“We are a county of great generosity,” Chuck Kelly said recently. He, as well as anyone, would know. Chuck is the longest-serving active Trustee of the Community Foundation of St. Clair County, having first joined the Foundation in 1982.

On May 16th at the Foundation’s 80th Anniversary Celebration, Chuck will be honored with the Foundation’s highest honor – its Distinguished Service Award. He’ll be joined in recognition that evening by Donna Niester, who is also receiving the same award.

Chuck joined the Foundation before it adopted the ‘community foundation’ name. “My earliest memory of the Foundation was while growing up in Port Huron,” Kelly said. “I learned that the Foundation, then known as the Port Huron District Foundation, had raised the funds to build Memorial Stadium, its very first project. And like thousands of other people over the decades, I benefited from playing at those facilities.”

Chuck attributes his passion for giving back to the role models he saw as a young man. He was a 1968 graduate of Port Huron Northern and the son of longtime St. Clair County District Judge James Kelly. His mother, Janet, was a professor at St. Clair County Community College and a longtime college board member.

“They were my examples,” Chuck said. “Over these many years of community service, I’ve learned that no matter what you put into it for the community, you get more out of it yourself,” he was quoted saying in a Times Herald article from 2017.

Kelly has served multiple roles during his time with the Community Foundation, including board chair from 2007 to 2009. He has also served on the Executive Committee, Governance Committee, Executive Compensation, Legal Advisory, and currently serves on the main Grants Committee. He is a charter member of the Legacy Society and a Founding Member of C3. He and his wife Gail opened their own donor-advised fund in 2001 and are active donors to multiple causes, including Blue Water Allies, SONS, the Wyatt Walker Fund, Port Huron Schools, the YMCA of the Blue Water Area, The Athletic Factory, St. Clair County Child and Neglect Council, and the Women’s Initiative.

“I understand that the Foundation will always be a work in progress,” he said. “It’s limited to what it can accomplish alone, and true progress requires intelligent partnering with donors, other nonprofits, the private sector, and governmental units.”

He said he’s blessed to have seen the Foundation’s involvement in legacy projects such as the Blue Water River Walk, Knowlton Museum, St. Clair Plaza Courtyard, Bridge to Bay Trails, Boardwalk Theater, and its growing grant and scholarship programs, which topped $5,000,000 in 2023.

“I think what we do well is to unleash the power of people through our diversity of leadership, committees, funds, and donors,” he said.

Randy Maiers, President & CEO of the Foundation, said, “Chuck embodies the kind of long-term passion and talent that any nonprofit would be proud to have. I have been so fortunate to have observed him and modeled his behavior for these last 22 years.”

Beyond his significant involvement with the Community Foundation, he has demonstrated dedication to other worthwhile causes such as:

Chuck has received the honorary Life Member Award from the YMCA for efforts “warranting lasting recognition” and the Judge James T. Corden award from the St. Clair County Bar Association for “integrity, honesty, ethics, and civility” in his work and daily conduct.

“Whatever my contributions have been,” Kelly said, “I’m so humbled to be linked to this great organization and to others receiving this award including its most recent recipients Jim Acheson, Frank Moore, Fred Moore, Marty Weiss, and Don Fletcher, and those deserving in the future.”

“And making this award even sweeter is being recognized together with my dear friend Donna Niester who has contributed a lifetime of time and energy to our community and is so deserving.”

Above all, family is most important to Chuck. “Gail and I are so appreciative of what this community has given to us and our children.” Their son Steve now lives in Dublin with his wife Nicki and their four daughters, while their daughter Elizabeth plans to return home to Michigan after living in New York City. Even with the distance, their family remains close, demonstrating the lasting power of love and connection.

For more information about the Foundation’s 80^th Anniversary, including ticket information, click here.