ICGMC Shining Lights Gala title-sm

A Celebration of Leadership & Compassion

October 13, 2022

Hilton Garden Inn

Hamilton, NJ

14th Annual Shining Lights Gala

At this year’s gala we honored Elizabeth “Betsy” Solan and Lawrence Township Community Foundation – one of our longest-standing friends, community leaders, and donors known for their commitment to our cause and their powerful impact on the communities around us.

We are grateful to all attendees, staff, organizers and sponsors. Thanks to your generosity our event was a memorable celebration of our honorees and a successful fundraiser that will support care and wellness services we provide for elderly and disable adults in our community.

We would like to share some pictures from this joyful and fun event. For more pictures, please visit our facebook  page.

2022 Shining Lights Honorees

Betsy Solan SLG Honoree

Elizabeth "Betsy" Solan

Elizabeth Solan (aka Betsy) was born in Trenton, raised in Hamilton Township, and has resided in Robbinsville for over 50 years. Upon receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Villanova University, Betsy was employed by the Visiting Nurse Association of Trenton, providing and coordinating care to the homebound elderly and people with disabilities. Her VNA work included directing the New Jersey site of a major federal research and demonstration project aimed at testing the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of community-based long-term care service delivery.  It was subsequently used as the model for State sponsored community-based programs for the elderly and disabled. 

Betsy went on to complete the Master’s in Public Health program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Thereafter, she served in various roles including Project Coordinator for an HIV Aides social science research project conducted by Rutgers University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research; Director of St. John’s Health Center, a free clinic for the poor and uninsured; and Manager of the New Jersey Department of Health’s Wellness Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Program.

To Betsy, faith and service to others go hand in hand. With a background rooted primarily in services to the elderly, Betsy saw retirement as an opportunity to continue addressing the needs of Mercer County’s elderly population. On receiving an invitation from Mary Ann Isaac, the Director at ICGMC, Betsy joined the Board of Trustees of Interfaith Caregivers in 2007. Ever since, she has served either as a Trustee or as a member of the Advisory Board, and most recently in 2021 she assumed the Board Chair position. In these leadership roles, Betsy’s background in public health was critical as she aided the agency in crafting safety protocols throughout the COVID pandemic.  In addition to the Solans’ personal generosity as legacy donors, Betsy has lent her expertise to the agency’s grant writing needs, helping the organization to secure and maintain a federal RSVP grant, now in its 8th year of funding. 

Her other involvements include being a Trustee of the parish of St. Gregory the Great (her second home) and Chairperson for the St. Gregory the Great’s Evangelization Team and Adult Faith Formation Team.  Betsy is also Chair of the Mercer County Council on Aging.

Betsy and Patrick have been married for 54 wonderful years.  They have an amazing son and daughter-in law, John and Liz, who are the parents of the pride of the Solan family – Peter James.

Lawrence Twp. Community Foundation

The Lawrence Township Community Foundation (LTCF) was founded in 2001, when Pam
Mount and Eleanor Horne of Educational Testing Service (ETS) and Becky Taylor of Bristol-
Myers Squibb (BMS) realized that the needs of the residents of Lawrence Township could be
served by a community foundation. ETS and BMS committed their support along with Dan
Haggerty (Stark & Stark) and Conrad Druker (The Mercadien Group) and the LTCF was formed. The LTCF is dedicated to supporting local non-profits that provide critical assistance to local residents in need, as well as funding programs that foster and enrich all the residents of the community through education, music and the arts.

Since awarding their first grants in 2002, the Lawrence Township Community Foundation (LTCF) has provided over $1,225,000 in grant funding for more than 50 local nonprofit organizations who serve the people of Lawrence Township. This success, spanning over 20 years, has been aided by BMS as a sustaining sponsor, along with key support from ETS, and in recent years, The Lawrenceville School. In-kind support has been provided by Mercadien, Stark & Stark, Terhune Orchards, Rider University and most recently, The Gingered Peach.

In 2020, as a response to the special needs caused by the pandemic, and with the support of the Bill Guhl Fund, LTCF was able to increase grants and award a one-time record of $97,000. The additional funds supported nonprofits that were providing food, and emotional support during the worst of the pandemic.

Interfaith Caregivers is an organization whose relationship with LTCF began in 2003, with the
agency receiving its first community grant to support caregiving services for the homebound
elderly and disabled residents of Lawrence. With regular annual funding since 2011, and
additional grants to support the agency’s wellness program, the Lawrence Township Community Foundation has been a strong and generous partner; working together to ensure that the community’s older adults have the resources to live safely and independently, as they age in their homes and neighborhoods with dignity and compassion.

.

Lawrence twp Community Foundation logo
Lawrence Twp. Community Foundation Board

Thank You To Our Sponsors

We are grateful for your continued generosity and support.

Sunlight Sponsor

Twilight Sponsor

Moonlight Sponsor

Starlight Sponsor

Steve and Margarita Lucas

Candlelight Sponsor

The Gyimoty Family