June 10, 2009
Dear Editor:
This letter was designed to thank the many people in our
community who made this year’s Strawberry Festival the
best ever, but I’d also like to incorporate
a response to Ms. Miller’s article about the Coatesville
Weed and Seed program because it referenced the Brandywine
Health Foundation. While the article was largely accurate,
it did not mention the foundation’s year-long effort
to plan a Youth Initiative in the Coatesville Area School District.
This new Youth Initiative has involved over 40 organizations
that care about youth, and over 80 individuals in regular planning
meetings. It represents the first significant collaborative
effort in decades to bring together the school district, the
City of Coatesville’s Weed and Seed Program, community
residents, representatives of youth-serving agencies, and the
business community, and we are grateful that so many have given
their time and talent for our community’s
young people. So many people care about helping young people
succeed in life; their efforts should not go unrecognized.
Nor
should valuable programs like the Youth Initiative go unfunded.
It is our sincere hope that the State Legislature will approve
continued funding for the Weed and Seed and Communities that
Care programs, because the Coatesville Youth Initiative’s
efforts to bring people together to implement evidence-based
programs to build on our community’s assets – and
Coatesville has many strengths – while addressing the
challenges young people face in today’s
society are tremendously important.
One of the ways young people
grow into productive adults is by volunteering and giving back
to their community at events like the Brandywine Health Foundation’s
Strawberry Festival. This year we are so grateful to the many
businesses who sponsored the event including our lead underwriters
Brandywine Hospital and Harleysville National Bank, the thousands
of visitors who enjoyed the Strawberryland for young children,
fireworks sponsored by Bryn Mawr Rehab, music, mascots, entertainers,
great food, and carnival rides; the hundreds of volunteers
from groups like the Coatesville Rotary Club who gave of their
time so generously; the Steering Committee members – chaired
by Chris Saello and Stephanie Waite of the YMCA - who worked
all year long coming up with new ideas and tackling even the
most mundane organizational details; and the Caln Township
Police Department who create a safe place for families to have
fun and give back to the community.
The funds raised at the
event go back into the community for important projects like
ChesPenn Health Services, Community Dental, the Maternal and
Child Health Consortium, Coatesville Public Library, Thorndale
Volunteer Fire Company, and Brandywine YMCA. If you’d
like to learn more about the event’s beneficiaries,
sponsors, and how you can help next year, visit us on-line
at www.brandywinestrawberryfestival.com.
With heartfelt thanks,
Frances M. Sheehan
President and CEO
Brandywine Health Foundation
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