Cherry Hill native and Carusi Middle School history teacher Tom Rosenberg and his family have for two decades operated a fund for children named for his late mother.
The Karen Andes Rosenberg Sunshine Fund for Children began after Karen’s death from cancer in 1999. She was a mother of four and a passionate advocate for schools and students who served on the Cherry Hill board of education for three years.
“I still remember it very clearly, she had a campaign flyer, and there was a scale, and on the scale were a bunch of children on one end and money on the other end,” Tom Rosenberg recalled.
“Clearly the money was outweighing the students, anKaren Andes Rosenberg Sunshine Fund for Childrend it was always my mom’s firm belief that children needed to be cared for and provided for by the school district.”
Tom Rosenberg noted that after Karen passed, his family decided to use the sympathy donations it received to create a fund that would keep her legacy alive.
For the first decade, the fund provided a $1,000 scholarship to the most outstanding fashion design student at Drexel University, Karen’s alma mater. But to make an impact closer to home, the Rosenbergs joined Cherry Hill and area school districts to help underprivileged school children with items they might need, such as a backpack, winter coat or paid field trip.
“She wouldn’t want anyone to go without, and since we had the means, we wanted to use it to further that goal,” Tom noted.
He taught history at Cherry Hill East for more than 20 years before being transferred to Carusi earlier this year. It was there Tom discovered the much greater need faced by students in the community.
“I think we have given away upward to $700 just to benefit students at Carusi Middle School (this year), and that really reinvigorated us to say, ‘Well listen, let’s get the word out and say, what more can we do?’” Tom noted.
“Because we don’t have substantial funds, but we certainly have funds that we could use to benefit other students in the district.”
The Rosenbergs typically work with school administrators who connect the fund with needy students.
“Building principals, guidance counselors, assistant principals know their students, and especially those students who are in need, much better than any of us who are in charge of the fund,” Tom explained. “So we really look to them and trust that any name they put forth for assistance is a student who is in legitimate financial need,” Tom explained.
The fund is still growing and has a website underway, but in the meantime, it invites families with students in need to reach out to karsunshinefund@gmail.com. They will be asked questions that include the child’s school and his or her needs, and the organization will follow up with both parents and the school.
“Local, county, state government is vast, and sometimes people simply don’t know where to turn to look for help,” Tom noted. “And that’s why we wanted to try and do our part and get the word out there that we are a resource and we can be of assistance.”
