By Spencer Blumenreich

May 19, 2021: On Sunday, April 18, the Youth Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe (YCF), a program for high school students to participate in local philanthropy, held its annual grant award meeting. YCF participants raised $8,000 during the school year to provide two $4,000 grants to local non-profit organizations serving youth in the local communities. Five grants were presented and voted upon by YCF members. The winning applications were the Bereavement Center of Westchester's Tree House program and Bundles of Joy.

The two organizations awarded grants provide unique and important services to children in our local community. The Bereavement Center provides counseling to help families grieve after the death of a loved one. The Tree House program focuses on helping children talk through their trauma and has been in existence since 1995. The program's goal is to ensure that each child works through their grief and heals. 

Anne-Marie Conlan, Executive Director of The Bereavement Center, stated, "BCW Tree House program is so grateful to be the recipient of the BET Youth Community Fund grant. It was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to explain our program and organization to these poised and professional young adults. Thank you for choosing the Tree House program and for your commitment and diligence throughout the process."

Bundles of Joy's mission is to provide essentials to babies, toddlers, and new parents in critical need. Through community drives and donations, Bundles of Joy helps low-income parents adapt to parenthood by providing clothing, diapers, and other necessities for their children. It provides those in need with these supplies for no cost. The program has had a great impact on those struggling to provide for their children. 

Regarding their YCF grant, Adrienne Harper, Founder & Executive Director, stated, "Bundles of Joy depends on its surrounding community to not only take an interest in our mission but to actually put in the work, and that's what the Youth Community Fund does. We are incredibly grateful that the committee sees value in our purpose and is interested in sticking around to make great things happen. We couldn't have asked for a better partnership."

This is the second year of the YCF, a branch of the long-running Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe. The YCF's motto is "youth serving youth." Currently, the YCF has over 100 high school-aged members from the BET community who participate in community service and fundraising. 

The Evaluation chair, Spencer Blumenreich, along with co-chairs Molly Stoltz and Connor Huang, solicited local agencies in the Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe area who provide services to youth to submit grant applications. Once the grant applications were submitted, students from the YCF Leadership and Evaluation teams met with a member of the non-profit over Zoom. The students conducted an interview and reviewed the application to decide if the grant was worth funding. 

They looked at several factors in their evaluations, including how the $4,000 would be used, what kind of impact the grant would have, and if the organization was "reliable." They also examined if COVID had negatively impacted the organization or if the program was new. Each group then presented its findings to the entire YCF at the April meeting. The YCF then voted on which two organizations would get grants. 

YCF members expressed that the overall experience was "a great one." One member said, "We learned about needs in our community, and each one of us helped to have an impact. Every member of YCF played a different role at some point during the year, which ultimately led to this successful year. We encourage any high school student who resides within Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe to visit www.thecommunityfund.org to apply to join for the 2021-22 school year!"

Pictured: Members of Youth Community Fund and Bundles of Joy

Photo courtesy Youth Community Fund

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