By Julie Drechsler
More than 150 community members and representatives from local nonprofits gathered to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the St. Anthony Park Community Foundation.
Founding members, former board members, recipients of the Michael Brasel Spirit of the Park award and former staff were recognized during the event held on Thursday, Oct. 24.
It was definitely a night to remember!
The night was a buzz of good conversations, hearty food, social drinks and celebrating all things St. Anthony Park with trivia and recognitions all topped off with live music provided by local band, Too Many Tonys.
Twenty five years is a major milestone for the foundation, and worth celebrating. It didn’t happen without the dedication of former board members and past Executive Director, Jon Schumacher.
The foresight of our founding members continues to benefit the community with the establishment of four endowed funds.
The vision of the foundation is to “foster St. Anthony Park’s unique community assets to ensure a strong, vibrant and inclusive neighborhood, today and for future generations.”
It supports local nonprofits, schools and community groups in the areas of community development, environment, education, aging in place, business development, arts and culture and youth development.
Local community partnerships are developed and facilitated through the support of the foundation by convening, collaborating and responding to community and nonprofit needs.
Small community grants are available to support local initiatives. In the 2024 round, $42,000 was awarded to 18 local programs and organizations.
Since the creation of the grant program in 1999, more than $1.1 million has been awarded to over 60 community groups and local nonprofits.
Our impact is deep. We continue to look for new ways to strengthen partnerships for better community outcomes and build our endowed funds to increase available grant funds.
The foundation has also been instrumental in supporting the establishment of the Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) and Transition Town, and continues to support current and past community-building activities across District 12. Those include the 4th in the Park, the SAP Arts Festival, Progressive Dinner, Park B4 Dark, Shop Home for the Holidays and the Chroma Zone Mural & Arts Festival in the Creative Enterprise Zone.
More support is needed for the foundation to kick off the next 25 years of service to our beloved community.
We urge community members to dig deep and invest locally with a donation to the foundation, providing financial sustainability and enabling continued work across our neighborhood.
Donations can be made by visiting the foundation website, sapcommunityfoundation.org.
Julie Drechsler is executive director of the St. Anthony Park Community Foundation.