HERE ARE SOME OF THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT
ROSTAIR DONATED TO IN 2018
Playworks
June 21: “Play is a basic human need.” The members of Rostair Foundation agree wholeheartedly with this statement. The Playworks organization offers students the opportunity to engage in safe and healthy play during recess time. Through a model of coaching, creating student leaders, and offering engaging activities, Playworks is able to make recess a valuable time for learning. “Research suggests that when we play, our brains develop creativity and flexibility.” With the Playworks structure in place, students can learn to build these skills and come out of recess feeling invigorated, appreciated, and happy. It has been shown through data collection that when students participate in well-run and constructive recess time, they come back to the academic classroom ready to learn. Playworks is a national organization that brings much needed support to schools around the country, helping students learn how to constructively engage with one another on the playground each and every day. Check out their website to learn more about their mission, locations, and the other “play” opportunities that they offer to corporations!
Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness
July 20: The Rostair Foundation is delighted to support The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness (The Alliance) this month. The Alliance is a national nonprofit organization that brings supportive programs, awareness, care, and activities “aimed at outreach, education, early intervention, and advocacy for all eating disorders” to communities. The Alliance works tirelessly to provide these supports in places like schools, medical facilities, and community centers. Rostair Foundation’s contribution to The Alliance is going towards the creation of two free, clinician-led support groups in the Philadelphia area. Using support from the Rostair Foundation, The Alliance will be opening a Pro-Recovery group for individuals 18+, who are recovering or recovered from an eating disorder, as well as a Friends & Family group to serve those who are supporting a loved one on their recovery journey. To learn more about the groups, please visit the website or call 866.662.1235.
Run Free Ranch
April 6: This year the Rostair Foundation was again thrilled to support Run Free Ranch. This organization holds a summer camp every year at Baldpate Mountain in Titusville, NJ. The camp teaches integral life skills such as cooking, conflict resolution, yoga, mindfulness, journaling and much more. This camp was created by a passionate director who “imagined one day opening a camp to enhance and nurture many of the life skills that can be corrupted by the culture of poverty.” She didn’t want “children's demographics or their socioeconomic status to define who they were or would become as adults.” Not only do camp participants spend a week exploring and enjoying the nature in Baldpate Mountain, but they are able to further build relationships and community by participating in monthly outings together. These monthly outings are held at all different types of locations and expose the campers to a wide range of professions and influential community members. If you want to see how an empowering, strong, and loving community can be built, come check out this camp!
Philadelphia Outward Bound School
June 18: The Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS) recently received a contribution from the Rostair Foundation. This incredible organization teaches invaluable life skills through challenge and discovery practices, strengthening areas such as participant’s communication skills, problem-solving skills, and collaboration techniques. In partnership with many organizations and the Philadelphia School District, POBS serves more than 6,000 students, teachers, partners, and adults each year. POBS brings small groups of participants into remote natural settings where they participate in team building experiences, as well as tap into personal challenges, all while building important leadership skills. Check out their website below, to learn more about their programming and to read about their incredible new physical space that will be opening in the fall.
BARTRAM'S GARDEN
June 18: This year, Rostair Foundation gave Bartram’s Garden funds that will go towards their work on the Sankofa Community Farm. The programs at this farm focus on teaching participants about African culture, creating empowered and strong leaders, getting the local community involved in the beautiful outdoor space, and offering fresh local produce to surrounding communities. Each year, the Sankofa Community Farm employs 20-30 paid local high school interns, giving them the opportunity to learn many important life skills while getting compensation for their hard work. If you haven’t been to Bartram’s Garden, plan a trip there to check out this wonderful working urban farm or to purchase some fresh produce picked right from the Sankofa Community Farm!
TINY WPA
June 18: The Rostair Foundation recently contributed to TINY WPA’s Building Hero Program. This incredible organization strives “to grow and empower an army of talented community-design leaders—Building Heroes—that will make Philadelphia the national model for how to engage people of all ages in the design of their cities and help lay the foundation of an incomparable future for community-generated civic innovation”. TINY WPA achieves this by welcoming people of all ages and diverse backgrounds into their makerspace to participate in learning, designing, and creating innovative projects. The projects completed by the Building Heroes address neighborhood revitalization efforts and strive to create empowered leaders. These leaders then bring their learned skills back to their homes and communities. Take some time to check out their website to learn more or stop by on a Wednesday night for their open Stop By + Build night in the shop!
Here are some of the organizations that
Rostair donated to in 2017
Mercer Street Friends Food Bank
November 3: Rostair has recently donated funds to Mercer Street Friends Food Bank located in New Jersey, which works hard everyday to combat food insecurity in the Mercer County community. The Food Bank offers programs that reach preschool- aged children through adults. These programs, and their food distributions, reach over 30,000 people annually. You can learn about Mercer Street Friends’ many programs on their website.
