Dear Friends of Children’s Beach House,
Here at CBH, one of our foundational beliefs is that it is essential to give young people opportunities to create long lasting relationships with competent, caring adults. By modeling moral and ethical behavior, these adults impart positive values and other lifelong lessons to these young people that can help counter negative influences that may come from peers or the media.
Our camp counselors, family engagement coordinators, volunteers, and the entire Beach House staff are all charged with becoming positive role models for our kids – and we all take that responsibility very seriously.
In these roles, CBH adults can share interests, encourage the kids interests, connect them to experts, and help them build their own networks. There is always a way for adults to support the positive development of youth.
We are grateful for your support that helps us to do that. Your generosity makes everything we do possible.
Sincerely,
Richard T. Garrett, Executive Director
Charity Golf Event 2022
A special thank you to all of our Sponsors, Golfers, Donors and Volunteers who helped make this year’s Children’s Beach House Charity Golf Event a huge success! Your generosity allows us to continue our mission to improve the lives of children, youth, families, and communities.
Meet Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge
CBH's New Camp Coordinator
CBH is pleased to welcome our new Camp Coordinator, Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge. Perhaps “new” is not the right word. Jonathan has been connected to Children’s Beach House since 2004, when he was a summer camp counselor during college. Over the years, as he completed his undergraduate degree, finished a master’s, and embarked on his career, Jonathan has stayed in touch with CBH and introduced several friends to our work. He also developed skills and a work history that prepared him to return to Lewes and begin this new chapter of his career.
Most of Jonathan’s professional life has been spent in the classroom -- first at Indian Creek School, then at Groton School and, most recently, at Severn School – where he has taught English, French, drama, and philosophy. He loves working with kids, hearing what interests and perplexes them, and finding ways to connect with them and broaden their worlds. He also loves helping other front-line youth workers and teachers do the same. While teaching English at Groton School and directing the school’s community engagement program, Jonathan also served as a dormitory parent. In that capacity, he enjoyed working with the senior prefects, helping them develop their leadership skills. Similarly, Jonathan volunteered for 15 years with the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar for high school sophomores, a program that proved to be a powerful turning point in his own life. As Camp Coordinator, he is looking forward to playing a similar role and empowering the camp counselors he will supervise.
When reflecting upon his change of path from the classroom to the Beach House, Jonathan says that being a supporter and facilitator of front-line work has a multiplying effect that excites him.
“I loved being in the classroom, but I could only have an impact on a certain number of kids. Stepping back gives me an opportunity to have a wider impact by empowering others who work with kids.”
And, because CBH’s camp activities take place on weekends during the school year in addition to the week-long summer sessions, and because the program works with kids between the ages of 7 and 18, Jonathan says he is looking forward to watching the program and the children develop over time. “I’m used to working with students for a year, maybe two. I’m really looking forward to seeing what it’s like for them to be connected to a community like this from age 7 to 18. What does that arc look like? What is it like to be with kids for that long period of time, from when they’re children to when they become adults?”
Chef Dom Pandolfino
Finds a Different Way to Bring Food to the Table
When Chef Dominic Pandolfino joined CBH’s social enterprise Greater Good Events as Executive Chef, he had many years of fine dining and catering experience on his resume. He was used to the high stakes and pressure that come when catering special life events, and he was accustomed to the frenetic pace of a beach resort restaurant on Saturday nights in high season. “It’s great fun and it calls on all your cooking skills,” he says. “There’s a real adrenaline rush.”
His work with Greater Good Events calls upon those same extensive cooking skills, and the high-stakes pressure is still there when he’s planning and cooking a meal to celebrate a wedding or a milestone birthday. But he’s also discovered something else, something that is at the heart of everything that happens at Children’s Beach House: the creative power of relationships. Because Greater Good Events focuses on catered events and isn’t also producing food for daily retail consumption, and because it draws its inspiration from (and returns its profits to) the work of Children’s Beach House, GGE makes personal interactions and collaboration with its customers central to its work.
“With most catering operations, the chef doesn’t meet with and work directly with the clients,” he explains. “There are usually salespersons or catering reps who do that. In those situations, the caterer presents a menu to the clients, and they make selections from what is offered. At Greater Good Events, I get to sit down with and meet the clients, ask questions about their food preferences and family traditions, and learn a bit more about the events they have in mind. Then I toss out a few suggestions and we bat them around and build on them. By the end of the meeting, I have several good ideas that I can offer them at a tasting.”
“The tastings are a big event,” says Dom. “We prepare some selections based on what we talked about and then the clients see and taste how we interpreted that discussion. They suddenly see ideas and options that they didn’t think were possible before. They love realizing that we were actually listening to them and making suggestions based on what they said.”
This process, says Dom, results in meals he might not have otherwise have planned and breaks the mold of “event food.” Dom says it “takes the ego away from the interaction. It’s not me showing off cooking. It’s me taking your dream and making it a reality. It’s not my ego on a plate; it’s the thoughts and tastes of the hosts on the plate. This process forces creativity.”
The Children’s Beach House-ness of Greater Good Events inspires other GGE staff too.
“The kitchen and service staff who work for us are here for a reason,” says Dom. “They know what CBH is doing. They like knowing that they’re working for a business that supports that work. And it’s a really fun reminder when the preschool kids come by the kitchen or we can hear the campers or camp counselors having fun outside.”
Dom is happy to share one of his favorite summer recipes here:
Community Partner Spotlight
Division for the Visually Impaired
Part of the State of Delaware’s Department of Health & Social Services, the Division for the Visually Impaired (DVI) has a mission to provide educational, vocational, and technical support to empower and foster independence for Delawareans with visual impairments.” Since 1981, CBH has partnered with DVA to support that mission. Initially that partnership revolved around a summertime environmental program at CBH, at which participants spent a day at our beachfront location learning about the ocean, sea life, and care for the natural world. As CBH’s programs evolved and expanded, so too has the CBH/DVI partnership.
Today DVI high school students come to CBH twice a year for weekend-long leadership retreats and to participate in leadership workshops and team-building activities. They make use of CBH’s amazing building, build confidence on our ropes course, use paddle-board in the bay, camp out in tents on the beach, and enjoy the amazing food prepared by Chef Paula Baker.
By welcoming nonprofit or state agencies, such as DVI, that have missions aligned with ours, Children’s Beach House is able to broaden our impact and reach more children across the state of Delaware. We are grateful to DVI for helping us do that and we are proud to work with them.
CBH Feature on "Thankful Tuesday"!
Artist applications are due by July 8th!
Visit our website to learn more about one of the greatest plein air events in the country!
This year's Plein Air Brandywine Valley event will be held from NOVEMBER 6th - 13th, 2022 where artists will paint some of the most scenic properties within and around the Brandywine Valley. The Opening Reception will be held at Winterthur Museum, Gardens and Library on Friday, November 11th followed by the Weekend Show and Sale on Saturday and Sunday, November 12th and 13th. A portion of the art sales benefit Children's Beach House.
Beacon Society
The Children’s Beach House Beacon Society is a group of donors who make a gift of at least $1,000 each year. Donors who make a gift of at least $10,000 with a pledge of making the same gift next year are considered Founding Members of the Beacon Society.
Beacon Society Founding Members
Beacon Society Members
Beacon Society members receive special quarterly newsletters, 2 complimentary tickets to either the Beach BBQ (August) or the Winter White (December) events and are invited to meet the campers on Founder’s Day in July.
Join the Beacon Society and provide a light to the children and families at Children’s Beach House! You can also call us to set up your donations at (302) 645-9184.
