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Allentown, Pa., December 1, 2022—The Upper Bucks Community Fund of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation issued $35,600 in grants to area nonprofit organizations. The Fund consists primarily of two area-of-interest funds. The Richard E. Gasser Fund and Erwin J. and Gertrude K. Neusch Fund are for organizations and programs primarily serving the Palisades, Pennridge and Quakertown School Districts in the Upper Bucks area.

Two of the grants will address the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) problem in the region. The invasive insect native to northeastern Asia was first discovered in Michigan in 2002 and since has devastated the Ash Tree population in the United States. In 2012, the Emerald Ash Borer was confirmed in Bucks and Montgomery counties. EAB is very destructive and kills Ash trees quickly, within 1 -2 years. The leafy canopy of infested ash trees will begin to look thin. EAB chews through the tree’s water and nutrient-conducting tissues, strangling the tree. If there is a high population of EAB in the tree, the leafy canopy in ash trees will start to die. A third to a half of the branches may die in one year. The Bucks County Horse Park and the Heritage Conservancy are receiving 2022-23 grants from the Upper Bucks Community Fund at LVCF that will support efforts to remediate the problem by removing affected trees in the region.

These grants were made at the recommendation of the advisory committee for the Upper Bucks Community Fund, a geographic affiliate of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation. “The Upper Bucks Community Fund Advisory Group carefully considered each application in accordance with the fund’s priorities,” said Megan Briggs, Director of Community Investments at the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation. “After a very thorough discussion about all the excellent applications, the Advisory Group worked together to recommend the final grant awards. Each member contributed their own depth of knowledge about the Upper Bucks region again this year to award projects and programs that will increase the quality of life for Upper Bucks residents.”

The following organizations received grants for programs from the fund’s 2022-23 grant cycle. The funded programs are listed as well.

• Bucks County Horse Park
  Bucks County Horse Park, Inc. Emerald Ash Borer Remediation

• Durham Historical Society
  Archival effort to protect, display and share historical artifacts

• Heritage Conservancy
  Ash Tree Remediation and Forest Stewardship Project at Fuller-Pursell Nature Preserve

• National Inventors Hall of Fame, Inc.
  Camp Invention STEM, Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship Programs in Upper Bucks County

• Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival
  FreeWill and WillPower Tour to Upper Bucks (Quakertown and Palisades School Districts)

• Riegelsville Public Library
  Art for Kids in the Summer

• Valley Choral Society
  Bringing the Faure Requiem with an Orchestra to the Upper Bucks Area

• YMCA of Bucks County
  Quakertown Branch After School Arts Program

About the Upper Buck Community Fund of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation

The Upper Bucks Community Fund of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, a geographic affiliate of Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, consists primarily of two area-of-interest funds. The Richard E. Gasser Fund and Erwin J. and Gertrude K. Neusch Fund are for organizations and programs primarily serving the Palisades, Pennridge and Quakertown School Districts in the Upper Bucks area. Recently added to Upper Bucks umbrella, The Bucks County Free Library Endowment Fund is an agency fund that benefits the seven-branch county library system with locations in Bensalem, Doylestown, Langhorne, Levittown, Perkasie, Quakertown, and Yardley-Makefield.

Learn more about the Upper Bucks Community Fund on the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation website.

Erika Riddle Petrozelli, President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation recently spoke with Cornerstone | Independent Asset Management on a podcast “Cornerstone Unplugged,” about the importance of community foundation, her career path to LVCF, and a variety of related topics.

Erika joined the Foundation in 2014 as Director of Donor Services, focusing on maintaining and expanding philanthropic relationships. She was named Vice President of Philanthropy in 2020, contributing to strategic decisions and community leadership activities, particularly during the pandemic. Erika is also a CPA that provides professional knowledge and advice about charitable giving to a wide range of Lehigh Valley residents, from individuals and families to their trusted advisors and local businesses. She is president of the Estate Planning Council of the Lehigh Valley and was recently named Vice Chair of the board of the Pennsylvania Community Foundation Alliance.

