Westfield Foundation Welcomes New President, Hears from Grant Recipients

The Westfield Foundation reorganized last Tuesday welcoming in a new president and thanking the outgoing president for his years of service.

The group's 35th annual meeting, held at Temple Emanu-El, was the last presided over by Charles Kroloff, the foundation's president for the last six years. Kroloff is the rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanu-El, having served 36 years as the temple's rabbi before retiring in 2002.

At this meeting Kroloff had an opportunity to thank his fellow trustees for the hard work that has been done during his time in office.  He talked about how the work that they do is so important and how he believes that all of the members truly believe in the work they are doing.  He said "We're not a religious organization, but I think the work we do is sacred."

The foundation serves two functions. The group presents grants to non-profit groups in town from its own treasury and also serves as a holding foundation and investment arm for other non-profit groups in the Westfield community.

During the meeting two of the previous grant recipients presented a short piece on their organizations and the things they were able to do with the help of the grants they received. 

One of the organizations was Jewish Family Services, represented by executive director Tom Beck.  Beck briefly explained what the organization does.  The organization has two main branches: senior services and family and children.  For senior services they provide a wide range of homecare services including nursing and personal care transportation for frail, elderly people.  Family and children's services include counseling, adoption work, and after-school programs. 

The organization has used foundation grant money for nurses in their elder care, to support a Safety in the Home Project which prevents falls in the home, and to hire a child psychiatrist.  All of the things which the grant money was put towards are still in use and are being put to good use by the organization's users.

The other grant recipient presenting was the Master Gardeners, which was represented by T.J. Karns, Madeline DiNardo, and Deb Naha.  The Master Gardeners are volunteers who have been trained by Rutgers Cooperative Extension in horticultural topics.  There have been about 700 graduates of the program and there are currently approximately 220 active members.  These volunteers organize and run a large variety of activities. 

They have a 1.5 acre demonstration garden at Trailside Nature and Science Center in Watchung Reservation.  This garden includes a "sharing garden" where fruits and vegetables are grown and then donated to the NJ Food Bank.  This garden is not only tended by Master Gardener volunteers, but Bar Mitzvah candidates, Scout groups, and camp groups also sometimes come to help out and learn about gardening.  Also in the demonstration garden there is a Cutting Garden, where all the flowers grown are cut and given to patients being treated for cancer.  The organization also runs a help line where citizens can ask the trained volunteers any questions they may have about gardening. 

The organization has received three grants from the Westfield Foundation.  One of these was used to purchase a laptop and projector so that they could more effectively conduct outreach.

The audience was given a chance to hear a briefing on the foundation's finances. This was given by Tony Cook, who moved from the foundation's vice presidency to presidency during the meeting said he believes the foundation is on sound fiscal footing and praised the work of the members.

Betsy Chance, the foundation's executive director explained the governance changes coming to the foundation including the departure of three trustees. The departing trustees are Lois Healy, Warren Hanscom and Kroloff.  These members were thanked for all their hard work and were assured that they would be missed.

During his opening address as foundation president, Cook opened by discussing the work of the foundation and welcoming new trustees. He opened by saying what a great organization this is and thanking various members.  He paraphrased a quote by John D. Rockefeller "Think of giving not only as a duty but as a privilege." 

His main goal over the next two years as president is to make the Foundation more known to the public.  He then had the pleasure of welcoming three new members to the board: former Councilman Sal Caruana, Alice Fertig, and Russ Finestein.