By Matt Kachur, Eastchester Neighbors
Okay, so you live in Tuckahoe, but your kids go to school in Eastchester. On the other hand, you have an Eastchester zip code, but your kids go to school in Tuckahoe. Wait! My neighborhood is called Bronxville Manor, but I have an Eastchester zip code. You know, I live in Bronxville, but we’re covered by the Eastchester Fire Department. Oh, yeah? I have a Scarsdale zip code, but I get meals from the Eastchester Senior Center.
Yes, all this seems crazy, but there are actually good explanations for our different “residential” experiences. We don’t really have the space to go into it here, so It’s probably more productive to think about what ties us all together. Shannon McDonough has some thoughts.
Shannon is the Executive Director of The Community Fund of Bronxville Eastchester Tuckahoe, Inc. The Community Fund has always been an organization that knits together the Eastchester community as a whole.
The mission of The Community Fund is to support local educational, health, wellness, and other agencies that serve the Town of Eastchester and its villages. The Fund raises money that it then repurposes as financial grants to the agencies. Recent grants support access to nutritious food; educational advancement; physical, mental, and social wellness; counseling in times of grief; recreation and enrichment programming for people with physical challenges; and rehabilitation and chemical dependency prevention services.
Shannon grew up in nearby Pelham and went to college in Massachusetts, where she earned a BA in English literature and an MS in library and information science. After living in the Boston area, Shannon relocated to Eastchester in 2020, settling in Tuckahoe. Why Tuckahoe? Shannon recalls visiting Eastchester for shopping, going to the movies, and dining during her youth in Pelham. “When a space opened up in Tuckahoe,” Shannon tells us, “I realized that I should have been looking here all along. I was seeking a walkable community where I could get involved. Tuckahoe has these attributes in spades. With Eastchester and Bronxville shops, restaurants, and farmer’s markets also in walking and biking distance, it was clear: I felt like I hit the Westchester jackpot.”
Since moving to Tuckahoe, Shannon has gotten involved in the community in a variety of ways, serving as The Friends of the Library president, providing marketing and branding support to the Annual Tuckahoe Challenge 1M/5K Road Race, and serving on the Village’s Comprehensive Planning Committee. “This area continues to be a place where people are involved in community and civic organizations, where independent business is supported, and where people pull together in challenging times,” Shannon says. “I am meeting new people all of the time who have moved (or moved back) here. I have always thought of Tuckahoe as a hidden gem, and now that I have lived here for four years, I know it is.”
The Community Fund of Bronxville Eastchester Tuckahoe was founded in 1919, as The Community Welfare Fund, Inc. Its original purpose was to support Lawrence Hospital during the Spanish Flu epidemic of that time. As the years passed, The Fund began supporting other charitable and welfare agencies serving the local community. The Fund operated under a number of different names over the years and eventually affiliated with the United Way. After many years with the United Way, leaders of The Fund decided that the organization needed to refocus on the Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe communities. In 1980, the Fund ended its affiliation with the United Way and reestablished itself under its original charter of 1919, and adopted its current name.
Today, donations to The Community Fund translate to grants that add up to over $500,000 annually. Readers will be familiar with many current grantees, which include the Eastchester Volunteer Ambulance Corps (EVAC); WESTCOP/Eastchester Community Action Partnership (ECAP); the Eastchester Parks and Recreation Department; Eastchester Senior Services and Programs; Tuckahoe Police Youth Initiatives; and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) programs in Eastchester and Tuckahoe.
Donations through The Community Fund also provide residents as well as others in the area with access to legal, bereavement, chemical dependency, and cancer support services, musical instruction, and free flu shot programming delivered through NYP Westchester.
A recent example of The Community Fund’s work is a mental health initiative that has been highlighted by a series of public mental health workshops offered to older adults. The workshops are designed to share information about the mental and relational health benefits of social engagement and to get participants talking about ways that they currently assess and take care of their mental health. Facilitated by lona University’s School of Health Sciences, the most recent workshop was attended by 40 area residents.
Another unique aspect of The Community Fund’s work is its Youth Community Fund. Members of the Youth Community Fund volunteer locally, are trained in grant application evaluation, and participate in designating their own discretionary fund as a group. The program is meant to introduce Eastchester’s young people to the practices and processes of community giving and philanthropy.
Eastchester, Bronxville, and Tuckahoe residents have always demonstrated a strong sense of community and local pride,” Shannon reflects. Looking to the future, Shannon stresses that The Fund’s professional staff and Board are working to expand services that, in her words, will ensure that Town of Eastchester residents across the lifespan continue to “thrive, be safe, healthy, as well as intellectually and socially engaged.”
The Community Fund welcomes involvement by residents of all three villages, Shannon emphasizes, “from long-established residents and philanthropists, to people moving back to the area, to new residents, and everyone looking to contribute.”
“I am finding so many fascinating historical articles about The Fund and the people who have powered it over the last century,” Shannon continues. “If anyone would like to help put together a ‘Community Fund Hall of Fame’ project with me, please contact me at shannon@thecommunityfund.org and let’s talk!”
