Frances Sheehan to receive service award

Former Brandywine Health Foundation president, CEO will get Rebecca Lukens award in May

Former Brandywine Health Foundation CEO Frances Sheehan will receive Rebecca Lukens award in May.

COATESVILLE >> The former president and CEO of Brandywine Health Foundation will receive an award for her service to the community.

The National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum, or NISHM, along with Coatesville Savings Bank on Tuesday named Frances Sheehan as the 11th Annual Rebecca Lukens Award winner.

Sheehan now is the president of Crozer-Keystone Community Foundation in Delaware County. She served as president and CEO of the Brandywine Health Foundation in Coatesville for 15 years, and helped distribute $15 million in funding for services and programs to benefit Coatesville area residents. Sheehan is a certified fundraising executive with a bachelor of arts degree from Wesleyan University.

Established by The Graystone Society’s National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum to honor individuals who exhibit the qualities of Rebecca Lukens, the annual award will be presented to Sheehan on May 10 at a garden party reception at 50 South First Avenue in the Lukens National Historic District.

Scott G. Huston, the National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum’s president, applauded this year’s choice for the Rebecca Lukens Award.

“At every turn, Frances would lend her resources, and the resources of her organization, to enrich our mission and the goals we have set forth - such as (the foundation’s) Coatesville Youth Initiative, where student interns from the community would spend the summer working at NISHM,” Huston said in news release.

Sheehan assumed her current role in January as the first president and CEO of the Crozer-Keystone Community Foundation. Sheehan guides the activities of the foundation with a focus on health, education and social needs of Delaware County residents.

The newly established founda-

tion is a Delaware Countywide independent public charity formed on July 1 when Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. acquired

Crozer-Keystone Health System. The net proceeds of the acquisition were transferred to the new, independent Crozer-Keystone Community Foundation.

As a young babysitter for her siblings, Sheehan said she learned the value of making the most of her

time. She later became the Chief Executive Officer of Planned Parenthood of Chester County for 12 years until 2002. She served on numerous boards and committees. A mother of two, she resides in Delaware County.

“I applaud people who

are engaged in their communities, take the time to become informed about all we know about how to deliver good health care, and how to build an equitable, high quality education system, and then vote thoughtfully,” Sheehan said. “We can have different

opinions about how to accomplish those goals of course, but engagement in meaningful ways is critical.”

The following are sponsors of the award: Coatesville Savings Bank, A. Frederick Travaglini, Brandywine Health Foundation,

MacElree Harvey, Edge Wallboard Machinery, Wegmans, Herr’s Foods, Huston Properties, Inc., The Stewart Huston Charitable Trust, Charles and Barbara Huston, Peter and Ruth Nunn, Scott and Meredith Huston, and The Williams Group.

Frances Sheehan