Committed to a more just, peaceful, sustainable world

The Emily Fund has a soul purpose — to do and promote good. Those who support the fund help contribute to making this a more peaceful, just and sustainable world in honor of the late Emily Silverstein, of Roosevelt.

Left: The late Emily Silverstein, of Roosevelt, sits in the sunshine. Above: Roosevelt’s Cecelia Ticktin (l) and Emily Silverstein share a moment of joy together. Ticktin has organized the second annual Emily Fund benefit concert in honor of her late friend. “It is in every person in this world’s best interest to support and contribute to the fund because we are completely and wholeheartedly dedicated to continuing Emily’s vision and dedication to making this a better world for us all,” said Ticktin, fund board member.

The Emily Fund’s mission is to educate and mentor, as well as to create and disseminate educational resources that facilitate local and global change through community building activities. The fund provides an annual scholarship to students who have been actively engaged in volunteer activities and who intend to pursue careers focused on peace, justice and sustainability.

The fund also sponsors the “Do One Thing” campaign and has created a calendar of more than 60 action dates to inspire and empower young people to get involved in community work. Free printable resources for each of the dates are available on the website, which includes background information and links to more information and ways that people can get involved.

The fund also has a mission to stop dating violence and has distributed more than 370,000 free dating pledge cards to a network of more than 600 schools and domestic violence agencies in all 50 states. The fund has also inspired the declaration of nearly 500 proclamations by mayors and 27 governors in 47 states. Each proclamation provides an opportunity for local communities to come together to learn about and address this serious issue.

To raise more awareness and support, Ticktin has organized the second annual summer benefit concert for The Emily Fund.

“The first summer concert was a beautiful night,” Ticktin said. “We had perfect weather, an amazing turnout, and we allowed a lot of communitymembers to express themselves with a turn on the stage. We had very varied performances, and little booths in the back with different subfundraisers, so to speak. Dairy Queen even donated a ton of ice cream, which I believe the audience was particularly grateful for.”

The first event raised over $2,500 for Emily Fund scholarships. Last year, the fund started annual scholarships at the schools Emily attended, giving a $1,000 scholarship to a Hightstown High School senior, a $200 savings bond to a Kreps Middle School eighth-grader, and a $100 savings bond to a Roosevelt Public School sixth-grader. The fund intends to expand to a national scholarship when funding allows.

This year, Ticktin said she would like to donate benefit concert proceeds to a specific organization.

“I am still working on where the proceeds will go this year,” she said. “Last year we raised over $2,500 and it all went to scholarships, which was fantastic. This year I have an organization in mind that I am hoping the proceeds will go to, but as nothing is finalized yet I won’t mention what that organization is. You will just have to come to the concert to find out.”

People can also keep up with the fund’s projects at emilyfund.org, which details what contributors have done since the last benefit concert.

“There have been blood drives, a book drive, a Peace Day film screening, other concerts, a Peace Pole and Peace Garden dedication at Gettysburg College (where Emily went to school), in-school lectures and projects, and awards and scholarships have been distributed,” Ticktin said.

This year’s benefit concert will be all about the music.

“Last year we had a lot going on and the setting was really informal,” Ticktin said. “This time around it’s more of a sit down and listen to a full set list kind of night. The band, Mad Feather Group, is made up of five guys from Jackson, though they will be relocating to California in the winter.”

The musical group consists of Matt Hess on lead guitar, Dave Colon on guitar and vocals, Roshane Karunaratne on keyboards and base, Santo Rizzolo on drums, and Jake Valentine on guitar. Ticktin and other special guests are also expected to perform at the event, which will start at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 in the Roosevelt Public School.

Ticktin hopes people will save the date and come out in support of the Emily Fund.

“I am so, so grateful for every minute somebody spends on our website, every dime someone puts in our donation boxes, every time somebody takes a moment to look at a picture of my beautiful best friend,” Ticktin said. “I can’t put into words how grateful I am. However, we always need more. And it doesn’t have to be money. We need more people to do good things and pass it forward, as talked about at DoOneThing.org. We just need people to keep up the good work that is already being done, and keep remembering Emily every day and living in a way that would make her proud.”

Ticktin said Emily was someone who had her hand in many projects, and who had such a wealth of ideas and drive toward making this a better world.

“As said at emilyfund.org, during her all too brief life, Emily’s compassion, passion and creativity touched many lives,” Ticktin said. “From an early age she was guided by a vision of a better world that drove her to become involved in many different causes.”

By the age of 10, Emily chose to become a vegetarian, marched in peace marches and passionately advocated for recycling and protecting the environment. Over the next 10 years she became actively engaged in many different causes — women’s rights, human rights, social justice, environmental sustainability, and ending homelessness. She accomplished many things, but there are so many more lives that she would have touched had she not been murdered at the age of 19 on April 9, 2009, by an ex-boyfriend at Gettysburg College, Pa., where she was a sophomore.

For more information about the fund established in Emily’s honor, visit emilyfund.org. For more information about the benefit concert, contact Cecelia Ticktin at 609-658-5551 or Cecelia@ emilyfund.org.