Erika Riddle Petrozelli explains what attracted her to the nonprofit Erika talks about her role evolution inside the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation:

• The Foundation’s involvement in other nonprofits
•  Who are the primary investors in the Foundation, and how does the process work?
• Erika talks about the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) Study Group and its importance to the Foundation 
• What is capacity building, and how does it impact the Foundation? 
• Erika explains the dollar amount, percentage, and gift you can give to the Foundation
• What’s next for the Foundation?
• Things Erika does for fun to unwind and what it was like working during the pandemic

Click to listen to the the Podcast

From Cornerstone

Would you like to make charitable contributions, leave a legacy, and impact the world? What’s the best way to achieve your goal? Many people are willing to help their communities and support the causes that matter to them. There has been a rise in nonprofit organizations and community foundations to help. And now, Erika Riddle Petrozelli shares how she’s running a community foundation that helps donors with charitable contributions using a simple, powerful, and highly personalized approach. 

In today’s episode of Cornerstone Unplugged, join JP Cavaliere and Stephen Link as they sit down with Erika Riddle Petrozelli, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, to discuss what it takes to run a community foundation. Erika explains how she got into the nonprofit space and her role in the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, the Foundation’s role in other nonprofits, endowment, how capacity building impacts the Foundation, and how people can invest with the Foundation. 

About Cornerstone

Cornerstone is one of the nation’s leading independent investment consulting firms. They are committed to building and preserving the assets of institutions and wealthy families, now and into the future. Their success is rooted in navigating complex financial decisions on behalf of their clients, and their mission is right in their tagline: Insight. Influence. Integrity. Learn more at: https://cornerstone-companies.com/

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Erika Riddle Petrozelli on LinkedIn
Lehigh Valley Community Foundation
Stephen Link on LinkedIn 
JP Cavaliere on LinkedIn 
Cornerstone Advisors Asset Management
Cornerstone Unplugged podcast 

Click here for a complete list and review of Cornerstone/s disclaimers 

Allentown, Pa., October 3, 2022— Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (LVCF) announced the 2022-23 grant recipients for both Program Stream and Entry to Program Stream initiatives. LVCF is the regional partner agency of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Through the Partners in the Arts program (PPA), LVCF works with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to distribute grant awards for projects or programs involving artists throughout Region 5, which includes: Carbon, Monroe, Lehigh and Northampton counties.

Program Stream is an invitation-only grant opportunity which provides ongoing support to arts organizations and arts programs with an established history of funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Once admitted to this funding stream, organizations receive consistent general operating support for arts programming. 

Entry to Program Stream is a grant opportunity which provides general operating support for small arts organizations and non-arts organizations or units of government with a history of at least one year of consistent arts programming in Pennsylvania and average annual revenue less than $200,000. 

Both Entry to Program Stream and Program Stream grants may be used for operations or programs.  Entry to Program Stream offers a new pathway to attaining long-term general operating support. Grantees that receive funds through Entry to Program Stream for one to three years may qualify to be recommended for Program Stream. At this time, grant amounts for Entry to Program Stream are estimated to be a maximum of $2,000, while Program Stream grant amounts are estimated to be a maximum of $3,000. The amounts are subject to change depending on state funding.

“We thank the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for partnering with the Community Foundation to offer this opportunity for additional small art organizations and programs to get in the PPA stream of funding,” said Monique Saunders Moreno, Assistant Director of Community Investments at the Community Foundation. “These small, but important multi-year grants can make a difference in the life of an arts organization—we are pleased to welcome these organizations into the stream.”

