Introducing Songlines:
The Liza Kitchell Memorial Fund
New Memorial Fund to Support the Arts in Memory of Longtime Volunteer Liza Kitchell
On September 26, 2024, we lost longtime volunteer and Board member Liza Kitchell to a multi-year battle with cancer. Liza was not only a devoted volunteer, spending countless hours every November making bows for the Wreath Project, tabling at community events, and leading many of our fundraising efforts, but she was also a whirlwind of creativity who wanted to share her love of music and the arts with everyone who came through the gates. As a way to honor the dedication and many gifts that Liza shared with us, the Friends of the Community Growing Center is establishing a fund in her memory. The name of the fund, Songlines, comes from a series of conceptual scores that Liza had planned to perform using the soundscape of the Growing Center.
“The Growing Center is a place that drew out the best from Liza," said her husband, Ram Kelath. "She cherished it because it represented things she loved best - nature as inspiration for art and nature as a setting for people to fully express what is most deeply human in themselves.” Learn more about Liza’s life on her website.
When you make a contribution, the money will support programs and initiatives that nurture what Liza most loved. To do so, visit our dedicated Songlines: Liza Kitchell Memorial Fund page. (Note, you do not have to have a PayPal account; just enter your preferred donation amount and click on “Debit or Credit” to use a card.) To donate by check, please make your donation to “Friends of the Community Growing Center” and mail it to: FCGC, PO Box 76, Somerville, MA 02143. Thank you so much!
There are many ways to give to the Growing Center:
Online, through PayPal (no account needed):
By Check:
To donate by check, mail your donation to:
The Somerville Community Growing Center
P.O. Box 76
Somerville, MA 02143
In-Kind Donations:
We also accept in-kind donations of goods and services. The Growing Center can use specific supplies and resources to complete. Please contact us with questions. Looking to Volunteer? See our Volunteer Page for details.
Special thanks to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for the generous Cultural Sector Recovery Grant of $26,260 we received in 2023, as well as for event support through their funding for seasonal festivals.
A partial list of historical funders includes:
Community Preservation Fund/City of Somerville, Cummings School After School Funds, Greater Boston Urban Resource Partnership, Harpley Foundation, Kendall Foundation, New England Grassroots Environmental Fund/Boston Initiative and Grassroots Fund, Somerville Arts Council, Gaining Ground in collaboration with the Greeley Foundation, Somerville Neighborhood Community Improvement Grants, Tufts Neighborhood Service Fund, and generous private individual donors.
Many thanks to our former fiscal agents for their assistance in our early years, including Somerville Community Access TV, the Somerville Environmental & Recycling Volunteers, the Community Action Agency of Somerville, and Groundwork Somerville.
