Lisa Hopewell, Santee Humanitarian, Dies at 55

Lisa Hopewell, a woman whose humanitarian efforts truly made a difference in Santee and the world, died of breast cancer in hospice Dec. 14 at age 55.

She volunteered in Santee for over 32 years for thousands of combined hours at the Santee Food Bank, Santee Pioneer National Little League, United Methodist Church, Hill Creek Elementary School and elsewhere. 

In 2009 she was awarded Citizen of the Year by the Santee Chamber of Commerce and in 2012 she won the Wendell Cutting Humanitarian Award from the Chamber. June 28, 2013, was proclaimed by the city council to be "Lisa Hopewell Day" in Santee, to honor her dedication to the people of Santee that were in need.

She spent more than ten years as admistrator or administrative assistant of the Santee Food Bank, and acted as project manager for the relocation of the food bank to a new site, Newbreak Church, in 2008. She is credited with saving the food bank from closure. Lisa was awarded the Santee Food Bank Lifetime of Service Award in 2013.

Santee's economic development coordinator, Pamela White, told U-T San Diego that Lisa was proof that "you don’t have to be wealthy to have an impact."

Born in Flagstaff, AZ, Lisa lived on a Navajo reservation for the first years of her life. Her family moved to Lakeside, she graduated from El Capitan High School in 1976, and married Mark Hopewell a year later. 

They moved to Santee in 1979 and she soon began volunteering with the Santee Food Bank after noticing families in need while working as a teacher's aid.