Those organizations receiving Entry to Program Stream grants for 2022-23 include:

• Delaware Water Gap Celebration of Arts, Inc.
• East Stroudsburg University Art Department
• Fusia Dance Company
• Interlace Cultural y Desarrollo Integral Mexicano de LV, Inc.
• Mock Turtle Marionette Theater
• Puertorrican Culture Preservation, Inc.
• Repertory Dance Theatre
• Ukrainian American Heritage Foundation of the Lower Anthracite Region

Those organizations receiving Program Stream grants for 2022-23 include:

• Appalachian Fiddle & Blue Grass Association
• Bach and Handel Chorale Inc
• Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission
• Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
• Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem
• Godfrey Daniels
• Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange
• Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild
• Mikayla’s Voice
• Moravian University
• Penn State Lehigh Valley
• Pocono Bluegrass & Folk Society
• Pocono Concert Chorale
• Pocono Youth Orchestra
• SATORI
• Shawnee Institute Ltd
• SouthSide Film Institute
• The Allentown Band
• The Arts Community of Easton, Inc.
• The Camerata Singers
• WDIY 88.1 FM
• Young People’s Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley

These grants are supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency, through the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), its regional arts funding Partnership. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the state’s PPA Partner (Lehigh Valley Community Foundation for Region 5].

Learn more about Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant opportunities on the Community Foundation Website.

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Allentown, Pa., August 3, 2022—Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (LVCF) has announced the inaugural cohort for its CORE Fellowship Program, a three-year capacity-building process designed to bring Lehigh Valley nonprofit leaders together to center equity in themselves, their relationships, their organizations, and the nonprofit sector.  

“The Community Foundation is launching the CORE Fellowship Program after listening to our stakeholders and partners, and through learning from our past initiatives,” explained Megan Briggs, LVCF’s Director of Community Investments. “The CORE Fellowship Program combines our knowledge and experience gained through the past four years of LVCF’s Nonprofit Effectiveness program, as well as Project Equity, which was launched in partnership with the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and Faces International in 2020.”  

“We began to recognize that the demand for equity is increasing locally, regionally, and nationally, but yet there was limited funding or capacity building available to advance equity. This program launched because we wanted to use our positioning as a funder and previous experience to  support the work that needs to be done to reach equity by providing the infrastructure and resources necessary to both individuals and organizations,” Briggs explained. 

The Community Foundation is partnering with consultants to design and deliver the model. These consultants have served on the program design team which has co-created the launch of this program. These consultants will also facilitate year 1 of the program; they include Phyllis Alexander, Alexander Unlimited; Guillermo Lopez, G-pez Consulting; and Carter Gilbert, independent consultant. 

The following leaders from their respective organizations have been selected to participate in the 2022-23 fellowship cohort: 

Bradbury Sullivan LGBT Community Center 

• Christina Graham, Data & Evaluation Manager 
• Robin Gow, Cultural & Community-Building Programs Manager

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Community Bike Works

• Dolores Singletary, Board President 
• Hana Rose Cannon, Program Manager 

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Lehigh University – Zoellner Arts Center 

• Candi Staurinos, Director of Community Engagement & Impact 
• Mark Wilson, Executive Director 

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LINC (Lehigh Valley Interregional Networking & Connecting Consortium)

• Jessica Escobar-Eck, Director, Business Development
• Katelyn Mack, President & Chief Operating Officer 

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New Bethany Ministries  

• Chris Cassidy, Director of Development & Planning 
• Veronne Demesyeux, Associate Executive Director 

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Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley 

• Jeani Garcia, Program Manager Violence Prevention & Reentry  
• Julie Thomases, Board of Directors 

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Ripple Community, Inc. 

• Charlene Smalls, Board Member  
• Sherri Brokopp Binder, Executive Director 

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Emilie Carlino, Career and Professional Development Coach

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In addition to nonprofit leaders selected to participate in the program, there are five nonprofit stakeholders who were invited to participate in the CORE Fellowship Program. These stakeholders are important partners in shifting the nonprofit sector to becoming more equitable and have consistently demonstrated a commitment to equity. Stakeholders are represented from the philanthropic, government, or corporate sectors.  

