Community Fund reaches $100,000 goal

Posted 4/4/12

By Sue Ann Rybak [caption id="attachment_12570" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="From left-Jane Piotrowski, Noreen Spota and Dr. Susan Bray announced that Chestnut Hill Community Fund Drive met …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Community Fund reaches $100,000 goal

Posted

By Sue Ann Rybak

[caption id="attachment_12570" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="From left-Jane Piotrowski, Noreen Spota and Dr. Susan Bray announced that Chestnut Hill Community Fund Drive met their goal of $100,000 this year. The money will be distributed in the form of grants to local nonprofit organizations in Northwest Philadelphia."][/caption]

The Chestnut Hill Community Fund Drive has exceeded its goal of $100,000. This year the drive raised $101,161. Over the past 40 years, the CHCF has raised about $2,007,455 – all of which benefitted local nonprofits in Northwest Philadelphia.

The Chestnut Hill Community Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization that is facilitated by the Chestnut Hill Community Association. CHCA president Jane Piotrowski thanked the community for their generous support.

“In spite of the recent state of the economy, people in Chestnut Hill and surrounding neighborhoods have been quite generous,” Piotrowski said. “We are fortunate to live in a community that cares so deeply about the various programs that enhance the quality of life here.”

This year's largest donor was the Chestnut Hill Hospital, which donated $20,000 to the fund. Piotrowski commented on their generous continued support.

“Chestnut Hill Hospital has been a major partner in working with the CHCA to help make the our programs so successful,” she said. “For the past six years they have been a major sponsor of the Pastorius Park summer concert series.”

Thanks to the generous support from 550 donors, local nonprofits like Chestnut Hill Meals on Wheels and Keystone Hospice can continue to provide vital services to local residents Piotrowski said.

“Over the past 40 years, the support of the CHCF has been invaluable in ensuring the ongoing success of many community organizations and programs,” she added.

Money raised from the 2012 Chestnut Hill Community Fund Drive will benefit local nonprofit and community programs through various grants. Below is a list of organizations that have applied for grants this year.

* The Buxtehude Consort: To support the performance of six concerts at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill featuring vocal and instrumental works of the Baroque period.

* Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment: To support programs – workshops, classes, and social events – that help local residents over age 50 continue to live independently, remain socially engaged, stay physically and mentally active, and make their unique contributions to the neighborhood.

* Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse Project: To support the construction of the “Skyspace,” an ingeniously lit chamber with a ceiling aperture through which the changing sky at dawn or dusk seems to move mysteriously close and intensify in color and mass. This will be regularly open to community members and tourists for quiet respite, contemplation, and meditation.

* Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund: To support the continuing hanging basket and barrel program along Germantown Avenue and maintenance of the entryway park at Germantown Avenue and Cresheim Valley Drive.

* Chestnut Hill Meals on Wheels: To provide fresh, nutritious meals to disabled and senior homebound people in the Chest- nut Hill area who require subsidized service.

* Children’s Park in Chestnut Hill: To support the maintenance of this unique community play area and social space at the John S. Jenks elementary school.

* The Stagecrafters: To support their “Green Campaign,” begun in 2005 to reduce the environmental impact of their activities, and to beautify the building and grounds using sustainable and environmentally sound methods.

* Teenagers Inc.: To provide a variety of social, service, and leadership programs for young people age 12-18.

* Weavers Way Community Programs: To support “Marketplace,” a school-based student-run co-operative food business program at the John S. Jenks and Our Mother of Consolation Schools.

CHCA Programs:

* Pastorius Park Summer Concert Series: To support this long- standing series of evening concerts running from mid-June to early August, free to the public and featuring a wide variety of performers and organized by the CHCA.

* Community Partnership School: To provide mentoring and other support services for a low- income student attending one of the private middle schools in Chestnut Hill.

* The Crossing: To support the performance of two choral concerts at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill featuring “Modern Vespers” music fashioned after the ancient evening prayer service but cast in modern themes and musical languages.

* Friends of the Wissahickon: To support the “Wissahickon Stormwater Mitigation and Sediment Reduction Project” at the Valley Green Road site, which will entail stabilization of the tributary stream bank, training volunteers, and stormwater management education

* Friends of the Wyndmoor Train Station: To support the maintenance of the gardens at this, the most heavily used station on the R-7 line.

* John S. Jenks School: To support the school’s ongoing auditorium improvement project.

* Keystone Hospice: To provide hospice services to terminally ill men, women, and children in the Chestnut Hill area whose insurance will not cover the services and who cannot afford to pay privately.

* Mt. Airy Learning Tree: To support mechanical, plumbing, and electrical repairs and energy-efficient improvements to their property, which has not been updated for the past 30 years.

* Project Learn: To support a series of free monthly cooking classes for boys and girls, age 5-15 years, who live in the turing a wide variety of performers and organized by the CHCA.

* CHCA Awards: To support the presentation of four awards recognizing the outstanding service of Chestnut Hill volunteers.

* CHCA Development Review and Land Use Planning and Zoning Committees: To support the operations of these two key committees.

* CHCA Volunteer Memorial Garden: To support the maintenance of this small garden located in front of the former Borders building honoring Chestnut Hill’s many volunteers.

featured, news