The Village Improvement Association of Rehoboth Beach wishes to express our sincere gratitude to Schell Brothers for their kindness in helping the VIA with an issue at our clubhouse kitchen that occurred late last summer and affected several cabinets. We were in the position of having to replace them at a time when we did not have the funds to do so. Founded in 1909, through two world wars, and the Great Depression, and on to recent years, the VIA has celebrated 111 years working within the Rehoboth Beach and greater Henlopen community by providing volunteer service and financial assistance to local groups and organizations. The VIA is a 501(c)3 organization. Since 2012, the VIA has raised a yearly average of $75,000 to support donations to improve our community, which we have always done with much pride. Additionally, in 2019 alone our 235 club members provided 22,893 hours of volunteer service. Most fundraising activities occur at the VIA clubhouse. In March of 2020, we watched with dismay as not only our regular activities came to a halt because of COVID-19, but also all of our usual fundraising events had to be cancelled, including the 2020 Designer Show House, Bingo, the Art of Accessorizing, the Saint Nicholas Tea, a wine tasting event, and several fundraising dinners. During this restrictive time, VIA volunteers were still able to provide 16,269 hours of volunteer service to our Rehoboth community.
While we were able to continue with some of our expected charitable financial donations, through new and innovative fundraising efforts, we did not want to incur any expenses other than absolutely necessary.
Because Schell Brothers had done work for the VIA in the past, and because we knew that Schell Brothers supports the Rehoboth community when there is a need, we reached out to them for assistance in our own time of trouble. Under the direction of Alyssa Titus, director of marketing; Carmen Marinelli, director of construction; Cori Bane, design consultant; and Andy Buehler, external project supervisor, Schell Brothers kindly replaced not only the damaged cabinets, but all of the cabinets, and oversaw the restoration of the kitchen. Thank you, Schell Brothers for your generosity and kindness to the VIA. We are very grateful to you and your outstanding staff!
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to viewpoints@capegazette.com. All letters are considered at the discretion of the newsroom and published as space allows. Due to the large volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt of each submission. Letters must include a phone number and address for verification. Keep letters to 400 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content or length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Letters should focus on local issues, not national topics or personalities. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days regarding a particular topic. Authors may submit a second letter within that time period if it pertains to a different issue. Letters may not be critical of personalities or specific businesses. Criticism of public figures is permissible. Endorsement letters for political candidates are no longer accepted. Letters must be the author’s original work, and may not be generated by artificial intelligence tools. Templates, form letters and letters containing language similar to other submissions will not be published.
