“Behind the Scenes” No Longer
Celebrate Southington! Award Recipient Earns Moment in the Spotlight
(April 20, 2007) For 17 years, Jill Notar-Francesco has been offering her time and talent to improving educational opportunities for Southington school children. She did so, in her own words, quietly, with little interest in personal accolades. It has always been simply about the children.
“I like being behind the scenes,” says Jill. “I’m not very comfortable in the spotlight. I like doing things in a very quiet setting, and this has gotten to be a little noisy!”
Jill is referring to the whirlwind of notice she is receiving as recipient of the Celebrate Southington! award, part of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain’s four-town Celebrate Our Communities! community service awards program in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington.
Next Thursday, April 26 – ready or not – Jill will be out from behind the scenes, honored before the very community she serves at the United Way of Southington’s Community Stakeholders Breakfast at 8 a.m. at The Orchards at Southington.
“I’m working on my little three-minute speech right now,” Jill laughs.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Jill is being honored for her years of work on behalf of the town’s many Parent Teacher Organizations, as well as her more recent involvement with the groundbreaking Southington Science and Math Initiative, which works with the school system to provide out-of-district, science- and math-related enrichment opportunities for Southington children through a privately supported, donor advised fund at the Community Foundation.
It all began when she and her family moved to Southington 17 years ago.
“When we moved here, I just decided that I was going to get involved from the get-go,” says Jill, who has two now-college-age children with her husband John. “I wanted something better for my children.”
Along the way, Jill made things better not only for her children, but for every child in the schools she served. She helped coordinate summer reading programs; she wrote grants that
brought cultural programs to Southington schools; she successfully lobbied for the high school’s new vocational-agricultural addition currently being built. She did much, much more.
And when her children, Mariel and Julia, were grown and off to college, she remained committed. She is currently the parent representative to the Southington Science and Math Initiative, and is actively involved in sending 144 Southington students to CAMPY on Campus, a Connecticut Association for Mathematically Precocious Youth one-day program May 22 on university campuses in which students take morning and afternoon classes that feed their mathematical and analytical imaginations.
Says long-time friend Ronnie Brzezinski, who nominated Jill for the award, “Jill is an intelligent, articulate and extremely motivated individual who donates a great deal of her time to improving the educational resources of this town. Those of us who live in Southington are very fortunate to have a person of Jill’s caliber advocating for the continued educational needs of our children.”
Jill was selected from a group of eight nominees. Others included Thomas Benevelli, Dave Brennan, Gerald Dionne, Rebecca Michlin, Paul Rosin, Julia Sharp and Luanne Treado.
Chairing the selection committee for the 2007 award were the Rev. Victoria Triano, director of pastoral care at Southington Care Center and a member of the Southington Town Council and Community Foundation board of directors, and Joe LaPorte, current chairman of the Town’s Board of Park Commissioners. Also on the committee were: Richard Corcoran, Executive Director, United Way of Southington; Erin King, Managing Editor, Southington Citizen; John Myers, Executive Director, Southington-Cheshire Community YMCA; Andrew Meade, retired President and CEO of Lori Lock, Inc., and a member of the Community Foundation board; and Patricia Walden, Vice President, Southington Care Center.
As award recipient, Jill earns the right to designate a $2,500 grant award from the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain to a Southington charity or community service organization of her choice. The grant recipient will be announced at next week’s presentation.
Established in 1941, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. For more information on the Foundation, please call (860) 229-6018 or visit www.cfgnb.org.
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