Summer Volunteer News

Thank you to all the volunteers who gave their time during January, February and March. The Volunteers provided 1004 hours to Cranaleith; working in preparation for our 25th Anniversary Gala, in the Gift Shop, helping with various office tasks, and helping us maintain our gardens.

April 3: Volunteer Get-Together

Thank you to Arlene Buettler, Fran Kuhnle, Susan Mautz, Lori Petrozino, and Marge Gildein who worked on Gala preparation and Gift Shop work. It was a nice, relaxing time to sit together and work and talk!

April 20: Earth Day

Cranaleith was buzzing with activity Earth Day weekend. Six new bee hives were installed by Andrea and we’re so excited to have the girls start to do their thing and make delicious “Sweet Mercy Honey”!

Volunteers also transplanted perennial flowers into the terraces by the Dining Room, Mike Ciccotti, Mark Reilly and Fred Trainer continue to work on the bridge across the creek, and enhancing the walking trail in the woods.

Fran Pollock, Clare Cosenza, Marita Geist,

Andrea Vettori, our Beekeeper Mentor

Archbishop Ryan Students Vicky Lim and Tiffany Cheung along with Claudia Pavlak, Arlene Buettler, Elaine Cooper

April 23: Holy Family University

Stephanie McCarthy, Director of Campus Ministry at Holy Family University, brought a group to Cranaleith for a twilight retreat on April 23rd. Volunteer service was woven into their schedule. They were very helpful in assisting Jess, our Guest Sevices/Garden Coordinator, at the Vegetable Garden. On the way there, they had the chance to see the bees up close and personal, with Andrea Vettori, our beekeeper mentor!

May 8: Gathering of Volunteers

Thank you to Arlene Buettler, Fran Kuhnle, Maggie McDermott, Clare Cosenza, George Whelan and Maryanne McDonald; and our NEW volunteers – Toni Rutter, and Donna Marley who worked on continued Gala Preparation. We did preparatory work for the Center Pieces, Give-Aways etc.

We sat and talked and also admired Maggie’s jewelry which will be sold in the Gift Shop. It is a nice time to get to know the other Cranaleith volunteers. We plan to come back in June to work on pricing the donations for the Pop Up Sale scheduled for November.

May 13: Holy Ghost Prep Baseball Team

Greg Olenski Jr., Head Coach of the Holy Ghost Baseball team believes in encouraging his players to "Give Back". On Thursday May 9th, Greg and over 21 members of the team, plus coaches, pitched in and gave a tremendous lift to Cranaleith's land care. They cleaned out the creek bed of sludge, which allowed the water to flow freely to the pond, readied beds for planting in the garden, and removed fallen branches from recent storms. What a difference this team made for Cranaleith!

Coach Greg Olenski in red shirt with his baseball team

Greg’s family are no strangers to Cranaleith. His dad, Greg Sr. served on Cranaleith’s Board of Directors and his mom, Karen, volunteered for many years. What a difference this family made for Cranaleith!

May 16: 25th Anniversary Gala

The 25th Anniversary Gala held on May 16 was like a “homecoming”! You could feel the joy and excitement in the room, as friends from over 25 years met up with each other again, reminiscing about their memories at Cranaleith together. They were enjoying that time so much that it was a challenge to get everyone seated so that the event could start!

As we all know, an event like a Gala doesn’t happen without months of preparation. The Cranaleith Staff and Volunteers are to be congratulated for making our 25th Anniversary celebration a night to remember! We would like to thank our volunteers who worked on the Gala Committee, were part of the set-up that day at Knowlton Mansion, who helped during the Gala at the Welcome Table, provided the music, the photographers, and Silent Auction donors:

Arlene & John Buettler, Dolly Trainer Brown, Eileen Carlin, Stesha Corbett, Clare Cosenza, Dorothea DiGiovanni, Loretta Hart, Carolyn Hirsh Lindy, Marge Koons, Maryanne McDonald, Ruth Picozzi, Frances Schwabenland, Kathie Ulinski, George Whelan, HMS Band – Steve Hart, Ed McTague, John Burkhauser

Below is the Volunteer page that was included in the Program Book. We are so proud of our volunteers and were thrilled that we could share your smiling faces for all to see. Thank you for all the support that you give to Cranaleith. We wouldn’t be celebrating 25 years without our VOLUNTEERS.

It was a special night for the Honorees: Joyce Hadley, Sr. Mary Scullion, RSM, Sr. Maria DiBello, RSM and their families and friends. Everyone enjoyed the presentation speeches, dinner and dessert, a video commemorating 25 years, entertainment by Dorothea Di Giovanni and HMS band, and our Silent Auction.

June 5: Gathering of Volunteers

Thank you to Arlene Buettler, Clare Consenza, Marianne Ham, Fran Kuhnle, Maggie McDermott, Maryanne McDonald, Connie Mulholland, Ruth Picozzi, Toni Rutter, Kathie Ulinski and George Whelan, who all worked on preparation for the Holiday Sale in November, 2024. We gathered in the basement of the House and worked on pricing items. We got a lot done but have much more to do. It was great to sit around the tables, work and share in each other's company.

