Support Princeton Charter Club Staff
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Dear Fellow Charter Club Alumni,
Ever since my sophomore year at Princeton, I have taken enormous pride in being a member of Charter Club, as have generations of alumni and current students. Now, as the country is rocked by the crisis resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, I am asking our alumni to help Charter by assisting the most vulnerable among us – our staff.
As I’m sure you have heard, Princeton University has closed for the remainder of the academic year, with classes to be conducted in a virtual environment. Obviously, Charter Club has closed as well. This will have a severe impact on our finances, as we provide rebates and credits to current members.
The Graduate Board has unanimously agreed that we must continue to pay staff for the remainder of the school year. Our staff members have been extremely loyal to Charter Club, with some having worked for the Club for decades. Only two are salaried. The rest are hourly employees. Unfortunately, far too many of them struggle to make ends meet even during the best of times. Many employees are part time and hold multiple jobs, so even the thought of missing a day’s work is inconceivable, let alone missing work for a prolonged period. We expect that the financial impact of our decision to continue to pay our staff for the remainder of the school year will be approximately $90,000.
I am keenly aware that, as we find ourselves in this crisis, many of you are deeply affected by the market and perhaps coping with unemployment yourselves. Clearly, this is one of the worst times to be appealing to everyone’s generosity. However, this is a watershed moment for the Club, and more specifically for us, the alumni.
All the former Chairmen of the Board of Governors join with me in this urgent request for extraordinary donations to the Club. The purpose of this appeal is to ask for your assistance to keep the Charter staff paid through the end of the spring 2020 semester, while providing a needed psychological and financial safety net for them in the process.
Each of the Graduate Governors has already pledged to make contributions to help our staff and Club, and we ask you to consider joining us.
If you are able to contribute, you have two options. You may go to our GoFundMe site (https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-princeton-charter-club-staff),
which will result in your contribution going directly to Charter Club, though it will not be tax-deductible. Alternatively, you may make a tax-deductible contribution to The Princeton Prospect Foundation (PPF) (http://www.princetonprospectfoundation.org/donate/). Please ensure that you designate your contribution to PPF for the benefit of Charter Club. Grants from the PPF are directed to capital projects, but donating to the PPF would free up other funds for paying our employees.
We hope that as many alumni as possible will be able to contribute. The total dollar amount raised is obviously critical, but the percentage of our alumni contributing, especially now, will be the truest testament of our Club.
Both our great University and Charter Club are resilient, and both will get through this crisis. I believe that, even though painful, dealing with the adversity we face will make us stronger as a Club.
Thank you for considering this urgent appeal.
Sincerely yours,
John H. Beers ’76
Chairman, The Board of Governors
Former Chairmen:
John H. Bruestle ’78
Carol C. Cronheim ’86
Robert W. Klein ’78
---
Graduate Governors:
John H. Beers ’76
James J. White Jr. ’98
Dean R. Scott ’07
Douglas B. Rubin ’81
Stephen C. Muther ’71
Jordan M. Corn ’84
Adam J. Kait ’84
Carol C. Cronheim ’86
Tania N. Shinkawa ’97
Christine E. Batty ’09
Justin A. Knuston ’11
Travis W. Pfander ’11
Marjorie R. Willner ’11
Rodrigo C.L. Menezes ’13
Samantha B. Halpern ’14
Michael J. Friedman ’19
Life Governors:
Robert N. Ridolfi ’70
Robert W. Klein ’78
John H. Bruestle ’78
---
Donors who donated directly to PPF, outside of GoFundMe:
(This list will be updated sporadically and the $90k GoFundMe goal will be updated accordingly. All PPF donors are considered anonymous, unless specified.)
Travis Pfander '11
Justin Knutson '11
Christine Batty '09
Jim White '98
Douglas Rubin '81
John H. Beers ’76
Dean R. Scott ’07
Carol C. Cronheim ’86
Stephen C. Muther ’71
Tania N. Shinkawa ’97
Steve Moskow
---
Our wonderful staff:
Ever since my sophomore year at Princeton, I have taken enormous pride in being a member of Charter Club, as have generations of alumni and current students. Now, as the country is rocked by the crisis resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic, I am asking our alumni to help Charter by assisting the most vulnerable among us – our staff.
