In July, KPCF was delighted to welcome Gemma Aronchick to the Foundation as our Executive Director. We introduced Gemma to our KPCF community in our August newsletter, and if you missed that, here’s more about her (in her own words):
Hello Kirkland!
I’m Gemma Aronchick, and I’ve recently started as the Executive Director of the Kirkland Parks & Community Foundation (KPCF). I’m a long-time resident of Kirkland, a Mom to three kids in Lake Washington School District, and a Microsoft Alum, where I spent 20 years of my career, mostly in the Microsoft Philanthropies group working with nonprofits around Puget Sound. I’m just about a month into this new role with KPCF and I couldn’t be more delighted to be working to directly serve my community!
What drew me here? KPCF is a young foundation amongst our peers in Washington, but in the eight years it’s been active in Kirkland, the Foundation has accomplished a lot of great and important work! Thanks to generous community support and donations, it has funded 23 projects, investing more than $450,000 toward Kirkland’s needs. In addition, our visionary Founding Supporters have committed more than $500,000 to build the bedrock to guarantee the Foundation’s future sustainability.
As I step into this role, I am grateful to join an organization with such a strong base to build from, and I love that KPCF is looking toward the future with big ambition. As a resident myself, I know Kirkland is a wonderful place to live, work and visit and we want to make sure it stays that way for generations. As a community foundation, it’s KPCF’s job to know our community and raise funds, then direct them close to home where they will have a significant impact. We know people in Kirkland are generous, have a great affinity for our city and our quality of life, and here at KPCF we want to grow into the community partner that works to make our city thrive!
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