What a difference six years makes! Pinellas Community Foundation introduced a new and innovative brand and logo design. The community learned about local issues through awareness campaigns. PCF published a heartier annual report, emphasizing the human side of philanthropy and the stories told by those receiving the life-changing services from Pinellas nonprofits. And those are just a few of the accomplishments.
Behind these initiatives was Leah Slavensky, a familiar PCF face that so many in the Pinellas community have come to know and love.
Leah planted the seeds for two major campaigns, the first of which sought to combat childhood hunger in 2017. Through a collaboration with the Juvenile Welfare Board and food providers, the community learned about the hidden threat of childhood hunger in Pinellas County. Funds were raised and distributed from the PCF Childhood Hunger Relief Fund to local charitable organizations to help feed hungry children in our county through 2018. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCF reactivated the Childhood Hunger Relief Fund.
The second campaign, inspired by Leah’s firsthand experience of caring for an aging parent, focused on celebrating and attending to the needs of our aging friends and neighbors of the ACT II generation. As a result, PCF conducted the Community Assessment Survey of Older Adults, which later served as the launchpad for the ACT II Impact Grant. Through Leah’s work, we learned more about those aging in place in our community and the best way to meet their needs.
On Friday, June 18, Leah heard these and other accolades at a retirement party worthy of her accomplishments in the community she loves. The gathering, held at Creative Pinellas, was festive but bittersweet for Leah’s PCF coworkers and the myriad of organizations and individuals she has championed as PCF Director of Community Impact.
While PCF said goodbye to Leah in her director role, the staff and community will still feel her presence. As she steps into a consulting position as the PCF events coordinator, a job she performed alongside her other PCF duties, Leah will continue working on the friend-building events that hold a special place in her heart.