At harp-weaver, we believe that service and giving goes beyond our time at work; in fact, philanthropy is embedded into our daily lives. This mentality is illustrated in the organizations that staff care about. We are active participants in serving on boards and committees, volunteering in other ways, and giving to charitable causes.
To illustrate this work, we’re sharing below how staff are actively engaged and why they believe in giving back.
Teresa Araco Rodgers
Teresa, harp-weaver’s Principal and Founder, is a Philadelphia native and passionate about contributing to causes related to housing and homelessness, education, local impact investing, and health and families. She uses her knowledge and experience to inform her board work while lessons from each board and committee positively inform her guidance of harp-weaver and its clients.
She serves on the board/committee of AIM Academy, Gwynedd Mercy High School, the Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund, Roadmap to Homes, the HUD Alignment Committee, the Montgomery County Your Way Home Advisory Council, and is actively involved with Investors Circle Philadelphi
a and Impact PHL.
“A strong sense of giving and service are tenets of the charism of the Sisters of Mercy, who, through their teaching, deeply influenced my values and calling. Service is a sincere gift of yourself to others. Through my board service and work in philanthropy, I meet so many people who have devoted themselves to the issues they hold dear. It is why I started Night Out With Meaning, a place where women can come together to learn, to inform themselves, and to be inspired by women who have made a difference in the issues they care about.”
Abby Rolland
Having moved to Philadelphia in the fall of 2021, Abby began looking for ways to become embedded into the community as soon as she arrived. She’s most interested in youth development and empowering youth leaders, which has informed the volunteer work thus far.
She has volunteered as a coach with Girls on the Run Philadelphia and currently serves on its Associate Board. She’s also on the Philadelphia AmeriCorps Alumni Board, as her AmeriCorps VISTA service year profoundly shaped who she is and what she does. She attends her family foundation’s board meetings as they begin to incorporate her generation into its work as well.
“Service has been embedded into my DNA since I was a child. My family, my environment, and my background have all influenced my desire to give back. As they say, 'to whom much is given, much is expected.' I strongly believe that is a responsibility of those who have been given a great deal to find ways to give back in order to make their world a better place.”
Jill Greenfield Feldman
While new to the harp-weaver team, Jill is not new to philanthropy and giving back. She serves as a trustee and a volunteer for Sunday Love Project which runs Greater Goods, a free grocery store in Kensington. She also delivers food to home-bound patients for Manna.
Most of Jill’s volunteer time is devoted to the Greenfield Youth Film Festival, an event she started with her late husband, Ron, in 2008. Approximately 20 local high schools participate in the year-long event which begins with a full-day workshop taught by professionals in the film industry and culminates in a red-carpet event when winners are announced and their films are shown. The Festival is run with proceeds from the Greenfield Foundation where Jill is a trustee.
“I strongly encourage anyone who is interested in helping with either of these organizations to reach out and consider joining me! It can be very difficult seeing the condition in which others live and struggle. Growing up and living in a world where there has always been plenty of food and I always saw my parents and grandparents helping others, it is so fulfilling and comforting to know that we are helping our community, even (or especially) when it brings us out of our comfort zone.”