‘A pretty good gig’: USC community foundation marks 30 years
Courtesy of Terry Kish
Among those in attendance at the gala were Donna Fox, the foundation’s business manager, and Gordon Mathews, trustee who served as master of ceremonies.
Courtesy of Terry Kish
Linda Serene, founder of the Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair, with granddaughter Casey Barker (seated), husband Harry and daughter Amy Barker.
Master of ceremonies Gordon Mathews addresses the crowd at the Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair's 30th Anniversary Gala.
About 30 years ago, Linda Serene was an Upper St. Clair school director and noticed many other areas had community foundations that helped school districts and their neighboring communities.
So she decided to establish one, and became its first president.
“That was my original idea,” she said recently. “We started out and had a lot of good people involved. Everyone has always worked as a volunteer whether they are the executive director, secretary, treasurer or whatever it might be. We built a good core.”
During its three decades of existence, the Community Foundation of Upper St. Clair has awarded more than $1 million and 500 grants to the community and school district of Upper St. Clair. The defined areas for the grants are arts, health and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
“Those can range from helping a student with an Eagle Scout project to supporting our veterans’ memorial,” said Gordon Mathews, a past foundation president and current trustee. “It’s kind of wide ranging for what our foundation has done and supported. It’s meant to support endeavors in the community that tax dollars are not able to support.”
Those 30 years were commemorated with a celebration at the St. Clair Country Club in April. About 150 guests were in attendance.
Serene was honored with the Community Foundation Visionary Leadership Award for her creation of the foundation.
“That was amazing,” Serene said. “I said to (those in attendance), you all being here with me tonight has made my dream come true.”
Jim Bennett, one of the original trustees, also was honored at the gala with the CommUNITY Outreach Award. Bennett was the former band director at Upper St. Clair High School and a longtime arts and music faculty member in the district.
“We could not have done half of what we did if it wasn’t for Jim,” Serene said. “Between Jim and I, we had a partnership with every arts organization in the city of Pittsburgh. He helped me pull in a lot of people that I wanted to pull in.”
The foundation does have a healthy endowment from which grant money comes, but Mathews is quick to remind that it won’t last forever and fundraisers are necessary. Among them are the annual donor drive and the Community Day Duck Race, held May 20.
Mathews, who served as co-chair of the gala, said he’s been involved with the foundation for about five years.
However, his history with the group goes back further as his grandmother, Aleen Mathews, was one of the original board members. His wife, Lauren, is a trustee and secretary of the foundation.
He is currently the assistant principal at Fort Couch Middle School, and his involvement with the district and sports helped introduce him to the foundation.
“I really fell in love with the foundation and its mission of supporting our community members,” Mathews said. “It’s wonderful to see what we’re building. It’s really fulfilling to be able to see where time and effort is going and how it benefits the community of Upper St. Clair.”
New members are always being sought. Applications are being accepted at cfusc.org.
“I said if I’ve done it the right way and put the right board together, we’ll see this thing flourish and grow and maybe we’ll still have it years from now,” Serene said. “That is my greatest joy, the fact that it’s 30 years strong and it’s still going strong. It turned out to be a pretty good gig.”