The following stakeholders have agreed to participate in the 2022-23 fellowship cohort: 

• Janine Carambot Santoro, Director of Equity and Inclusion, City of Bethlehem 
• Mariska Van Aalst, Public Engagement Officer, Congresswoman Susan Wild’s Office 
• Meg Dowd, Corporate Affairs Manager, JustBorn Quality Confections 
• Carrie Nedick, Director of Donor Services, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation 
• Marci Martinez-Howey, Associate VP, DEI, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley 

As a staff member of the program design team, Monique Saunders Moreno, Assistant Director of Community Investments explained “We understood that part of the success of this program is people being able to share their personal equity journeys and learnings with one another. Having a diverse group of community leaders who understand the Lehigh Valley nonprofit sector and have a personal and professional investment in making a difference, is beneficial for everyone. Our heartfelt thanks to each of the fellows and stakeholders who have agreed to give their time and energy to this program.” 

The CORE Fellowship program offers benefits to both the individuals in the cohort, but also their respective organizations. CORE Fellows will receive leadership development coaching along with guidance from organizational development consultants on the creation of an equity-centered capacity-building project. LVCF has partnered with Partnering 4 Change as the organizational development consultants for the fellowship. They will conduct an in-depth equity and organizational development assessment with time to carry out an equity-centered capacity-building project. Fellows will also benefit from building connections to a network of nonprofit leaders. The CORE Fellowship offers a $25,000 grant to each participating organization. Each organization will receive a $10,000 general operating award during the first year, $15,000 to support an equity-centered capacity-building project during the second year, and coaching support during the third year, contingent upon meeting program requirements. 

Megan Briggs explained the anticipated impact of the program. “Leaders and organizations will begin the process of healing from the harm of racism and those that have been historically and are currently being oppressed based on race will be celebrated and recognized and have an equitable share in the power and control of resources in the Lehigh Valley nonprofit sector. It is our goal that organizations will center equity and justice rather than charity and performance, having the resources and capacity to deliver their mission,” she said. 

Learn more about the CORE Fellowship Program

Allentown, PA, July 27, 2022 – Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (LVCF) recently named Tom Neuhaus, Vice President at Victaulic Company in Easton, Pa., to its Board of Governors. Neuhaus serves on the Community Foundation’s Finance Committee.

Neuhaus has over thirty-four years of experience in various functions in industries ranging from industrial and commercial equipment manufacturing, energy, large-scale municipal power generation and distribution and building products.  Companies he’s worked for over his career range from small, privately held entities to Fortune 50 multi-national public corporations.

Prior to joining Community Foundation’s Board, Neuhaus served on the Board of Directors for the Cancer Support Community of Greater Lehigh Valley for the past 6 years.  He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Syracuse University and an MBA from the University of Rochester, and lives in Nazareth with his family.

The Board of Governors at Lehigh Valley Community Foundation provide administrative, programmatic and fiscal oversight in support of the organization’s mission.  Members of the Board serve as ambassadors, promoting the Community Foundation as a vehicle for philanthropy and a leader of community improvement.

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Allentown, PA, July 27, 2022 – Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (LVCF) recently named Marvin Webb, MBA (he/him/his), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Funders for LGBTQ Issues in New York City to its Board of Governors.  Webb serves on the Community Foundation’s Community Investments Committee which oversees grantmaking.

Webb joined Funders for LGBTQ Issues in 2010 as Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration. He was recently named CFO and focuses on strategic finance, human resources, information technology, conference management, administration, and infrastructure. Webb moved to New York City in 1989 to begin his 17-year career as a professional modern dancer. After retiring from dance, he was the Human Resources & Business Manager of a boutique public relations firm in New York City.

Webb received a BA degree from Creighton University, a Certificate in modern dance from the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and a MFA degree, in contemporary dance, from New York University/Tisch School of the Arts. After his performing career, Webb received a MBA. degree in Human Resources and Marketing from Baruch College/Zicklin School of Business. He recently graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with an MS in Accountancy. For a complete bio visit the Funders of LGBTQ Issues website.

Marvin lives in Bethlehem, Pa. with his husband George and serves on CenterLink, the board of 200+ LGBT community centers.

The Board of Governors at Lehigh Valley Community Foundation provide administrative, programmatic and fiscal oversight in support of the organization’s mission.  Members of the Board serve as ambassadors, promoting the Community Foundation as a vehicle for philanthropy and a leader of community improvement.

