What’s Silver is Gold

Wednesday, 07 December 2011 16:35

The Community Foundation just celebrated its 25^th anniversary of creating positive impact in Frederick County.  Yes, it is our silver anniversary, but to the volunteers who have served as trustees over the years, it’s golden.

What’s so golden about it?

Let’s start off with a feeling of satisfaction for those dedicated volunteers who served as trustees in the early years.  They chuckle when they reminisce about trying to get people to understand the community foundation concept.  No, it wasn’t a company that dug foundations for buildings throughout Frederick County. (Laugh if you want…we used to get inquiries about digging footers!)   The common thought was that charitable foundations were for people like the Carnegies and Rockefellers.  Trying to convince our residents that Frederick County could sustain a community foundation was a challenge.  In fact, a Baltimore Community Foundation representative told the first trustees that a community foundation wouldn’t thrive here so becoming a satellite of Baltimore was the only way to go.  Those trustees look back at that meeting with a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that Frederick County has indeed proven that it can support a community foundation.  To them, this feeling is golden.

Then there’s the fact that the Community Foundation has given back more than $29 million in scholarships and grants since its inception in 1986.  This includes scholarships to a young woman who is now teaching math at Governor Thomas Johnson High School and to a young man who is a banker with Sandy Spring Bank, and hundreds of other traditional and nontraditional students who received help to fulfill their career goals.  This dollar amount also includes significant funding for Frederick County Public Schools Earth Space Lab, the Religious Coalition’s Cold Weather Shelter, the Frederick County Health Access Program, and East Third Street Park, and grants for nonprofits supporting the arts, health and human services, the environment, historic preservation, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, animal welfare, and various civic causes.  In many ways, these are golden nuggets spread throughout Frederick County that enhance life for our residents in so many ways.

At 25 years old, the Community Foundation is still considered a young foundation and is nowhere near its golden years.  That’s why 25^th anniversary theme of “Community Works…Imagining What’s Next” was chosen - to show that the Community Foundation is working in Frederick County and is far from retiring. 

I would be interested in knowing what you think is golden about the Community Foundation.  Is it our grant programs?  Is it our ability to impact Frederick County in so many different ways?  Is it the fact that we help everyone to be a philanthropist and participate in bettering our community?  Please share your thoughts with me as we imagine what’s next that will be For Good. Forever. For Frederick County.  For the next 25 years. 

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