FACES & PLACES
ART & HISTORY
OCTOBER 2007

New Hope Arts - Kerr Grant
by Robin Larsen

Mention the name Kerr in New Hope and you’re bound to get a very favorable response. They are a family that has always worked together, building a house, establishing a business and remaining a close-knit family in a time when such values are not always stressed.

So when Charles “Chick” Kerr passed away earlier this year, it was hard to imagine the family without him. But it seems his sense of community and the importance of giving back has been well established in this unique family.

All evidenced when daughter Pamm honored not only her father but both her parents by creating a matching grant to benefit New Hope Arts, Inc and its project to create an art center for New Hope. The grant honors Doro and Chick’s lifelong love and commitment to the arts. A matching fund offers donors a wonderful opportunity to double their donation while honoring the good works of Chick and Doro. Pamm will match each dollar NHArts raises for the Kerr Fund up to $10,000.

Anyone who knows the Kerrs knows them to be quiet by nature (unless you’re talking about Doro who never misses a Borough Council meeting or the opportunity to express her opinion when she feels it’s important or Chick who was always willing to roll up his sleeves and join in with the work as long as someone was willing to listen to his creative ideas on how it might be done faster or better.) Maybe quiet is not quite the right word. Particularly if you are talking about daughter Pamm who, with her bubbly enthusiasm, can charm a donation for the arts from anyone or Chick and Doro’s demonstrative granddaughter JaQuinley who appears regularly on area stages as an accomplished actress.

But in the final analysis, they are all doers who commit to those things that they believe make New Hope special. So they are as likely to donate to the fire company or the library as they are to the arts. With little need for recognition, you know their gifts are truly heart felt and with their busy schedules you know their time is a treasured commodity. But they have given of both freely and joyfully. Luckily for us they have also passed the spirit onto the younger members of the Kerr clan creating a legacy any family would be proud of.

The matching fund deadline is January 1, 2008. Interested individuals may contact New Hope Arts at 215-862-9606.