History of CTCC (Cranberry Township Community Chest)

People know CTCC for the three-day CTCC Community Days in July, but few know that this is a 35-year-old organization that was started by the Rotary in 1976. July 4, 1976 also happens to be the first year of Community Day, but the two had nothing to do with each other until four years ago.

According to Frank Petrone, then the president of the Rotary, Community Chest was started to collect money for Cranberry's library, fire company, ambulance and some other smaller groups in order to eliminate multiple fundraising efforts.  

Each year, Community Chest would send out donation envelopes to every home and business in Cranberry. Community Chest’s first slogan was “Watch the Tree Grow” and a tree-shaped campaign sign was planted on Route 19 and Criders Corner, where the Burger King now stands.

Community Chest was an important fundraiser for these groups and some may not have survived without its support.  As Cranberry grew, the residents felt that dedicated funding for the fire department and library was important to the community. Their need to depend on Community Chest to raise money became less and less.

By 2007, Community Chest was looking to disband as a nonprofit organization. It was at this time that the Cranberry Plan, the township's 25-year comprehensive plan, was being developed. From a SWAT analysis, officials knew one of the weaknesses that our community had was one that was the same for many communities across the state and county; a decline of membership of our nonprofit and civic groups.  

From our analysis, a successful and healthy community depends on many factors. As we state, the "Four Pillars" of a healthy community are; a good businesses base, good local government and schools, strong faith-based communities and healthy nonprofit and civic groups.

We found that Cranberry was fortunate on three of the pillars, but needed to work on the fourth. Around the same time, a small group approached the Community Chest board about redoing the bylaws and then dissolving their board. But once the group heard of the Cranberry Plan, they agreed to become a part of it.

In April 2007, CTCC met for the first time with the newly formed 11-member board. Interestingly one of the first new CTCC board members was Frank Petrone, one of the people who help launch the organization in 1976.