1. ABBY VON DER HEYDE
26 Jack Knife Point
East Orleans, MA 02643
November 27, 2000
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a Member of the Board of Directors of Boston Aging Concerns- Young & Old
United, Inc. (BAC YOU), a Member ofBAC YOU's Executive Committee and Chair of the
Nominating and Board Development Committee ofBAC YOU. Sarah Wenig W51S employed by
BAC-YOU from April of 1999 through May of2000 as Director of Fund Raising and Public
Relations. During that time she worked with great energy and devotion.
The year that Sarah spent with us was one of great opportunity, challenge and change
largely due to developing GrandFamilies® House. It is the first housing designed especially for
grandparents raising their grandchildren - a growing trend affecting four million American
children. Sarah was quick to understand the potential of this development concept. Utilizing the
GrandFamilies idea, she created a concept called A GrandChild i§j3orn Fund, through which
individual donors could celebrate the birth of a grandchild by making a contribution to
BACYOU. Its universal theme and simple concept is applicable to collecting funds from a broad
range of individuals or organizations and is adaptable to venues as diverse as places of worship,
small businesses, the financial sector, hospitals and the world wide web.
Sarah repackaged our grant proposals, allowing for an increase in the amounts we
requested. As a result of her imaginative efforts, BAC-YOU is now represented on an on-line
fund raising site. The annual holiday appeal direct mail effort she designed and managed set a
new style which we continue to follow. She was generous with her personal and professional
contacts resulting in new donors to our rolls and members of our Board.
As staff to the Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors ofB~C YOU, Sarah
contributed a list of particular individuals and suggested categories of members which proved
useful in our efforts to recruit new Board Members. Our Board and Advisory Committee now
reflect many aspects of the work we do and present us with the opportunity to diversify and grow
our fund raising capacity.
The Annual Meeting that Sarah managed and programmed was, according to long time
staff, the best we held in years. In addition to administrative skills. Sarah brings to her work a
creative, entrepreneurial eye and ear. An example is her idea of a holiday ornament sponsored
by the Celtics Wives, through which she cemented a valuable relationship with a new donor.
I recommend Sarah Wenig to any organization of comparable size as a member or leader
of any fund raising and public relations team.
Sincerely,
~ ~, .e.f4c-'-,
Abby von der Heyde