Celebrate Shirley Community Calendar Meeting

May 16, 2010 — Shirley Charitable Foundation hosted a meeting with leaders from Shirley-based organizations to share information about the Foundation's Celebrate Shirley initiative. At this meeting the Foundation staff met with volunteers from the Historic Meetinghouse, Center Town Hall, Shirley American Legion Post #103 and the Friends of the Council on Aging. Shirley Charitable Foundation director Ron Marchetti provided some background about the Foundation and Celebrate Shirley, noting that the Celebrate Shirley website, www.celebrateshirley.org, includes a community calendar that is available for local organizations to list events in the Shirley community. The roundtable discussion allowed those in attendance the opportunity to share ideas and insights about the needs of local organizations. This discussion focused specifically on marketing and advertising local events and about volunteer opportunities in local organizations. Additional Celebrate Shirley meetings will be held over the summer to provide other local organizations with the opportunity to learn more about Celebrate Shirley.

Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Grant for the Shirley Firefighter Training Facility

May 12, 2010 — Shirley Charitable Foundation has awarded a grant to Shirley Boy Scout Jonathan Brownell to help fulfill the requirements of his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project. Jonathan's service project includes the design and construction of a training pavilion at the Shirley Firefighters Training Facility. For several months, the Shirley Fire Department has been working on construction of a training facility to provide state of the art training for the members of the Shirley Fire Department. The addition of a training pavilion will provide space for lectures, classroom demonstrations, and will also serve as a break area between training rotations. Shirley Charitable Foundation Director Ron Marchetti stated, “The Foundation is pleased to be able to provide a grant to Shirley Scout Jonathan Brownell for his Eagle Scout Service Project. When this project is completed, it will help Shirley move to becoming a sustainable community by providing better trained public safety personnel for several years.”

SCF Staff Attends Conference for Non-Profit Organizations

May 4, 2010 — Shirley Charitable Foundation Directors Ron Marchetti and Al Collins and Administrator Kevin Johnston attended the S.O.S. Conference for Nonprofits: Strengthening Our Sustainability presented by the Institute for Non-Profit Development at Mount Wachusett Community College. The conference provided the opportunity for the SCF staff to collaborate with leaders from area non-profit organizations and to attend several workshops including Building a Sustainability Plan That Works; Linking Money to Mission: A Balancing Act; Strategically and Effectively Recruiting and Engaging Volunteers; Don’t Go It Alone: Greater Impact Through Collaboration; and Networking for Nonprofits: Building Our Skills, Building Our Relationships. Information from this conference will help the Foundation implement a sustainability plan that will enable the Shirley Charitable Foundation to continue to foster community focus and improve the quality of life in Shirley.