As I’m sure you have heard, Princeton University has closed for the remainder of the academic year, with classes to be conducted in a virtual environment. Obviously, Charter Club has closed as well. This will have a severe impact on our finances, as we provide rebates and credits to current members.
The Graduate Board has unanimously agreed that we must continue to pay staff for the remainder of the school year. Our staff members have been extremely loyal to Charter Club, with some having worked for the Club for decades. Only two are salaried. The rest are hourly employees. Unfortunately, far too many of them struggle to make ends meet even during the best of times. Many employees are part time and hold multiple jobs, so even the thought of missing a day’s work is inconceivable, let alone missing work for a prolonged period. We expect that the financial impact of our decision to continue to pay our staff for the remainder of the school year will be approximately $90,000.
I am keenly aware that, as we find ourselves in this crisis, many of you are deeply affected by the market and perhaps coping with unemployment yourselves. Clearly, this is one of the worst times to be appealing to everyone’s generosity. However, this is a watershed moment for the Club, and more specifically for us, the alumni.
All the former Chairmen of the Board of Governors join with me in this urgent request for extraordinary donations to the Club. The purpose of this appeal is to ask for your assistance to keep the Charter staff paid through the end of the spring 2020 semester, while providing a needed psychological and financial safety net for them in the process.
Each of the Graduate Governors has already pledged to make contributions to help our staff and Club, and we ask you to consider joining us.
If you are able to contribute, you have two options. You may go to our GoFundMe site (https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-princeton-charter-club-staff),
which will result in your contribution going directly to Charter Club, though it will not be tax-deductible. Alternatively, you may make a tax-deductible contribution to The Princeton Prospect Foundation (PPF) (http://www.princetonprospectfoundation.org/donate/). Please ensure that you designate your contribution to PPF for the benefit of Charter Club. Grants from the PPF are directed to capital projects, but donating to the PPF would free up other funds for paying our employees.
We hope that as many alumni as possible will be able to contribute. The total dollar amount raised is obviously critical, but the percentage of our alumni contributing, especially now, will be the truest testament of our Club.
Both our great University and Charter Club are resilient, and both will get through this crisis. I believe that, even though painful, dealing with the adversity we face will make us stronger as a Club.
Thank you for considering this urgent appeal.
Sincerely yours,
John H. Beers ’76
Chairman, The Board of Governors
Former Chairmen:
John H. Bruestle ’78
Carol C. Cronheim ’86
Robert W. Klein ’78
---
Graduate Governors:
John H. Beers ’76
James J. White Jr. ’98
Dean R. Scott ’07
Douglas B. Rubin ’81
Stephen C. Muther ’71
Jordan M. Corn ’84
Adam J. Kait ’84
Carol C. Cronheim ’86
Tania N. Shinkawa ’97
Christine E. Batty ’09
Justin A. Knuston ’11
Travis W. Pfander ’11
Marjorie R. Willner ’11
Rodrigo C.L. Menezes ’13
Samantha B. Halpern ’14
Michael J. Friedman ’19
Life Governors:
Robert N. Ridolfi ’70
Robert W. Klein ’78
John H. Bruestle ’78
---
Donors who donated directly to PPF, outside of GoFundMe:
(This list will be updated sporadically and the $90k GoFundMe goal will be updated accordingly. All PPF donors are considered anonymous, unless specified.)
Travis Pfander '11
Justin Knutson '11
Christine Batty '09
Jim White '98
Douglas Rubin '81
John H. Beers ’76
Dean R. Scott ’07
Carol C. Cronheim ’86
Stephen C. Muther ’71
Tania N. Shinkawa ’97
Steve Moskow
---
Our wonderful staff:
Fundraising team: Princeton Charter Club (5)
Rodrigo Menezes
Organizer
Princeton, NJ
Princeton Charter Club
Beneficiary
Doug Rubin
Team member
Marjorie Willner
Team member
Dean Scott
Team member