Donor Stories

Nearly everyone has family stories they tell over and over again, but when your parents are Brad and Don Noel, it is more like a family business.

Elizabeth “Brad” Noel, who passed in 2019, spent most of her adult life in the service of others, including in Japan with the American Friends Service Committee and in Hartford where she served students and their parents as a guidance counselor at Weaver High School for over two decades. Don, who passed in 2025, spent most of his life as a journalist, beginning as a reporter and editor with the Hartford Times—then transitioning to television news, joining WFSB as Senior News Correspondent in 1975, where he covered politics and state government, and finally returning to print as the op-ed political columnist at the Hartford Courant. Former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd acknowledged him as “old-school reporter in the truest and best sense of the term.”

Increasingly involved in city and civil rights issues, the Noels moved into Hartford’s Blue Hills neighborhood in 1964, where their children attended public school. Don and Brad lived there for five decades, taking on the role of advocates and activists, seeking to foster racial understanding, improve the public schools, and revitalize the city’s neighborhoods. Brad served as the first woman trustee of the Fox Foundation and as a Blue Hills block captain. She was elected and served four terms on the Hartford Board of Education and was often the Board’s representative on magnet schools stemming from the Sheff vs. O’Neill lawsuit. Always involved in his community, Don served as the secretary of the Blue Hills Civic Association for more than a decade, sat on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Connecticut, and was President of the Residents Council of Seabury (where they lived for several years.)

They established a donor-advised fund at the Foundation to continue their work, later transferring it to a scholarship that supports the staff and children of Seabury employees.

The Noel Family Scholarship Fund was created by their daughter Emily through an estate gift by her father. It is part of the Greater Futures Endowed Scholarship Fund, which provides up to $20,000 a year for college to eligible Hartford public school students. It is a lasting tribute to the Noel family’s commitment to the city they called home.

“If it’s important to you, do it today.”

For more than 40 years, Dianne Grenier has been active in her hometown. From serving on the library board and the Andover Community Fund at the Foundation to portraying Mrs. Merry Claus and organizing a support group for Alzheimer’s care givers, much of her time is spent giving back.

For many years she served as one of five volunteers on the Norton Children’s Fund Commission, established in 1937 through a bequest of local farmer Chester Norton. When Chester was a child, the legend goes, he needed eyeglasses that his family could not afford; a generous neighbor stepped in and paid for them. In gratitude, Mr. Norton left the town $3,000 to support Andover’s children, with the stipulation that only the interest be used.

Over time, residents contributed to the Norton Children’s Fund and opened scholarships to help keep Mr. Norton’s vision alive. But rates of return earned by the town were too low to sustain an annual scholarship, forcing the Commission to rely on outside donations.

While revising her will, Dianne decided to create a scholarship for an Andover high school senior pursuing a career in the trades—fields such as electrical work, healthcare, and other hands-on professions. She wanted it to remain a lasting gift, funded by interest while securing the principal, created during her lifetime and funded over time.

As a designated endowed fund, the Foundation manages the underlying assets and provides a grant each year to the Norton Children’s Fund. The fund’s Commission applies their extensive knowledge of the community and decades of experience distributing funds to support Andover students. Together, these assets are well-managed, closely connected to the needs of Andover’s residents, and honor both Mr. Norton and Dianne.

The Friends of the East Hartford Senior Center Fund operates as a Donor Advised Fund. East Hartford, with a population exceeding 50,000, is home to a significant senior community—nearly one in five residents are aged 60 or older (Tufts Health Plan Foundation 2021). Providing programs that promote independence, health, and wellbeing for seniors has a substantial effect on the overall community.

The Friends of the East Hartford Senior Center was established in 2001 and gained formal recognition as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2005. Marcia Leclerc founded the organization to raise funds for programs and services supporting East Hartford seniors at the two town senior centers, aiming to supplement the Town budget and ultimately drive the development of a new Senior Center. After her election as Mayor in 2011, Marcia Leclerc stepped aside from the organization, and Yvette Roming assumed leadership from 2011 to 2025. Upon her retirement as Mayor in November 2021, Marcia Leclerc returned to the Board of Directors to serve as secretary, culminating her years of service with the completion of the newly built senior center.

The Friends of East Hartford Senior Centers, Inc. has raised significant funds over the years, with 100% of proceeds benefiting seniors and investing in a new, state-of-the-art facility. The organization provided initial seed money, enabling the realization of the new senior center. Funding supported the purchase of a closed building, supplemented programming, furnished the facility, created a business and computer center, and provided enhancements that transformed the center into an award-winning resource for East Hartford seniors.

