Enriching the Lives of Norfolk’s Children

By Ruth Melville

The Laurel School, at the corner of Route 44 and Laurel Way, was a nonprofit residential school for children with special needs, managed by Ken and Dottie Satherlie. In 1985 the school closed. The leftover funds had to either be returned to the state or used to fund a new nonprofit. The thinking at the time was, why not use this money to continue to help children?

This was the beginning of the Norfolk Connecticut Children’s Foundation (NCCF), which has worked quietly over the past 30 years to ensure that every Norfolk child is able to enjoy a wide variety of educational, social and cultural opportunities without having to worry about the cost.

This summer, thanks in part to the Laverne Barbagallo Scholarship Fund, the NCCF has provided financial assistance to enable almost 50 children to attend local camps—in particular the YMCA’s Camp Jewell in Colebrook, but also the Y’s Camp Wa Wa Segowea in Southfield, Mass., and Camp AHA! in North Canaan. The cost per child is a little over $200 per child per week. The NCCF never asks to see a family’s financial statements but relies on recommendations from the camp directors. “It’s so much fun to be able to do this,” says Don Tobias, president of the board of the NCCF.

A major recipient of the foundation’s giving is Botelle School. As Tobias puts it, “We feel the school board has responsibilities for providing the basic curriculum. We try to help out above and beyond.” NCCF helps support the After School Program through scholarship assistance and money for the purchase of materials. Last year the foundation gave $10,000 to the school for iPads to be used in the lower grades. It also helped fund the vegetable garden, planted by the students, teachers and other volunteers, and the school’s annual trip to Cape Cod. The NCCF’s Satherlie Humanitarian Award is presented annually to the 6th grader who best exemplifies kindness and helpfulness toward others.

Every year the foundation also gives $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors. It doesn’t matter to the foundation which school a student graduates from, as long as he or she is a Norfolk resident. Students have three years after their graduation to apply. Again, families do not need to provide financial information, but the student is requested to write a personal essay. There were twelve recipients of NCCF scholarships in 2015, a higher than average number: Griffin Berlstein, Shane Cyr, Kaelin Hester, Dylan Johnson, Marcela Nelson, Xavier Rodriguez, William Scharnberg, Olivia Shaw, Abby Starr, Kestrel Thorne-Kaunelis, Winter Thorne-Kaunelis and Demi Wright.

The range of cultural and extracurricular activities the foundation supports is deliberately broad. Tobias stresses that “we try to be very open. We tell everybody to apply. We’re extremely diversified in what we provide money for.” Examples include support for the prizewinning robotics team at Regional 7 high school, sending kids to learn how to ski at Ski Sundown in New Hartford, helping pay for costumes at the Nutmeg Ballet in Torrington and enabling the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department to send youth to attend firefighting and leadership training programs. Recently the NCCF paid for the airfare for a student to attend a “mock trial” at Penn State and has given money to Pastor Erick Olsen’s summer workcamp programs.

The foundation started in 1985 with five board members: Rod Perkins, Jim Stedronski, Ann Laughlin, Laverne Barbagallo and Don Tobias. The current board members are Tobias, Lynn Satherlie Deasy, Julie Scharnberg, Barbara Perkins, Bea Tirrell and Jen Morgan. The endowment has grown significantly over the years, thanks to sound investments and additional donations.

During the past 10 years alone, the NCCF has given a remarkable $193,591 to support educational and enrichment programs for children. Thanks to the generosity of the people of Norfolk, the foundation can continue to be a valuable asset to community for decades to come.