by Kathi Clayton and Susan Bray

All of us who live and work in Chestnut Hill area are community members and stakeholders. We have a vested interest in the long-term viability and stability of our community.

Seventy years ago a group of residents, acknowledging their responsibilities as primary stakeholders in this village within the city, founded the Chestnut Hill Community Association. The purposes of the Association as stated in the by-laws in 1958 are “to encourage a sense of community, to foster a quality of life beneficial to the community, to lessen the burden of government and to serve the public interest.” The CHCA has been working on behalf of all parts of the community ever since.

The association serves as a public forum for residents and stakeholders. This is where community policy is discussed and community activities and programs are sponsored and supported.

It is likely you have seen our CHCA Annual Appeal notices in the Local and in the CHCA’s email to members and friends. We have outlined our advocacy, initiatives, and programs on behalf of the community, and we do so again in today’s newspaper.

What is challenging to convey is the serenity and contentment many of us feel experiencing a “Chestnut Hill Moment” on a given day. Ours is a community whose walkability, safety and security foster a comfortable family-friendly lifestyle with access to outdoors activities and public transportation.

It is a place that lifts your spirit during a brisk walk around the neighborhood or enjoying coffee or lunch with a friend in a sunny spot on the Avenue. In Chestnut Hill you actually can and should stop and “smell the flowers.”

These amenities don’t happen by chance. The all-volunteer board of the CHCA, an Executive Director, and a part-time staff consisting of a Marketing Manager, Development Review Facilitator, Bookkeeper and Administrative Assistant work to make our community a desirable place to live, work and visit. They are assisted by community volunteers who help make CHCA’s activities and programs possible and successful.

In today’s world small membership organizations like the CHCA can’t sustain themselves simply by membership fees. We need additional financial support from our friends, neighbors and businesses.

The CHCA has approximately 1,600 member households. To date we have received Annual Appeal contributions from approximately 260 households and businesses and have raised $41,000. This is well short of our goal of $100,000. We need additional support. No donations are too small – or too large!

We greatly appreciate and thank those neighbors and friends who have contributed this year. As the CHCA’s Annual Appeal enters its final weeks we encourage more current CHCA members and fans of Chestnut Hill to please make a contribution. The community depends on it. Thank you.

Kathi Clayton and Susan Bray are co-chairs CHCA’s Annual Appeal

Checks can be mailed to CHCA at 8434 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia PA 19118 or donate on line at www.chestnuthill.org