African American Museum of Bucks County
October 21: The vision of the African American Museum of Bucks County is to “honor the legacy of the African American experience, inspiring pride in our heritage, educating about the diverse journeys of our people, sharing stories that depict our shared ancestry, thus enriching the lives of all who visit the museum”. The members of Rostair have had the wonderful opportunity to experience a number of programs offered by the museum. Take a look at the Museum’s website yourself, to learn about the historical and educational programs offered.
Food Connect
October 19: The Rostair Foundation recently gave funds to Food Connect. Its mission is to rescue surplus food from going to waste in Philadelphia by transporting it to those in need on a timely basis. With the increase of very large events being held in Philadelphia, Food Connect saw the need to come up with a quick and easy process for vendors to donate their food after an event has ended. By the time the NFL Draft came to town, Food Connect was up and running and helped to rescue over 21,000 pounds of food that was later distributed to emergency food providers. However, event waste isn’t the only issue in Philadelphia. Food Connect is also making it easy for restaurants and vendors to donate their surplus to food shelters and pantries daily. Check out how Food Connect uses technology to connect people in the community for this important cause.
Direct Relief
October 5: This week Rostair sent a donation to assist with disaster relief efforts in Puerto Rico. To help Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, both TIME Magazine and Charity Navigator recommended sending donations to DIRECT RELIEF, an organization that was founded back in 1948 to help people overcome disasters. This organization provides essential first aid materials, as well as, very much needed prescription medicines to already established local medical facilities. DIRECT RELIEF feels that the local medical establishments are best equipped to receive these medical supply donations and get them to where they are needed the most. DIRECT RELIEF ensures that “100% of donations for Hurricane Maria will be used exclusively for that effort”. If you’d like to learn more about this organization, the link is below.
https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/hurricane-maria-response/
Impact100 Philadelphia
September 26: Two Board Members of Rostair have joined Impact100 Philadelphia. This organization’s goal is to get women engaged in philanthropy through collective giving of high impact grants. These grants are awarded to extremely hardworking and vital nonprofits that are “located in and serve residents of the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or the county of Camden, New Jersey”. Members of Impact100 are an integral part of the grant-giving process, as they provide funds for the grants, read grant proposals and financial statements, participate in site visits to evaluate possible grantees, attend meetings and cast votes to determine grant recipients.
http://www.impact100philly.org/
Friends of the Delaware Canal
September 29: In an effort to help maintain a vibrant community, this week Rostair has donated to the Friends of the Delaware Canal. This organization "works to restore, preserve, and improve the Delaware Canal and its surroundings". The canal that runs from Bristol to Easton provides community members with the opportunity to walk, jog, bike, and horseback ride down a beautifully tree-lined, and nature-filled historical path. If you haven't checked it out yet, you might want to!
THE PEACE CENTER
September 14: In an effort to help promote peace, understanding and a vibrant community, Rostair donated funds to The Peace Center. This organization is located in Langhorne, Pennsylvania where it has been working “to educate, empower and support individuals and organizations in efforts to prevent violence, promote peaceful resolution of conflict and foster inclusive, equitable and safe communities locally, nationally and worldwide” since 1982. Some of the programs that they offer are aimed at quelling bullying in school, working to teach girls about healthy conflict resolution, and Peace Camps where very young children can learn empathy and how to understand differences. This is a great place.
http://www.thepeacecenter.org/
Trenton Area Soup Kitchen
September 11: This week Rostair has donated funds to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. This organization provides over 3,000 meals a week to people in need. Its mission is to not only help patrons with hunger, but to promote healthy practices and bolster their self-esteem and lifestyles. On their website they provide information outlining 20 different ways that a person can support their organization. Check it out!
The Casey Feldman Memorial foundation
September 4: Recently Rostair supported the Casey Feldman Memorial Foundation. This foundation was created in memory of Casey Feldman, a 21-year old who was hit and killed by a distracted driver in 2009. This foundation works hard to educate teens about the seriousness of distracted driving and how it can ruin lives. In addition, this foundation supports "charitable, educational and literary pursuits and encourages volunteerism and good citizenship". The foundation has granted many scholarships for community service trips for students, enables students to work non-paid internships, has supported animal shelters, provides funds for therapy dog organizations and much more. Here is the link to learn more about this organization or to make a donation:
https://www.caseyfeldmanfoundation.org/the-casey-feldman-memorial-foundations-mission/
The Producers’ Fund
May 9: The members of Rostair feel that art is a very important part of a healthy community. Art can offer people a large plethora of experiences and sensations including successes, failures, problem solving, self-reflection, mindfulness, communication, an emotional outlet, collaboration, compromise, a hobby, and a career. To help foster art in the Philadelphia community, Rostair contributed to The Producers’ Fund. This fund’s mission is to give grants for “new work created by female theater artists”. The Fund aims to get a greater variety of voices and stories into the theaters of Philadelphia. If you’d like to learn more about who The Producers’ Fund has supported, the website below shows their grant recipients thus far.