Documentary Film - Playing with Heart
North County Special Needs Community Foundation
Board Members
John Lingham
As a long-standing community member, John has given his time and energy to many civic, church, and educational organizations. As a result, he has received several awards recognizing his efforts.
John’s commitment to the special needs community is inspired by an uncle whom he saw had limited options in his life. Two years after graduating from San Diego State, John opened his first Original Pancake House in Poway in 1990. In 2003 he opened a second location in Temecula, which he sold in 2008.
In 2015, John was recognized by the Entrepreneur’s Organization as Social Entrepreneur of the year. In addition, he received the Big Brothers and Sisters of San Diego $100,000 Achievement Award from 2005-2014.
In 2018, because of his active involvement in Kiwanis as a Board member and a Senior Advisor to the Aktion Club, he was recognized as Kiwanian of the Year. The Aktion Club is the only community-service club for adults living with disabilities. It allows members to develop initiative and leadership skills in serving their communities while enabling their integration into society.
He currently serves on the President’s Advisory Council of Cathedral Catholic High School and is a St. Michaels Church Parish Finance Committee member.
Since 2015, a real passion for him and his family has been their participation in the Build A Miracle organization, where they recently sponsored their 10th house in Tijuana, Mexico.
John and his wife Lisa have two daughters, Lindsay and Lily. They are both very active athletes and attend Cathedral Catholic High School. Lindsey will be attending Baylor University in the fall of 2021. As a family, they were one of the first sponsors and active participants for the inaugural special needs event, Night to Shine Prom, in Poway.
Whenever John has time to himself, which isn’t too often, he enjoys golf, cooking, Sudoku, and caring for hummingbirds.
John Couvrette
Since graduating from USD with a degree in Accounting and Marketing, John has followed his passion for technology and business development. His skills have enabled him to pursue successful sales and CEO management careers in several technical software service industries.
Currently in Real Estate, John partners with his wife Ginger at Halcyon Real Estate in Residential Sales and Property Management. In addition, they own Couvrette Real Estate Income Properties (CRE), which is an investment LLC with a portfolio of residential and small apartment complexes. CRE acquires, secures funding and manages the income producing properties on behalf of the investors.
John and his wife Ginger of 27 years have volunteered in many Poway programs as their children grew up in the Poway Unified School district. John coached baseball, softball and Pop Warner football for many years.
John and Ginger played a significant role in organizing Jack O Smash the first of many successful major fundraising events for the Special Needs community in Poway.
John is currently the CFO of the Poway Chamber of Commerce and President of the Poway Kiwanis Club. He is also the Committee Chair of the Chamber’s Non-Profit Consortium where he enables connections through his business, philanthropic and social circles to benefit those that give to their community.
John brings his passion to serve others in the North County Special Needs Community as well. His business and personal relationships are invaluable in helping the North County Special Needs Foundation in its Mission.
John and Ginger have three children. Tyler is an Electrical Engineer with Texas Instruments, Justin is in a PhD program at UC Merced studying Polymer Biomimicry and Kelly is in her first year at UCLA majoring in Electrical Engineering.
In his spare time, which is not much, John enjoys taking advantage of the many hiking trails throughout Poway and supporting his alma mater USD Football program.