Flintridge Prep celebrated its most generous donors at the school’s Heads Council event on May 17 at Caltech’s Athenaeum.
Jeff Crawford, a La Cañada Flintridge resident and 1986 Flintridge Prep alum and parent of two Prep graduates, was honored at the event which was attended by more than 150 alumni, parents and parents of alumni.
Head of School Vanessa Walker-Oakes thanked the assembled donors for their contributions to the school’s annual fund, endowment and special projects, including $403,000 raised at the school’s April benefit to support a library renovation project that will break ground this summer. She then turned her praise to Crawford.
“Tonight we honor an alum, past parent, current parent, and five-term board member who has truly put his heart and soul into serving this school community — our people, programs and facilities — with the goal of making an impact,” she said. “Jeff Crawford calls on us to imagine the needs of future students, to nurture the next generation of Flintridge Prep students to be the leaders this world needs. He does not say these words lightly and without personal cost and investment. Jeff Crawford has backed those words up with his own actions, offering his time, his talent, and his resources to support that goal.”
Crawford’s contributions include the creation of a new endowment fund, the largest single endowment gift in the school’s history, which will help Flintridge Prep support each student’s unique journey through high school, providing ongoing programmatic funding for student support services like writing and math tutoring, coaching and mentoring to improve study skills, individualized support for student learning needs, and counseling services.
Walker-Oakes shared the school’s appreciation to the entire Crawford family, including Jeff’s wife, Orsi, and parents, Gordy and Dona Crawford, for their extraordinary philanthropy to Flintridge Prep over the years.
Jeff Crawford called the school one of the great loves of his life, adding, “I found a family and a home at Flintridge Prep and many, many years later, so did my sons, CJ and Jack. There are few things more satisfying in life than helping institutions and individuals via philanthropic work…There is no price tag on a safe, happy and loving environment for a child in adolescence.”
First published in the May 30 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
