Circle Camp- Grant Profile

A member of our inaugural class of ambassadors, Betsy Kirtland, has been active in advocating for grants on behalf of nonprofits since 2016. For the past two years, Betsy has advocated for Circle Camp, where she has volunteered as a counselor for several years. Here’s a short blurb from Betsy about that experience, and how the Foundation has played a role:

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“This August, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to volunteer for a week at Circle of Fleur de Lis.  Circle is a week long free camp that is for young girls ages 7-17 who have lost a parent. Although what brings all of the campers to Circle is their tragic loss, the traits that they all share that stand out most in my mind are their courage, strength, and resilience.


This year I was placed with a group of five 14 year olds.  On the first day, they told each other the stories of how they had lost their parent, and shared their feelings of anger, sadness, and confusion over what had happened.  Less than an hour later, though, they all were jumping in the lake and laughing at each other’s silliest dives off the dock. This duality is what makes Circle so special.  While the girls are at camp, they are encouraged to feel their grief while also feeling happy, to feel confused while also feeling understood, and to feel sad while also feeling safe.


Circle of Fleur de Lis cannot thank the Ascienzo Family Foundation enough for their generous grant this past year, which was enough to pay for six campers to attend.  Circle truly is an incredible week for the campers, many of whom would not be able to afford to attend a summer camp otherwise. Circle is by far my favorite week out of the year, and I know that most of the campers would agree with me - one girl even said that she was going to super glue herself to her bunk bed so that she never had to leave!”

Thanks for sharing, Betsy! (And thanks to Kelly Mosher, another Circle Camp volunteer, and Betsy for the photos).

End of Summer Greetings

End of Summer Greetings & Happy Labor Day to All!

It's been a busy summer, and we're so excited to share some of our activity from the past months (and what's upcoming on our agenda). 

  •  I (Director Nick) attended Community Partners For The Common Good, an inaugural symposium at Bard, sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) on August 15th. A range of community leaders & stakeholders met for a few hours to discuss aspirations for the broader region surrounding Red Hook and the challenges faced in reaching those goals. We were all assured that the “think tank” assembled on the 15th would continue and expand in partnership with culturally and politically diverse groups throughout the fall. My take on this Bard-focused study group is that the CCE is casting its net upon a wider community to accelerate communication, if not substantive change, for the benefit of all. As you are aware, in any progressive community there are underlying threads among public institutions, private enterprise, educational leaders, and non-profits. While at the time there may be no financial partnering that comes from this group, I suspect there will be action resolutions that the community will benefit from.

  • You will all fondly remember the Recreation Park - there is a movement to secure a $250,000 bond and like kind funding for the Town to update the playground facilities. We are active in that effort, awaiting a grant application from the group Red Hook Plays to assist in that funding.

  • Our Food Drive this year, titled Nourish Your Neighbor, is being chaired by two local ambassadors, Brenna Dolen & Emma Donahue, members of our Ambassador Class of 2018. A more nutritional and healthier campaign is being designed in collecting foodstuffs with assistance from Bard's CCE, the Rotary Club, and the Red Hook Faculty Association (RHFA). Like last year, we have set a goal of 10,000 items, and we will donate $1 per item & hopefully raise $10,000. The collectibles will be used in stocking local pantries and the funding money raised will go toward food vouchers for food insecure families during the Holiday Season. To kick off the campaign we will be sponsoring a no cost Farmer's Market for targeted families in need, to be held on November 10th. We're requesting from farm managers in the area donations of any surplus harvest from late October, early November. One manager has already been generous enough in pledging 70 free range turkeys! We're excited to be part of the planning and staging for both the nutritional collectible drive component and the non-perishable market component - endeavors that can only bear fruit (sorry, I couldn't resist) through the combined efforts of many community members.

  • Our 25 Grant Initiative for this year is coming along with 6 applications already approved and 4 local requests coming up this month. Whether ambassadors have sought funding in any of our previous 3 grant cycles or have simply engaged through volunteerism in their own ways, we're excited to extend to them the grant opportunity. We've had an incredible run of good financial fortune - fully endowed in 2017 and presently maintaining a balance of about $1.22 million. We're  encouraging our networked partners to request funding that meets our mission goals. Last year the average ambassador grants was for $5000, with some topping out at $7500. Now, with over 30 ambassadors in our network, there is every reason to believe that our 25 Grant Initiative will be attained. 

