Dear Editor,
My name is Erica Schwedel, I am co-chairing the New Canaan Community Foundations 2019 Annual Appeal this year with Karen Mactas. I moved to New Canaan almost 10 years ago with my husband and we now have a 2nd grade son and Kindergarten daughter at West Elementary School.
I’ve known of the New Canaan Community Foundation since shortly after arriving in town, but really started to engage with the organization about 2 years ago. I had just left my position with a family foundation near here to focus on my family but I still felt a deep-seated desire to support my community.
And that’s what I found in and what I love about the NCCF—it has a hyper-local focus on supporting New Canaan and the surrounding towns, while having a broad mandate to reach organizations in all different areas of need.
My personal area of interest is Education, particularly for underserved children, and I love that this past spring during the grant review cycle, NCCF allowed me to support its work while focusing my time on meeting and evaluating Education non-profits. I hope that through my engagement with the NCCF I will inspire the people I know here in town to get to know the New Canaan Community Foundation better, and perhaps consider volunteering themselves.
We are all asked to give to so many organizations, and I’m grateful that so many of you share my enthusiasm for the New Canaan Community Foundation. Thank you to the 40+ volunteers that have agreed to serve on this year’s Appeal Committee, joining myself and Karen, in supporting our local community through the New Canaan Community Foundation. Together, we can broaden and deepen our collective engagement and impact in New Canaan.
Erica Schwedel