(April 2, 2009) – The mentoring contributions of a popular New Britain coach and teacher who died a decade ago are being kept alive with the help of both his family and now the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.
The Community Foundation recently learned that the family of Coach Lou Gagliardi would like them to manage the scholarship for graduating seniors of New Britain High School that they established in his memory soon after his death in 1998. Coach Gagliardi was a longtime and much-loved cross country and track and field coach. Following his unexpected death, his wife, Joan and children, Rocky and Kelly, established the Louis O. Gagliardi Scholarship Fund to continue the coach’s legacy of encouraging students to pursue their dreams. For 10 years, the family has continued to personally replenish the fund and administer it with the help of the school’s athletic director and coaches.
“We decided to engage the Foundation to manage the Fund because we want to be sure that it continues even when our family is no longer able to be involved,” said Joan Gagliardi, Lou’s wife. The Community Foundation currently manages 35 such scholarship funds, providing financial and administrative oversight, as well as ensuring that the funds have a permanent base.
“As a Community Foundation, we provide local people with the support to create and manage what are called ‘named funds,’ such as the Gagliardi’s scholarship. Named funds are often created as a memorial tribute by family, friends and/or organizations. These are set up as a permanent endowment for charitable purposes so that the donors’ wishes will be fulfilled in the years ahead,” explained Foundation President Jim Williamson. He said named funds can be established as scholarships or grant-making funds to nonprofits.
Although the Gagliardi Scholarship will now be managed by the Community Foundation, the family continues to nurture the fund in a personal way. At Kelly Gagliardi’s recent wedding, she and husband, Alberto Diaguez, took the money they would have spent on favors and divided it between the scholarship fund and the United Service Organization – a charity dear to the groom’s heart. The family also has a holiday tradition of putting money on the tree in honor of Lou, which then goes to the Scholarship.
“My husband would have loved the idea of the scholarship because he was a great believer in youth and treated the kids as his own. He was a man who had so much life. His philosophy was to live today to the fullest because he always said that yesterday is gone and tomorrow’s not here yet,” said Joan.
About the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain
The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. Established in 1941, the Community Foundation raises resources and develops partnerships that make a measurable improvement in the quality of life in each of these communities. For more information, please visit www.cfgnb.org or call 860-229-6018.