Dick Whitcomb is the New Canaan Community Foundation Hall of Fame Awardee

The New Canaan Community Foundation will present this year’s annual Volunteer Recognition Awards on Thursday, November 15th at 5:30 PM at New Canaan Town Hall. This annual event honors local volunteers who dedicate their time and talent to local nonprofit organizations. The Foundation honors inspirational volunteer efforts and Carver is honored that Dick Whitcomb is the 2018 Hall of Fame recipient!

As most Carver visitors here know, Dick Whitcomb has been a stalwart and inspirational Carver volunteer, donor, advocate and board member for decades! Without question, Carver’s year after year growth and success would not have been possible with our Dick’s leadership in so many ways and times.

Dick Whitcomb did not just take up his career in education to make a living. He did it because he could not imagine living any other way. That passion took Dick from Vermont to the pinnacle of his profession in Connecticut.

In 1961, Dick Whitcomb began preparing students for success in life in at St. Luke’s School in New Canaan. In 1980, Dick was named Headmaster and was pivotal in the growth and stature of the school where he remains Headmaster Emeritus. In 2002, Dick retired and then founded a scholarship fund to enable economically challenged students, many from Norwalk, an opportunity to attend St. Luke’s School. In late 2010, Dick founded the Richard and Barbara Whitcomb Foundation to extend his philanthropy to many others, especially to the Carver community. For many years, Dick’s unofficial office has been the conference room in the Carver Community Center. In addition to general operating support, Dick is especially committed to financially supporting  Carver’s college scholarship fund.

Since his earliest years at St. Luke’s School, Dick and his students have been volunteering at Carver. Several years ago, Dick formed Carver’s Strategic Planning Group, which brought many new resources and leaders to the Carver community. Dick also recruited the significant financial and in-kind support necessary to renovate the Carver Community Center, which had not benefited from such thoroughgoing renewal since the day the building’s construction in 1975. Carver awarded Dick its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, Carver’s 75th anniversary year.

Each year, Dick is a leader on the Carver Board of Directors, the committees serving each of Carver’s major special events, such as Carver’s annual gala and golf outings, and a close counselor to Carver’s longtime executive director, Novelette Peterkin. Dick is also a mentor to any number of Carver students, not a few throughout their college and graduate school careers.

Throughout all of his success as an educator, philanthropist, and volunteer, what has inspired Dick the most and something he has never forgotten, is the help he received as a young man growing up. He remembers all the hard work and dedication his mother gave as a single mother of three. He recalls the many individuals who stepped into his life, guided and supported him. “That’s why I’ve never been big on individual accomplishments. I don’t think anyone can be successful individually. You can’t accomplish anything without the support of others.”

 Carver certainly could not have achieved what it has to date for Norwalk’s youth without Mr. Whitcomb’s unwavering and extremely generous commitment to Carver’s success.  

Congratulations and THANK YOU!

Here are some of the Quality Design Principles that guide Carver's work

Carver adheres to these Quality Design Principles and more as a guide to the ongoing development of Carver’s competency-based learning practice to ensure that every Carver student succeeds. The use of design-orientation allows for schools and afterschool and summer programs like Carver’s be intentional in their purpose and creating positive outcomes for their students.

You are invited to a ribbon cutting for new street artwork on Saturday, 11/3, 5:30PM

For all Carver friends of Wall Street and Downtown Norwalk, some of you may know that Marc Alan at Factory Underground curated the painting of a traffic box on Wall Street. The work is completed and you are invited to a ribbon cutting on Saturday, November 3, at 5:30 pm. The location is just to the left of Wall Street Theater at 71 Wall Street.

This project was done in association with the Wall Street Neighborhood Association, including Factory Underground, Rene Soto Gallery, Norwalk Arts Commission, and made possible by David Shockley and Norwalk Redevelopment. In all, a great community effort. 

The theme for the work is "Music and the Arts, reflecting the multi-cultural diversity of Norwalk." The artist is Cesar Alvarez, a local Connecticut painter, and sculptor, whose work is shown at Rene Soto Gallery.

