FACES & PLACES
LOCAL COLOR NOVEMBER 2006

Jonathan D. Krist Foundation
by Peggy and Bob Krist

Our son, Jonathan Krist, died in a car accident on May 31, 2006. It has been an awful time for us, but the support of our family, friends, and the greater New Hope community continues to sustain us through our disbelief and sadness.

One of the better cures for grief is action. With the help of family friend and attorney, Peter Reiss, we established a foundation in Jon’s name to which many of you contributed. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you and fill you in on the activities of the foundation thus far, and our plans for the future. Jon was a musician and an activist bringing together students, different generations, and opposing ideas, and we’re doing our best to keep his ideas alive.
We started with scholarships. One $5000 award was given to deserving New Hope senior Jade Greene, and $2500 went to Vaughn Dean, an 8th grader at Our Lady of Angels , to continue his education at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. We’ll continue to award scholarships every year.

The foundation is funding an experimental program, “Finding your Voice,” to support creative thinking in the arts and humanities at the New Hope Solebury High School. Two NHS alumni will be teaching workshops in philosophy and songwriting in the coming year.

A box of notecards, called “A Box of New Hope,” with Bob’s photos of New Hope will be on sale throughout the area. The profits, along with foundation funds, will be used to send boxes of needed items to communities where there are dire shortages. In high school, Jon worked on a project to build wells in Africa. His scope was worldwide and we’re trying to do the same with the foundation, so funds have already been used to send boxes of sporting supplies to the impoverished Sawu District School on Bega Island in Fiji (where Bob was recently shooting on assignment).

And boxes of instruments and music supplies were delivered to students who really needed them at a KIPP charter school in rural NC. A suggestion box at the high school will be a source for further ideas. These are small steps to be sure, but every box of new hope will directly help someone who really needs it.

Nothing can replace the loss of a child. Jon was a special kid with a lot of interests, passions, talents, and friends. In the form of the Jonathan D. Krist Foundation, we hope to keep his spirit alive for a long time to come.