East Hill Woods, Inc. Establishes $9.2 Million Fund at the
Connecticut Community Foundation
 

Endowment to Benefit Services for Area Senior Citizens

 

WATERBURY, CT – November 16, 2009 – Members of the Board of Trustees of East Hill Woods, Inc. have established the East Hill Woods Fund at the Connecticut Community Foundation with a contribution of $9.2 million.

The East Hill Woods Fund is the result of the sale of East Hill Woods, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, to Watermark at East Hill, a certified continuing care retirement community in Southbury.

An advised fund, the East Hill Woods Fund will award grants to area nonprofits that provide services for senior citizens living in the Foundation’s 21-town service area in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills. A portion of the fund also will be designated to train and educate managers of continuing care retirement communities.
“After looking at several foundations to hold this fund, we are proud and pleased to associate ourselves with the Connecticut Community Foundation,” said Joe Vannucci, former executive director of East Hill Woods, Inc.

Largest Gift Ever to Foundation
The $9.2 million gift is the largest ever received by the Connecticut Community Foundation, and brings the organization’s assets to nearly $60 million. Contributions for 2009 to the Foundation total $12,389,000 to date.

“The Foundation is thrilled to be selected as the steward of this permanent fund, to carefully manage these assets and to serve our seniors.” said Peter Jacoby, M.D., president of the Connecticut Community Foundation.

“Although we have many retirement communities located in our area, charitable resources for seniors are very limited,” said Ingrid Manning, CEO of the Connecticut Community Foundation. “Seniors face difficulties which have been intensified by an economic recession that has reduced their assets.”

Placing Seniors’ Issues in the Forefront

An advisory committee comprised of trustees from the former East Hill Woods, Inc. including Representative Arthur O’Neill, Lee Sherman, John Michaels, Joe Vannucci, and Craig Lifland will review the needs of seniors in the Foundation’s service area and make recommendations for grants that will be awarded to area nonprofits that serve seniors.

“The East Hill Woods Fund gives the Foundation an opportunity to carefully study the needs of our seniors, many of whom are reluctant to ask for help. We can then develop emergency assistance plans and foster long-term changes to the systems that are in place to care for seniors,” said Manning.

From Bankruptcy to Profitability
According to Representative Arthur O’Neill, the establishment of the East Hill Woods Fund is the successful result of a plan that started 15 years ago to rescue East Hill Woods and maintain a high quality of life for its residents. East Hill Woods was in financial difficulty and declared bankruptcy through the federal court system.

“Through the capable management of East Hill Woods’ Director, Joe Vannucci, and refinancing sought by the Board of Trustees, East Hill Woods emerged from bankruptcy as a strong retirement community,” said O’Neill.

In order to assure the long-term viability of East Hill Woods, the trustees determined in 2007 that a sale of the facility was in the best interest of East Hill Woods and its residents. However, they also were very mindful that the mission and operations of the for-profit organization must coincide with East Hill Woods’ mission of putting the needs of East Hill Woods residents first.

“We had three requirements for our buyer,” said Joe Vannucci. “First, they had to understand that money was not the object for us; second, they needed to fulfill the moral contract that East Hill Woods had established with each resident; and third, we asked the buyer to retain the capable staff we had to the greatest extent possible.”

Freshwater Group of Tucson, AZ, purchased East Hill Woods, Inc. for $34.5 million in 2007. After expenses and debt repayment, the sale produced net proceeds of more than $9 million dollars, and resulted in the opening of Watermark at East Hill.

“The trustees carefully considered all options for the use of the $9 million profit, but giving the proceeds back to the residents of East Hill Woods was not allowed by law,” said John Michaels. “As trustees, we were free to choose how the funds would be used. We had the opportunity to consider other charitable options, but we purposefully chose to benefit seniors because the need is there and it followed our original mission and charter of the East Hill Woods organization.”

O’Neill also mentioned that the Town of Southbury’s Zoning Commission was instrumental in the successful sale of East Hill Woods by allowing a for-profit company to purchase the property which had initially been zoned for a nonprofit facility only.

“To our knowledge, East Hill Woods is the only life care community in the United States that has gone from bankruptcy, to recovery and then sold for a profit,” added Michaels. “We went from a big minus to a huge plus.”

Pictured above:
The East Hill Woods Fund was recently established at the Connecticut Community Foundation with a gift of $9.2 million. An advisory committee made up of former East Hill Woods trustees and CCF staff will work together to award grants from the fund to area nonprofits that serve seniors.

Pictured at the Southbury Senior Center following a weight training class is back row l. to r.: John Michaels, an East Hill Woods trustee, Elayne Doherty of Southbury, Representative Arthur O’Neill, an East Hill Woods trustee, Magdalene Shuster of Southbury, with Ingrid Manning, CEO, and Peter Jacoby, M.D., president, Connecticut Community Foundation; front row l. to r. are: Angela Vazquez, Joyce Haskel, and Florry Richards, all of Southbury.