As co-chair of the Better Together Annual Appeal that seeks to raise $200,000 for the Chestnut Hill Local and Community Association, my role is to ask for your help to meet that goal. With just five weeks left in the campaign, we need to raise $152,000. It is a big lift, but so is continuing the work that our two important institutions bring.

Now is the time to invest in our community. If you have given in the past and can help us out again, thank you for your confidence and support. If you are new to the community, I can assure you that you will not find groups more suited to invest in that work each day to strengthen our community and advocate for residents, our business community, places of education, and institutions. If you still are not 100% convinced, take a leap and know that you are investing in your neighborhood. Rather than trying to "boil the ocean," your investment translates to quality-of-life efforts in Chestnut Hill. Our combined work is tangible.

I personally feel energized by the wave of activity in Chestnut Hill on multiple fronts.

First, our neighborhood is growing. Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to some of the new construction, there will soon be hundreds of new residents. They will be shoppers, diners, employees, and patrons of our cultural institutions who will also furnish their homes and bring visitors. They will be looking for their tribe—aka that community good feeling—that makes Chestnut Hill feel like home. We will be poised to greet and welcome them to our community.

Second, new folks are stepping up to volunteer and lend their talents to the community in increasing numbers. I want to thank those who have freely lent their expertise to Chestnut Hill, like Joyce Lenhardt, who is stepping off the Land Use Planning & Zoning (LUPZ) Committee after three decades. Joyce remains a CHCA board member, and we are thankful for her insights and for mentoring new LUPZ members who are in the early stages of their careers. A record four new LUPZ members will be joining us in 2025 as terms expire: Laura Carey, Christopher Eastman, Jenn Rezeli, and Erin Monaghan. There are many other "Joyces" and many other volunteers joining us on our boards and committees. With new folks comes a renaissance of new ideas and partnerships, which I welcome with open arms.

Finally, we have also taken on an active role in advocacy for a number of quality-of-life issues, including greenspace improvements and accessibility, pedestrian safety, and transportation (think Save the Train and SEPTA). Having 150 residents, businesses, and representatives from our schools and cultural institutions turn up at Jenks School in January to demonstrate the pedestrian safety issues that concern all of us was akin to a generation before us who showed up in such numbers at the Water Tower. We have strength in numbers, and that message is amplified by the Community Association and the Chestnut Hill Local. The powerful combination of physical assets (that’s you, me, neighbors, and partners) and a respected neighborhood news outlet are powerful change agents that can make an impact.

The Community Association and the Chestnut Hill Local make decisions each day on how to best use our limited funding and small paid staffs. We have to be strategic, as not every great idea, project, or fire can be tackled. That’s the reality. Those decisions get tougher when we fall short in raising the money to fund operations and put off investments. Investing now means we can do more with our limited resources on efforts that impact you daily. I ask you to consider how a gift of $500 or more can strengthen your community and what we can accomplish together in 2025. Now is the time!