompted Alexa to do some soul searching abroad in Guatemala, China and Vietnam. As a result, she returned and decided to do philanthropy work. In 2002, she started The Seeds of Life, a nonprofit organization based in Guatemala that helped aid marginalized communities. While visiting Chico in 2004, Alexa discovered NVCF. 

“I found out about this small community foundation that needed help, so I took the opportunity to start rebuilding it,” Alexa said. “I wanted to do humanitarian work and reduce suffering in marginalized communities.” 

Alexa found the love of her life in Chico. In a flower shop, she met florist Melinda Benson. They married on Sept. 9, 2011. Her wife became pregnant and gave birth to a boy in 2014. 

“My son and wife are my greatest teachers,” she said. 

On March 1, Alexa was recognized for her Camp Fire effort. She won a Ruby Award from Soroptimist International for her lifetime service to Chico and Butte County. The award is given to benevolent women who uplift their community by helping other women through business, professional and volunteer activities. 

“Whenever [Alexa] wins an award, she deflects it toward the staff and lets everyone know it’s not her award,” said David Little, NVCF executive vice president of communication. “She lets everyone know they are a part of a team.”

When the Wildfire Relief and Recovery Fund started, NVCF had only seven part-time employees. The fund received national attention and donations poured in. 

“There were over 30,000 plus donations, ranging from quarters to $3 million,” Little said. “The [foundation] had to grow because of the fire to process grants and to make sure funding gets into the right hands.” 

The Wildfire Relief Fund is not all NVCF has done. Bob Linscheid, Chico’s former executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, signed the articles that started NVCF back in 1989. It originally aimed to help facilitate philanthropy in the business community and has remained important to Butte, Glenn, Tehama and Colusa counties. Little said the fire brought attention to the NVCF and allowed it to grow exponentially. The NVCF team has grown to 21 employees. 

Alexa has been in charge of the foundation since 2005. She’s works directly with 20 departments, overseeing more than 500 individual fundraisers.

“She makes you feel like the most important person when you talk to her,” Little said. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, NVCF partnered with Chico State’s Idea Fab Lab to make face shield frames for healthcare workers. The partnership originally used 3D printers to make the frames, but switched to plastic molds to meet excess demand. Volunteers put in the hours and the foundation covered the expenses.   

“Under Alexa’s leadership the foundation, run 75% by women, has grown from serving a dozen clients to more than 500 clients,” according to the Soroptimist’s press release, “engaging tens of thousands or donors, generating revenue of more than $175 million, while reinvesting more than $100 million to causes in Northern California, the United States and throughout the world, many of them serving and led by women.” 

Melvin Bui can be reached at [email protected] or @Melvinbuii on Twitter.