“My mother was involved in everything, and every time there was a charity drive I had to go do it,” recalls Lucille Werlinich of her high school days. At that time, she explains, you rang doorbells house to house and asked for money. The family lived in New York, 45 miles north of the city. Houses were the equivalent of about two blocks apart, so she would walk a couple of miles before she was through.

“When I first got married I had no money,” she says, but by then it was in her nature to share what she did have. “I was still giving—two dollars, two dollars, two dollars. I might have given a hundred dollars a year, two dollars at a time. So it was exciting when I got to go to three dollars and to five dollars!”

As anyone who has ever contributed to a nonprofit organization knows, giving is a very personal thing. It can be inspired by a variety of reasons: compassion for victims of natural or political disasters, belief in a cause, concern for the environment, passion for the arts, a sense of responsibility to one's community—or out of friendship and personal connection.

“My initial support of Y2Y was because of Penelope, and I continue to support the organization because I think it's doing good work.” Lucille first met Penelope Pierce, now Y2Y's U.S. Regional Director, on a trip to Yellowstone National Park sponsored by the Bronx Zoo. Penelope was one of the step-on guides. The two struck up a friendship, and when Penelope got her job with Y2Y, and subsequently got married, Lucille sent her first donation to Y2Y in honor of the wedding.

“In some ways it was totally far-fetched,” Lucille says. She is a confirmed New Yorker, and lives about 30 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. The majority of causes she supports are based around the New York area with an emphasis on the arts. However, conservation is also important to Lucille. For example, she has given environmental science grants to Purchase College and Westchester Community College, both of which are part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. “When I went to school there was no such thing as environmental science,” she notes. She was a history major and had a career in banking, but she recognized the significance of this new field early on, and felt it was something people should be concerned about.

That consideration translates into Lucille's expanded support for international conservation efforts like Y2Y. “If wildlife doesn't survive,” she says, “the chances of our own surviving diminish.”

Lucille has been coming out west for 25 years, first to ski, then to vacation at a favorite dude ranch. She now has a place in Colorado, and manages to visit about six times a year. “I really love it,” she says—although she doesn't profess to fit in right down to the last Wrangler rivet. “One year I ended up having to rent a truck instead of a car while I was out there. I've never driven a truck in my life. I had a lot of trouble backing into parking spaces. My New York friends said to me, so where's the dog and the rifle?” Lucille laughs. “I said, well maybe I could do the dog bit . . .”