VolunteerConnect of Mercer County will honor Eleanor Horne, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and the Princeton Area Community Foundation for their volunteer service.
The three “Impact Award” recipients will be recognized at a cocktail reception Wednesday, October 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Grounds for Sculpture. Tickets are $65. E-mail amy@volunteerconnect.org, visit www.volunteerconnectnj.org, or call 609-921-8893.
VolunteerConnect is a nonprofit that connects highly skilled professionals with charitable causes such as the Boys and Girls Club of Trenton, Dress for Success of Mercer County, and Habitat for Humanity of Trenton.
The Impact Award recognizes individuals, corporations or community organizations that have made significant contribution toward volunteerism in greater Mercer County.
VolunteerConnect’s executive director, Amy Klein, says the organization has spent 15 years connecting nonprofits with volunteers, and recently began to focus on recruiting highly skilled professionals. “Since we began focusing our efforts on skills-based volunteering we have been able to help our non-profit clients accomplish strategic projects, each saving the organization thousands of dollars that can instead be used for direct services,” she says.
“We are excited to recognize our current non-profit partners as well as announce the Impact Award recipients for this year,” Klein says. This year’s Individual Impact Award goes to Horne for her years of supporting volunteerism in greater Mercer County and for her guidance to VolunteerConnect over a number of years.
Horne retired from Educational Testing Service in 2009 after a career that spanned 40 years. Under Horne’s leadership — most recently as vice president of the ETS Social Investment Fund — ETS created a strong community and philanthropic presence and developed active and enduring collaborations in the local community and with a number of national organizations committed to increasing educational equity and access of women, people of color, and those with limited financial means.
Horne works with organizations that are committed to improving education, expanding social justice, and enhancing communities. A Lawrence Township resident, Horne is co-president of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation, a project to design and build a 22-mile multi-purpose trail connecting Lawrence and Hopewell townships. She has chaired the boards of the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, the National Council for Research on Women, and the College of New Jersey. She is currently a member of the boards of the D & R Greenway Land Trust, the College of New Jersey, Young Audiences of New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, the Princeton Area Community Foundation, and the National Network of State Teachers of the Year.
The Corporate Impact Award goes to Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has partnered with many organizations in Mercer and Somerset counties on a wide range of educational, social, environmental, and community programs. Janssen’s financial support has been instrumental in assisting VolunteerConnect’s transition over the last year. Robin Fogel, president of the board of trustees for VolunteerConnect, cited the work of Janssen’s Peg Forrestel in helping to coordinate the company’s support of VolunteerConnect.
At the October 2 event VolunteerConnect will also honor a community partner: The Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF). Led by executive director Nancy Kieling, the Princeton Area Community Foundation is a public charity serving central New Jersey. Through its guidance, financial support, and partnership, PACF has helped VolunteerConnect transition into an organization that supports area non-profits to be more successful as well as to develop a skills-based volunteer program.
“Non-profits are constantly being asked to do more with less, and very often projects that don’t fall under direct services, but that would improve efficiency, outreach or service delivery fall low on the budget priority list,” Klein says. “We help them dust those projects off and get them completed by linking them with professionals looking for opportunities to use their skills in marketing, finance, research and other areas for community benefit.”