Allentown, Pa., July 26, 2022—Lehigh Valley Business today named Megan Briggs, Director of Community Investments at the Community Foundation, as one of the 40 young professionals from the greater Lehigh Valley selected as a “Forty Under 40” honoree for 2022.

Megan Briggs joined the staff of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation in 2017. As Director of Community Investments, Megan oversees grantmaking administration and strategy. She works with volunteer advisory committees to implement the Foundation’s high-impact grantmaking programs and analyzes data from the nonprofit community to help maximize and promote community impact.

Prior to joining the foundation, Megan has held various leadership roles in a diverse set of non-profit organizations including serving as Director of Family Services at Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County and Project Manager of Strategy at Philadelphia Youth Network. She was also selected as a 2012 United Way Emerging Leaders Fellow.  

Originally from Maryland, Megan spent 12 years in Philadelphia prior to moving to Upper Black Eddy in 2016. She served as a member of the fundraising committee for Germantown United and on several local neighborhood organizing committees in the Philadelphia area. She graduated from Salisbury University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Business.

“We are very proud of her achievements and her contributions to both LVCF and our community. Megan is a passionate, authentic, and thoughtful leader on our team,” said Erika Riddle Petrozelli, President and CEO of the Lehigh Vally Community Foundation. “She is critical to the continued success of the Foundation: her work is a key component of our new strategic plan.  Megan has a drive and enthusiasm to advance her career.  She participates in sector-wide and national programs for leadership development and skill-building.  She is a woman to watch in our philanthropic industry, and we are pleased that she has been recognized as such by Lehigh Valley Business.”

Forty Under 40 recognizes professionals 40 years of age and younger who have been successful in the Greater Lehigh Valley area. Honorees, selected by the editors of Lehigh Valley Business, were chosen based on professional accomplishments, community service and commitment to inspiring change. 

A member of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation’s Board of Governors, Veronica Gonzalez, MBA, Chief Executive Officer at Valley Health Partners Community Health Center, also received the honor. A listing of all the winners is below.

This year’s Forty Under 40 will be honored September 14 at an awards celebration at the DeSales University Center, 2755 Station Avenue in Center Valley. The Celebration Sponsor is Members 1st Federal Credit Union. For the most updated listing of sponsors, visit lvb.com/event/forty-under-40-awards/.

Honorees will be profiled in a magazine that will be inserted into the September 26 issue of Lehigh Valley Business and will be available online at .

About Lehigh Valley Business

Lehigh Valley Business is a multimedia news source with 36 years of journalistic excellence that breaks news daily on its website, LVB.com. It also publishes a print and online edition. In addition, Lehigh Valley Business publishes special focus sections and products throughout the year including Reader Rankings and Fastest Growing Companies in addition to the yearly Book of Lists. It also hosts eight annual events, including Women of Influence, Health Care Heroes and Forty Under 40, to recognize excellence and provide leadership opportunities. Learn more at: https://www.lvb.com/.

