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Marguerite L. Storch Garden Fund

2018 Call For Projects – Marguerite L. Storch Memorial Garden Fund

January 15, 2018,

Open Letter to Garden Clubs, Organizations and other Interested Parties:

The Kenilworth Park District is pleased to accept grant requests from clubs, organizations and individuals for the beautification of Park District properties. This year marks the 19th year since Mr. Howard Storch generously established the fund in the name his wife. The Fund was established for the beautification of Kenilworth Park District owned properties through landscaping and horticultural projects, establishing permanent structures related to landscape design (e.g., gazebo, fountains, and pathways). Requests for maintenance projects are prohibited through the Storch Agreement. Under the terms of the donation, the Kenilworth Park District will annually solicit projects and evaluate proposals. Any property owned by the Kenilworth Park District is eligible for project consideration.

As a brief history of the Storch Fund, the Storch Fund agreement was signed on June 11, 1998. Its purpose reads as, “given to the Kenilworth Park District for the purpose of beautifying the Park District properties.” There are some conditions to this gift and they are as follows:

  1. Separate Fund
    Create a separate fund and designate it as the Marguerite L. Storch Memorial Garden Fund
  2. Investment of Separate Fund
    Invest in a diversified portfolio of financial assets which have the highest possible rating forquality and which pay a relatively high current income but produce sufficient appreciation tokeep pace with inflation
  3. Use of Income Earned on the Gift
    • Income earned to be used annually for beautification projects on PD properties and the annual audit.
    • Unused funds can be accumulated for future years or distributed to Joseph Sears School to be used for programs to assist students with learning disabilities
  4. Use of the Principal
    The Principal of the gift shall be held in perpetuity
  5. Allocation of Income to Beautification Projects
    • In January of every year the PD shall invite all Kenilworth Garden Clubs, other clubs or organizations and any other interested parties to submit proposals for beautification of the Park District’s properties.
    • Upon receiving all applications, the Kenilworth Park District will seek out the advisory opinion of the submitted projects from The Kenilworth Garden Club
    • In March, the Park District, in its SOLE DISCRETION, shall select the beautification Projects to be funded in the calendar year.
  6. Identifying Markers
    The PD shall place a permanent tasteful and discrete bronze marker near all major beautification projects which it deems appropriate that it was a gift from the Marguerite L Storch Memorial Garden Fund.
  7. Audit of Separate Fund Outside
    Auditors should review annually and prepare a report which sets forth the Income Earned on the gift from the prior year.

The Park District Board looks forward to reviewing the proposals and appreciates your efforts to submit details regarding your proposed beautification projects. While there are no guarantees that any projects will be funded in a particular year, the Board of Commissioners is routinely oriented toward finding additional ways to comprehensively improve the community in furtherance of the terms of the donation.

To be considered, proposals must be sufficiently descriptive, include estimated costs for materials and labor, and be received at the Kenilworth Assembly Hall, 410 Kenilworth Ave in Kenilworth, no later than 5:00 p.m. on February 23, 2018. Organizations will be notified by May 1, 2018 of the status of their funding request.
On behalf of the Park District Board of Commissioners, I extend my appreciation to those residents and organizations whose ongoing efforts keep Kenilworth as beautiful a community as it is.

Sincerely,
Heidi Higgins
President
Kenilworth Park District