The Community Service Foundation, founded in 1957 in Harbor Bluffs, Florida is now headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. Its goal is to provide help on a local level to poor residents of Pinellas County. It started as a privately funded organization and has evolved into a regionally funded effort.
CSF's first project was a center in Ridgecrest, Florida for pre-teen children as an educational and recreational outlet. The Foundation and the Friends of Ridgecrest, from three adjoining communities, created a core lending library at the center, with an emphasis on books relevant to the community's culture. The community center still serves the area's residents 50 years later.
CSF also participated in President Lyndon B. Johnson's "VISTA" program, Volunteers in Service to America, training VISTA volunteers at a former migrant labor camp north of Bradenton.
The Foundation now focuses on affordable housing for low-income Pinellas County residents.
CSF was created in October 1957 by businessman Willis T. Spivey and his wife Lenore; for the first decade, the Foundation's office was in their home. Before her death, Willis and his first wife Dorothy, a Quaker, sponsored the Christian Service Training Center in Pennsylvania in the early 1950s. Spivey was the founder and CEO of The Spivey Company in Philadelphia, manufacturer of material handling systems. Born in Greenville, Georgia, he died in 1971 at age 84.
Executive Directors at CSF have included Thomas P. "Pat" Hardeman, Charles Mann for 31 years, and current ED Jerry Spilatro.
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