2022 Forty Under 40 Honorees

• Sharon L. Alexander, CFRE, Carbon County Community Foundation
• Stephanie Atkins, Herbein + Company Inc.
• Dominick Baker, J.G. Petrucci Co. Inc.
• Megan Briggs, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation       
• Sarah Hart Charette, Gross McGinley LLP
• Kendal Conrad, Singer-songwriter
• Ashley Dallas, M.Ed., Valley Youth House
• Trevor Dombach, Kleinfelder Inc.
• Emily M. Doster, Lehigh Valley Health Network
• Abe Elias, Brown & Brown of Lehigh Valley
• Keegan Hackman Emerick, LCSW, New Vitae Inc.
• Thad M. Gelsinger, Barley Snyder
• Veronica Gonzalez, Valley Health Partners Community Health
• David Hannah, Tyber Medical LLC
• Stephen Jiwanmall, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
• Jeffrey Johns, Herbein + Company Inc.
• Angela Kilburg, Alloy5 Architecture
• Timothy Kraft, RKL LLP
• Julie A. Kunkel, BSI Corporate Benefits LLC
• David Lucabeche, Members 1st Federal Credit Union
• Erin Ludwig, Lehigh Valley Health Network
• Matthew McDonald, NAI Summit
• Jill Meyers, City Center Investment Corp.
• Madlen J. Miller, Morton Brown Family Wealth
• Chase Mory, Gateway Ticketing Systems Inc.
• Tracy Oscavich, Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
• Katie Pintabone-Brown, New Vitae Wellness & Recovery
• Michael Planer, Soltech Solutions
• Michael Ramos, The GIANT Company
• Michael T. Raymond, Communities In Schools of Eastern Pennsylvania
• Jeff Richter, DeSales University
• Manuel Rodriguez III, Batch Microcreamery
• Peter Rowley, Tompkins Community Bank
• Claire Wildermuth Sadler, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
• Ashley Santiago, SHRM-CP, Valley National Financial Advisors
• Raymond Santiago, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley
• Savanna Saul, City Experiences, Hornblower
• Olga Sklyarova, Fannie Mae
• Brielle Weida, Lehigh Valley Health Network
• Charles Wolf, Barry Isett & Associates Inc.

Allentown, Pa., July 20, 2022—Lehigh Valley Community Foundation recently issued $150,000 in grants to three area nonprofits providing services for homeless veterans. The Lehigh Valley Homeless Veteran Fund grants support projects that address transitional and supportive housing needs of homeless veterans in the Lehigh Valley; veteran-centric case management:/counseling in relation to housing, employment, finance, and life-skills; or other veteran-oriented programs.

Nonprofit organizations receiving grants in 2022 include:

Catholic Charities
Veterans Case Management Program

New Bethany Ministries
Homeless Veterans Housing Assistance

Victory House of Lehigh Valley
Veteran Service-Intensive Transitional Housing Program

Lehigh County government established the Lehigh Valley Homeless Veteran Fund at the Community Foundation in 2019 to provide grants to charitable organizations for programs supporting homeless veterans in the Lehigh Valley. The county established a committee of five people with experience in veterans’ services or housing programs, finance and administration to allocate the money in grants to charitable organizations for services for homeless veterans in the Valley.

In 2020, the Fund distributed $30,000 in grants to Catholic Charities, Safe Harbor of Easton, and Victory House for programs supporting homeless veterans. In 2021, a round of Lehigh Valley Homeless Veterans Fund grants were made possible thanks to state grant funding of $200,000 secured by Senate Appropriations Chairman Pat Browne (16th District) in 2020, which was the largest state commitment specifically targeted towards assisting homeless veterans in the Lehigh Valley. In 2021. Senator Browne secured a second round of funding which enabled the Community Foundation to issue $150,000 in grants in 2022.

“The Lehigh Valley Homeless Veteran Fund continues to make a real difference in the lives of the brave men and women who served our nation,” Senator Browne said. “These additional resources will continue to help provide pathways to our area veterans to obtain sustainable housing, job placement and mental health services. I want to thank all the community and agency partners throughout the Lehigh Valley working to help end the tragedy of Veteran Homelessness.”

Thomas Applebach, Director of the Lehigh County Office of Veterans Affairs and Chair of the committee that oversees the grants stated, “I cannot thank Senator Browne enough for securing these grants for our homeless veterans here in the Lehigh Valley. The state grants, along with donations from individuals and fundraisers held by area businesses, help to sustain and broaden the programs and services our partner agencies provide. I hope that in the future our local lawmakers, businesses, and individuals continue to help fund these grants to that we can continue to serve those who have served us.”

For more information or to make a gift to the fund, visit the Lehigh Valley Homeless Veterans Fund page on the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation website.