 

Finally, a note to our ambassadors: the complimentary closing "Thinking of You" used in much of my correspondence with others is a conscious reality from day to day as I consider your ambassadorship, but more importantly your health and well being. To those of you whose personal or foundation contact has been frequent or even sporadic during the year you are each indeed more than a passing impulse to me - your drumbeat of daily routine, the push and pull of professional duties, the relationships and families you embrace, and even the downtime of chillin' are all part of life's stuff that I know you're experiencing. The calculus of personal growth is steeped in many tones - May yours be rich!

 

Thinking of you (all of you!),

Nick A., Ali, Brittany, Sophie, and Nick F. 

2017 Highlights and Thoughts for Giving in 2018

Some highlights of last year and thoughts on partnerships as we move through the early part of 2018

 

Our local partnering with The Center of Civic Engagement (CCE) at Bard and The Red Hook Schools in November/December was a Food Drive collaboration that resulted in the donation of over 5,500 non-perishable items from the Bard & RHCS communities. The foodstuffs were distributed pantries in Red Hook, and in addition $3250 was granted by the AFF to the Red Hook Faculty Association (RHFA). The RHFA used those funds to buy food vouchers for needy families over the holidays. While not reaching our goal of 10,000 items, our sponsorship established a solid 1st year of teamwork with local organizations. We hope to build upon the spirit of this year’s Giving Tuesday next November.

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Additional local activity included grants to the Red Hook Public Library to establish a program for the senior residents of RH Commons, the Red Hook Community Center for a "What's On Your Mind?" program designed for young adults, the NY State Council on Leadership & Student Activities to assist students in attending an annual conference, Culture Connect for the implementation of their Life, Learning & Language Program after school at Mill Road, and finally for ongoing support of the BackPack Program through the schools. These local grants amounted to just under $10,000 in funding.

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Ambassador participation from our 2015, 2016, and 2017 classes included advocacy and grant requests from 12 organizations from around the country. The following agencies and ambassador advocates were granted funds for the third year in a row:

 

We Share Solar in Berkeley - Aminy Ostfeld

Sam Camp in Poughkeepsie - Megan Sanger

The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston - Alex Parks

A third year of support was also extended to The Mystic Learning Center in Somerville, MA. through our Directorship.

 

These organizations were extended grants, as well:

 

Circle Fleur de Lis in Fitzwilliam, NH - Betsy Kirtland

Detroit Partnership in Detroit - Jonni Mills

Fresh Truck in Boston - Robinson Greig

Griffin School Partnerships in Williamsburg - Lauren Marici

iPraxis in Philadelphia - Cassidy Blundell

Maine Adaptive in Newry, Maine - Emily Gall

Ruffner Outreach in Montgomery, Alabama - Brita Brudvig

Sunflower Bakery in Gaithersburg, MD - Tom Triebwasser

 

The 12 grants satisfied a range of mission aims. The grants provided support for after school programs at Mystic, iPraxis, Ruffin, & Griffin, summer camps at Circle & Sam Camp, community building & service through Detroit & Fresh Truck, and training for individuals with disabilities through Maine & Sunflower. A more comprehensive summary of these grants totaling some $60,000 and our Local Activity may be found at AFF 2017 Granting.

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An end of year Gathering at Savona's Next Door in Kingston on December 23rd brought many of our local partners and ambassadors together to celebrate our giving in 2017 and introduce our Class of 2018 Ambassadors. Our new team members with RH graduation year include:

 

Jake Marshall (RHHS '16)

Mia Michaelides (RHHS '17)

Kyla Gabriel (RHHS '13)

Brenna Dolen (RHHS '12)

Emma Donahue (RHHS '13)

Tyler Launhardt (RHHS '10)

Nick Carlson (RHHS '15)

 

We applaud their volunteerism and look forward to their advocacy in extending our outreach to those in need.  

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As 2018 offers opportunity for foundation expansion we're also proud to welcome Brittany Mosher, an original ambassador with our 2015 class, to our Board of Directors. Brittany just recently received her Ph.D. at Colorado State as a Conservation Ecologist and brings an enthusiasm & experience that will serve the foundation well!

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We are now fully funded with an endowment exceeding a million dollars, enabling us to consider additional granting requests from both our local partners and ambassadors at large in the U.S. With greater resources comes a greater commitment to funding groups in need - We'll strive to generate 25 or more grants to that end!  We welcome that challenge and those ideas & thoughts you have as we move through 2018.

