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05/17/2016 03:15 PMFew small towns could boast of a community foundation whose annual grants for community projects and in scholarships for high school seniors approaches $200,000—but the Town of Westbrook can. Last week, the Board of Selectmen recognized the Westbrook Foundation and the contributions its grants had made to the community.
“The Westbrook Foundation has been extremely generous. I wanted to invite them and the people who have been recipients of its grants,” said First Selectman Noel Bishop at last week’s selectmen’s meeting.
Westbrook’s schools, Fire Department, the Valley Shore Y, the town Parks & Recreation Department, and Westbrook High School seniors have all benefited from foundation grants over the years since the foundation was created from a former teacher’s bequest.
“We who serve [the foundation] are privileged stewards. It’s an enormous gift that not many towns can claim,” said foundation President Jim Crawford.
Bishop then asked representatives of groups that have received Westbrook Foundation grants to recount their awards. The list began with Bishop asking Superintendent of Schools Pat Ciccone the dollars in scholarships that were awarded to high school seniors in 2015.
Ciccone responded that in 2015, 38 members of the Westbrook High School senior class were awarded a total of $83,650 in scholarships.
Deputy Fire Chief Peter Krauss thanked the foundation for the gift of funds to buy a trailer the Fire Department has used for years to teach students about fire safety and how to respond in other emergencies like hurricanes.
Town Planner Meg Parulis thanked the foundation for its grants to support the planned fishing dock and kayak launch that will be installed behind the Town Hall. A planned re-design to reduce overall costs will likely delay completion of this public recreation asset until the next summer season.
Chris Pallato, executive director of the Valley Shore Y, thanked the foundation for grants that have supported the new community garden that grows vegetables for the Shoreline Soup Kitchen & Food Pantries and provided grants in camper scholarships.
Library Director Lew Daniels said, “The library has benefited tremendously. The foundation has given us, through the Friends of the Library, six grants [totaling] $212,358 since 1998. I can’t thank you guys enough.”
In 1998 the foundation gave $16,788 to connect the Westbrook Library to the state’s LION circulation system; in 2004, if was $15,000 for eight computer workstations and software; in 2006, $14,460 paid for new shelving, four desktop and four laptop computers, a community room Public Address system, and a digital project. The biggest single gift was a $150,000 grant in 2007 to buy new Children’s Room furniture and equipment once the library addition and renovation project was done. Other grants, for $9,350 in 2011 and $6,760 in 2013, provided additional computer workstations, laptops, and tablets.
Parks & Recreation Director Rich Annino said he was grateful for a foundation gift of $46,000 that will support renovation of the town firehouse playground this year and for a past grant of $18,000-plus to install a playscape at Wren Park.
Current and past Westbrook Foundation officers Jim Crawford, Harry Ruppenicker, Jr., and Selectman John Hall joined representatives of groups in receipt of Westbrook Foundation grants in a group photo at the selectmen’s May 9 meeting.