Media Contacts:

Michael Wilson
Director of Communications, Lehigh Valley Community Foundation
484-695-3277 wilson@lvcfoudation.org(link sends e-mail)

Thomas L. Applebach, MPA
Director, Office of Veterans Affairs, County of Lehigh
610-782-3295 ThomasApplebach@lehighcounty.org(link sends e-mail)

Matt Szuchyt
Deputy Director of Policy & Communications
Office of Senator Pat Browne
610-821-8468 mszuchyt@pasen.gov

Harrisburg, Pa., July 13, 2022—Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed HB1642 into law on Friday, July 8, 2022, a public school system bill which includes a prohibition on scholarship displacement at public colleges and universities. The law makes Pennsylvania the fourth state in the country to eliminate the practice of colleges and universities reducing a student’s financial aid package when the student receives a private scholarship.

A statewide coalition of scholarship providers, including the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (LVCF), initiated the call for elimination of scholarship displacement. The bill goes into effect immediately and will affect awards for the upcoming academic year.

“We are pleased that students attending public colleges and universities in Pennsylvania will now more fully benefit from receiving scholarships from the Community Foundation,” said Carrie Krug Nedick, Director of Donor Services at LVCF. “Prior to passage of this bill, when a donor provided a scholarship award to a student, the university would sometimes reduce that student’s financial aid package accordingly. In some cases, it eliminates the scholarship’s benefit to the student and undermines the donor’s purpose in awarding the scholarship which is to assist meritorious students with financial need.”

The coalition advocating for the change included members of the Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association (LVCF is a founding member), the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Foundation, the Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable, and Pittsburgh’s Poise Foundation.  

The Pennsylvania Association of Community Foundations (PACFA) is a network of 31 individual community foundations, all working to enhance the quality of life in the regions they serve by growing permanent endowment funds, through creative and thoughtful grantmaking, tailored donor education and through dynamic community leadership partnerships. Learn more about the Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association at: https://www.pacfapartners.org/.

Allentown, Pa., July 7, 2022—The George T. Walker Charitable Fund at Lehigh Valley Community Foundation (LVCF) recently issued more than $396,000 in grants to support organizations that were important to the late George T. Walker of Monroe County in Pennsylvania. A donor designated fund at the Community Foundation, the George T. Walker Charitable Fund provides annual grants to organizations designated through the estate of George T. Walker in perpetuity. Grants from the Fund for 2022 included the following:

• American Red Cross – Northeastern PA Chapter
  General Operating – BioMedical Services – $41,660
• Deborah Hospital Foundation
  Capital Campaign – Deborah100: The Campaign – $50,000
• Effort United Methodist Church
  Outside and Inside Facilities Projects (HVAC) – $40,000
• Guiding Eyes for the Blind
  General Operating – $75,000
• Mount Pocono United Methodist Church
  Competitive Salaries & Praise Leader/Technology Upgrade – $40,000
• Salvation Army East Stroudsburg Corps
  Emergency Shelter/Housing Programs serving Monroe County, Pa. – $75,000
• St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital
  Named Space at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – $75,000

The late George T. Walker of Monroe County in Pennsylvania discussed his charitable goals with his professional advisors in 2005, creating the parameters for a charitable fund at the Foundation which was funded by bequest upon his passing.  The George T. Walker Charitable Fund was established with his bequest in 2011.  “Mr. Walker specified that the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation has complete discretion, each year, regarding the amounts to be granted to each of these charitable organizations as well as the specific programs to be funded by grants from the Fund,” said Carrie Krug Nedick, LVCF Director of Donor Services. “We are pleased to make these grants to the organizations Mr. Walker held dear as the Foundation fulfills his charitable legacy.”

About George T. Walker

George T. Walker lived a humble life in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He was very generous, and he was especially careful to support organizations doing so much for their communities without asking for reimbursement or charging fees. He wished to continue this legacy of “helping those who help others” after his lifetime. He sought guidance from his financial advisor and estate planning attorney on how to incorporate his charitable wishes into his estate plans. The legacy gifts resulting from his considerable estate had the potential for significant impact. His professional advisors recommended a charitable fund at Lehigh Valley Community Foundation to give to organizations in perpetuity. Grants from the Fund are made to Mt. Pocono United Methodist Church, Effort United Methodist Church, the Salvation Army of East Stroudsburg, the American Red Cross of East Stroudsburg, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Deborah Heart and Lung Center, and Guiding Eyes for the Blind. 

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