 

Yours in giving,

Nick, Barbara, Sophie, Ali, & Brittany

 

 

Welcoming 2017

The AFF hosted 175 guests at our December 22nd Social Event, in which we partnered with The Red Hook Faculty Association, The Red Hook Harvest Group and The Red Hook Public Library. Together, and thanks to the generosity of so many within the Red Hook community and beyond, we fundraised $9765 for the underserved youth of the community and set the stage for an engaging, uplifting, and relationship-building 2017. We look forward to how our relationship with the Community Center, the venue for December's event, will provide future opportunities for local giving initiatives by the AFF, as well as the general collaboration of many engaged Red Hook residents and community groups. We look forward to a yearly event that will allow us to celebrate the bonds formed in our community, and fundraise for those most in need. 

Our list of goals for this coming year include partnering with the Community Center Board in assisting their program development for elder needs in Red Hook, as well as strengthening our ties with our partner organizations listed above. An important area of our mission still left relatively untapped, we are most interested in establishing a transportation initiative that will bring programs to the elderly in assisted living facilities, or bringing the elderly to programs developed by the Community Center Board or other organizations, such as the Public Library. We encourage those in the community to reach out to us with your ideas about how best to meet our mission locally and what needs are most pressing or overlooked.

 

To our class of 2015 ambassadors, we extend enormous thanks for initiating the foundation's footprint across the country. Our inaugural class of ambassadors have been exemplary in their personal advocacy for the past two years, and many will oversee the implementation of grants into 2017. Our 2016 and 2017 ambassador classes (15 in individuals) will follow in the original ambassadors' footsteps, and over the next year establish connections with local agencies for which they will advocate for come the fall. We look forward to seeing the new connections and advocacy roles that these classes of ambassadors take on all across the country. 

 

Delivering on our mission statement has been a sizable task, and will continue to be, but with our early successes in 2015 and 2016, there is every reason to believe we will deliver again in 2017. There is so much more that any group or organization must contemplate in reaching its full potential - we are no different. We rely on all of our personal and connected bonds with Red Hook, its community members, and our ambassadors to embrace all our potential for giving, advocacy, and growth within the next year. 

 

 

The Year Ahead: Fall 2016 Updates

The Ascienzo Family Foundation is happy to have Barbara Rhynders, a second grade teacher from Mill Road Elementary School, join our Board of Directors. She brings valued interest in the Red Hook community and a deep commitment to excellence in education to our foundation. We look forward to her contributions in coordinating plans for our future growth.

We're excited to display a new feature to the website that focuses on our grants extended last year. Aside from the formal Final Grant Reports that each grantee organization is required to file with us, our Ambassadors will be including some thoughts on their advocacy and photos of those impacted by our grants. The AFF is proud of the advocacies carried out by our class of 2015 ambassador group. Their stories and some grantee images will illustrate the connections that make our foundation unique.
Please check out their stories as we share them on our website.


Beginning November 1st, the Class of 2016 Ambassador Group will be sending us applications for grant causes in their neighborhoods. As with the initial grant cycle last year, the Board of Directors is looking forward to reviewing those possibilities. We also anticipate that many members of the 2015 Class will apply for grants this cycle as well, perhaps continuing their involvement with organizations they advocated for in the past, or coming to the Foundation with new programs and goals. The number of communities we now impact is growing, a large number in the northeast corridor and a few out west. We take pride in the great work that our volunteers have done, are doing, and are looking to do in the future.

The local BackPack Program that was initiated last year in the elementary schools at Mill Road has been extended this year to include both the Linden Avenue Middle School and Red Hook High School. Some 45 students from all schools in the Red Hook District during the year will be served. Finally, we're excited to partner locally with a number of wonderful organizations in creating a Community Social at the end of the year on December 22nd. We're thrilled to plan for an event that will serve a number of purposes:

  • i) Embrace the spirit of community;

  • ii) Highlight approved grants from our 2015 and 2016 Ambassador classes while introducing a new cohort of Ambassadors for 2017;

  • iii) Raise monies for local RH programs that local advocacy groups are presently supporting - or are creating - that share in our mission's spirit. Those groups include the Red Hook Faculty Association, a local advocacy group known as the Red Hook Harvest, and the Red Hook Public Library.

The Community Center that will host this end-of-year social is being created to coordinate inter-generational programs bringing together the youth of RH with the elder population. We can't think of a better way to assist in the promotion of such an endeavor than with the event as described above on December 22nd. The AFF is underwriting the cost of the evening, as plans are ongoing for donor participation and the evening's activities.

As always, We're Thinking of You and how you make a difference,
The AFF Board of Directors