June 12: Volunteers from WSFS Bank

On June 12th, WSFS Bank (We Stand for Service), closed their branches at 12noon, so that their employees could volunteer at different sites throughout the city, from 1pm – 5pm. What an inspiring concept for WSFS to incorporate into their values…

“Our values of service, truth and respect are the fuel that ignites our virtuous cycle: when we do well, our Community does well and when our Community does well, we do well.”

Cranaleith was fortunate to welcome 6 WSFS employees, who volunteered their time to clear the weeds from the lower terraces, near the Dining Room. Jess worked with the group and said they accomplished the task in the most unfavorable conditions – extremely hot and humid – and did so with very good humor and appreciation for a job well done! Everyone at Cranaleith and all our guests are grateful to the WSFS volunteers for making way for the beautiful flowers and shrubs to “breathe” again!

Jess, Shawn, Anna, Ollie, Dan, Jason, Bob

June 29: Home and Garden Day

On Saturday, June 29th, Cranaleith held a “fun” event for the whole family. Guests were able to walk the grounds and experience different things along the way. Everywhere you looked there was some activity going on. Maggie McDermott, Valerie Melchiorre, Donna Furlong and Marge Gildein greeted our guests and explained to them what was available to do. For many, this was the first time that they had been to Cranaleith, and they were excited to find out what we were all about!

Up at the Honey Hut, Andrea Vettori and Helene Houser were doing an actual honey harvest demonstration and over at the Vegetable Garden, Jess Wszolek and Rachel Vince were explaining the techniques of growing vegetables and herbs.

Ruth Picozzi and Fran Kuhnle gave tours of the historic house, while Tim Simmons was having such fun playing the drums with the kids, helping them to feel the rhythm. Mandie Banks developed a very creative mindful scavenger hunt which brought the participants all over Cranaleith grounds. Her husband, Adam and her daughter Sophie along with Ann Marie Gervino ran the Nature-Based Crafts Activity.

Down at the Conference Center, Dawn Hayward, Sr. Maria, Mary Ellen Gantert and her granddaughter, Rachel welcomed the guests into the Dining Room for refreshments and a “mini” concert by Steve Hart, songwriter (and Board Chair of Cranaleith), accompanied by Ed McTague and John Burkhauser. Upstairs, Cecile Gantert and Kathie Ulinski were happy to welcome the guests into our beautiful Gift Shop.

The day was so successful due to the many hours of planning by Mandie and Ruth and our wonderful volunteers, who helped during the event. A special shout-out to the grounds crew – Ruben Joseph, Fred Trainer, Mark Reilly and Jess Wszolek and all our ”Adopt-a-Garden” gardeners who worked so diligently to make the grounds look their best!

Spotlight on the Cranaleith Gardeners

What can we say about our Volunteer Gardeners? How many lives they touch at Cranaleith by making a beautiful space for retreatants, conference goers and visitors? How they provide a place for beauty and meditation? How their work improves the pollinating gardens and therefor the butterflies, bees and honey? We can NOT say enough about our Volunteer Gardeners and their commitment to Cranaleith! A BIG thank you for their hard work, commitment, and perseverance, whether it is hot, cold or raining, they always come through!

Thank you to Clare Cosenza (Administrative Building and rock pile), Judy Lee (Main House) Kim Erhard (Azalea Garden), Fran Kuhnle (Upper Drive), Maryanne McDonald (Labyrinth), Claudia Pavlak and Alice Wilkinson (Waterfall Garden), Elaine Cooper (Carriage House), Sruthy Saju and Sreya Saju (Lower Drive)

We still have a few gardens available, if you are interested contact Kathie. We will go over the garden with you, identify weeds versus plants etc. There are no set times to garden, you come when your schedule allows.

Clare Cosenza

Elaine Cooper

Kim Erhard

Fran Kuhnie

Judy Lee

Maryanne McDonald

Claudia Pavlak

Sreya Saju

Sruthy Saju

Alice Wilkinson

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

August 7th , September 11th, October 16th

Pricing of Items for Holiday Sale. We will be accepting items for the

sale up to September 30th.

November 22nd

Set-up for Holiday Sale 9am - 12noon

November 23rd

Holiday Sale 8:30am - 3:30pm/sign-up schedule will be sent out in September. All Volunteers and Staff will receive a 20% discount on any purchase.

December 15th

Volunteer Appreciation Open House 2pm - 4pm

PRE-SALE!

Pictured below are some larger items that we had planned to sell at the Holiday Pop-In Sale on Saturday, November 23rd, but we want to start a little earlier. We are asking for your help – we’re hoping that within our large group of volunteers, someone might know of someone else that would be interested in any of these items. If so, please have them or you email Kathie at kulinski@cranaleith.org for more information.