Following the ribbon cutting, there will be a reception and art show at Rene Soto Gallery starting at 6pm. We hope to see you there!

Support Carver's Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive!

Free children's books at Norwalk Public Library next Saturday!

See the Halloween Party 2018 photos!

See all the photos in Facebook here.

This year Community Costumes, a charitable organization, brought 100 free costumes to distribute at our party. Community Costumes had representatives available at the party to help our children pick out the perfect Halloween costume. ALSO, Greens Farms Academy donated costumes that also brought great joy and fun to this evening party for Carver kids!

Everyone enjoyed the Haunted House upstairs!

Thank you everyone for making this Halloween so special for the Carver community!

Celebrate the 19th Annual Lights On Afterschool

Launched in October 2000, Lights On Afterschool is the only nationwide event celebrating afterschool programs and their important role in the lives of children, families and communities. The effort has become a hallmark of the afterschool movement and generates media coverage across the country each year. 

The Afterschool Alliance organizes Lights On Afterschool to draw attention to the many ways afterschool programs support students by offering them opportunities to learn new things-such as science, community service, robotics, Tae Kwon Do and poetry-and discover new skills. The events send a powerful message that millions more kids need quality afterschool programs.

Join Us for a Financial Seminar at Carver on Thursday, November 8th, at 6:00 PM!

Carver's Halloween Party this Friday just got better!

Alexandra Budnick and Ryan Benevento

New Addition to Carver's Annual Halloween Party!

This year Community Costumes, a charitable organization, will be bringing 100 free costumes to distribute at our party. Community Costumes will have representatives available at the party to help your children pick out the perfect Halloween costume.

Community Costumes, a charitable organization, was founded in 2014 by two New Canaan teens, Alexandra Budnick and Ryan Benevento. Since its inception, Community Costumes has collected and donated over 600 costumes. Community Costumes volunteers collect new and used Halloween, dress-up and dance costumes, and organize, label them by size and donate them to organizations supporting families in need across the tri-state area.

To learn more about Community Costumes please visit their Facebook page or contact them at community.costumes@gmail.com.

Carver students attend FCSC's annual Sports Night!

The Fairfield County Sports Commission gifted Carver students (members of our Girl’s Development Program) with a table at its annual Sports Night gala at the Stamford Marriott last Monday evening.

The focus of the Fairfield County Sports Commission is creating and supporting programs for fitness awareness education, primarily geared toward combating childhood obesity that threatens school age youngsters in the 16 communities the Commission serves. Giving time, effort and money back to the county residents is the main role of the Commission, and one of the Commission’s primary beneficiaries is the Carver Foundation of Norwalk, home to the Chelsea Cohen Fitness Academy and a recent recipient of a generous grant to support Carver’s Girl’s Development Program at the Carver Community Center.

See the entire article about Sports Night in the New Haven Register here.

Monday night at the Stamford Marriott, Mleczko Griswold was among six honorees being inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame.

“It is hard to put into words what something like this means. Especially 20 years after winning a gold medal because 20 years goes by in a flash,” Mleczko Griswold said. “We did so many amazing things as a team and we got asked to speak to so many groups. I cherish that time but it was chaos. Now, to have a moment like this, to celebrate my roots in Fairfield County and what that meant to my hockey career is something pretty special.”

Mleckzo Griswold was being inducted into the Jackie Robinson Professional wing of the Hall of Fame along with former middleweight boxing champion Travis Simms.

Other Hall of Fame inductees were John and Paul Kuczo into the J. Walter Kennedy Service Wing and Rashamel Jones and Claire Beth Tomasiewicz Nogay into the James O’Rourke Amateur Wing.

Also honored were Ryan Boyle who was named the Chelsea Cohen Courage Award Winner as well as John Nash of GametimeCT and the Norwalk Hour, who was given the Bill Gonillo Local Media Award.

Recipients from 16 local towns were also honored as Sportspersons of the Year from their individual towns. Carver is so grateful to the generous support and caring of the Commission and its longtime leader, Tom Chiappetta. Thank You!