1933-2023 Our 90th Anniversary

Watch our video on 90 years of serving our community

To learn about The Community Chest’s history, click on the arrow above

Dear Friends,

It is a joy to be writing this announcement about the 90th anniversary of The Community Chest -  9 decades of service to our community.   Not many organizations can boast a record of this type of service!  We have been able to survive because of the generous support of donors in our community. 

Back in 1933 our country was in the throes of The Great Depression and our community leaders were struggling to find ways to ease the burden on citizens and organizations in need.  There were fewer nonprofits then and our community composition was very different, but the social conditions were dire and many needed help with staying afloat. Our wise community leaders sought a solution to the problem and founded The Community Chest as a way of helping neighbors survive.

The first five nonprofits that we funded were:   Englewood Hospital, Bergen Family Center (then called Memorial House, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and Salvation Army.   Since that time we have raised more than $12 million and supported more than 100 additional organizations, providing all kinds of services to our community.

In 2019 we expanded our service area to include additional towns in Eastern Bergen County.   We now serve:   Alpine, Bergenfield, Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Dumont, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Haworth, Harrington Park, New Milford, Northvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Rockleigh and Tenafly.     Residents from each of these towns receive services from the nonprofits funded by The Community Chest.  Each year we ask them to help us continue with supporting our neighbors.   They always help! 

Throughout the 90 years of our existence there have been many challenges in our community.   In the last several years we have dealt with the horrors of the COVID pandemic and in 2021 we struggled with the devastation brought about by Hurricane Ida.  There is no predicting what will happen in our community each year, but we are here to help when trouble arises. 

We are honored to be a member of a community that cares.  We thank all of you that have helped us respond to the many challenges that have befallen us over the last nine decades, and we hope we can count on you to stand tall with us to mount the challenges of the future.

Shelly Wimpfheimer, DSW