kepstein's blog

Sally Bolger Gardner joined ACT in September 2017, returning to Alexandria, her hometown, from 11 years in the Northern California town of Grass Valley. 

Sally’s background is primarily in office administration and human resources with minor detours for graduate school and raising two children, Sam and Clara, whom she and her husband, Gary, adopted from Bolivia.

Sally is looking forward to working with the ACT team and re-rooting herself within the Alexandria community. Welcome Sally!

As I write this month’s column, Hurricane Irma has barreled her way through the Caribbean and is making landfall in southwestern Florida.  The good news is that with today’s technology and advances in weather prediction, there will be less loss of life and less injuries to those in the storm’s path than in the past.  The bad news is that the material destruction to homes, business, communities and, thus, families will be devastating.

As we celebrate our nation’s 241st birthday and our city’s 268th, I think back to a column I wrote in 2014 about two of our country’s earliest, and perhaps greatest, philanthropists—George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  In addition to being the Father of the Country, Washington was known for his charitable giving particularly to the poor, the parentless and to higher education.  As noted in a piece by the Philanthropic Roundtable, George Washington would regularly provide food to t