Maintaining impact requires ongoing commitment, especially for organizations operated entirely by volunteers. In 2025, the Friends decided to use their remaining assets to establish a donor-advised fund with the Foundation. Transitioning from a private foundation to a donor-advised fund is a complex process, and Greater Hartford Gives offered valuable expertise. Grants from the new fund will sustain the senior center’s facilities and services, enriching opportunities for East Hartford residents.

Ms. Leclerc remarked, “The Foundation will handle the administrative duties that used to take up so much time while bringing their notable abilities to invest our assets and support our vision. It leaves us free to do the work we love and recommend grants that keep the Senior Center able to support our neighbors. It is a good solution for all of us.”

Connecticut League of Conservation Voters is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Connecticut’s environment. Through educational programs and their Environmental Scorecard, the staff and volunteers of the League work to educate, engage and empower voters to protect the state’s air, water, land, and wildlife.

The team also is committed to making a difference in their own backyard. After moving to their new office in Hartford, the League cleaned the neighboring skatepark and planted a pollinator garden across the street in Wexford Park.

Protecting Connecticut’s environment is long-term work, which requires long-term revenue sources.

As part of the League’s 25^th anniversary celebration, League leaders worked with the Foundation to establish an agency fund as a way to steward their Education Fund and grow for the future.

“We need actions that support clean, affordable energy, that cut pollution, and that help each of us understand the role we as residents play,” said Jameelah Muhammad, the League’s CEO.  “Our natural resources are for everyone. With this new fund, the League will be better able to spread that message for years to come.”

After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Betty Jean Welker Stroh built a career as a designer and artist, planning subdivisions of starter homes in the Hartford area and designing walkways and plantings on Constitution Plaza.

She and her late husband Charles made their home on Suffield’s Hilltop Farm where they became well known for breeding thoroughbred horses, Holstein cattle, and German wire-haired pointers. The Strohs made their home permanently available to the Town of Suffield for conservation and public use. Today, Hilltop Farm is a premier venue for countless community and private events.

Betty was an active member the Suffield Garden Club for many years and left a gift through her will. To honor her generosity, the members of the Garden Club established a college scholarship in her name, awarded to a student who demonstrates interest in gardening, trees, plants, birds, civic beautification, or the environment.

“Betty was a wonderful artist,” said Garden Club president Joyce Zien. “Today, people are still enjoying the environments she helped to build. There is hardly anyone in Suffield today who doesn’t benefit from her work. Establishing an endowed scholarship for students was the best way we could find to ensure her work continues.”

Harvey and Sylvia Kelly have dedicated their lives to making a difference in Connecticut, helping someone, somehow, every day.

Since 2000, Mrs. Kelly has served as President and CEO Community Health Network of Connecticut, the only medical Administrative Services Organization for the HUSKY Health Program covering more than 1 million low-income Connecticut residents. Since 2011, Mr. Kelly has been employed by the Office of the Connecticut State Treasurer as a Pension Funds Analyst in the Pension Funds Management Division.

“We take our jobs seriously,” said Mr. Kelly, “but we don’t see it as pressure. When you enjoy what you are doing, you want to do the best you can every day.”

They also take their philanthropy seriously, each serving or having served on several boards and committees, from the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, the Town and County Club of Hartford, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the Farmington Valley (CT) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, the Greater Hartford Chapter of the National Black MBA Association, to reviewing scholarship applications for the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation

The Kellys have contributed to the Foundation in numerous ways over the past decade, including as founding members of the Black Giving Circle.

“We were invited by the previous president, Linda Kelly, to be a part of something new in Hartford,” said Mrs. Kelly. “We’ve stayed because we’ve seen the visible difference our giving can make.”

“We’ve found the Foundation to be trustworthy,” continued Mr. Kelly. “We can rest assured that our funds are being well stewarded. Also, we’ve formed strong relationships with members of the Foundation staff, especially Jennyfer Holmes. When they ask for our help, we know our gift will generate impact.”

In 2025, the Kellys answered the call to support the Foundation’s new Greater Futures Fund by opening an endowed fund. “Scholarship dollars are so important to helping Hartford students,” said Mr. Kelly, himself a graduate of Hartford public schools.

“It was the ten years of wrap-around supports that really encouraged us to give,” continued Mrs. Kelly. “It is not a one-and-done situation. The team at Hartford Promise stays with the students for a decade and helps ensure they launch into a good life.”

“We see the Foundation leadership as both visionary and courageous,” concluded Mr. Kelly. “Their work for our community is broad. No matter what your interest, you can find a fit there.”