Letter: ‘Sapienza Scholarship’ Helps Bridge Significant Gaps for NCHS Students

Dear Editor,

In a couple of weeks, the Sapienza Scholarship committee of the New Canaan Community Foundation will begin its annual scholarship award process. We have been convening since 2007 when Ann Sapienza, a longtime New Canaan resident, set up an endowed fund for New Canaan students who could not afford a college education. Over the month of May our dedicated committee of board members and town residents will meet weekly to review more than 60 applications for grants to help New Canaan students with college costs. The applicants remain anonymous and the awards are need-based in nature. In addition to their financial needs, we learn about each student’s academic and athletic achievements, arts involvement, community service and job experience.

0684-Radi0: Mobilizing New Canaan’s Volunteers and Donor Dollars



In this installment of 0684-Radi0—free and downloadable here in iTunes—we talk to New Canaan Community Foundation President and CEO Lauren Patterson about the organization’s unique process of involving dozens of residents in reviewing local needs and prioritizing grant funding to address them. This week’s podcast is sponsored by the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, connecting community with commerce. The Chamber hopes to see you at the Sidewalk Sale, coming up July 12 and 13. Here’s more from 0684-Radi0:

Op-Ed: New Canaan’s ‘Young Philanthropists’

As a sophomore at New Canaan High School two years ago, leading a busy life with sports, school and extracurricular activities, I had been less than inclined to add another program to my list of to-do’s. Yet my mom, having volunteered with the New Canaan Community Foundation, insisted I try the organization’s Young Philanthropists Program. In it, high school students meet regularly to learn and discuss community needs and how they’re met by nonprofits, as well as how grants help fund those agencies. No surprise, mom was right—this was a program for me: I love to help others and make a difference in my community, and the Young Philanthropists allows me to not only follow that passion, but to also learn about how a nonprofit is built and sustained. Since entering the program, I have learned a lot about nonprofit organizations in the area, and we have been able to participate in hands-on work with various organizations.

First Selectman Proposes Fund To Help New Canaanites In Need of Silver Hill’s Psychiatric Services

New Canaan’s highest elected official is proposing a new fund to be overseen by a prominent nonprofit organization that would help town residents seeking psychiatric treatment following substance-related emergencies. 

The fund would cover treatment at Silver Hill Hospital for people coming out of Norwalk Hospital following emergency admissions for overdoses or other problems involving substances, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. About $500,000 would be needed to kickstart the fund, to be managed by the New Canaan Community Foundation and serving those who are unable to pay for treatment at the Valley Road facility through private health insurance, he said during a press briefing held Wednesday in his Town Hall office. “Money should never be the issue,” Moynihan said during the briefing, also attended by Patch and Hearst Connecticut. “Families that face that a crisis don’t know what to do and they don’t know where to turn. And there are agencies around—if you decide to go to this one in Westport or go to this one in Greenwich, who are you dealing with, right?