Since June 29, local individuals and groups have been celebrating the 130th birthday of the grand Victorian mansion at Naper Settlement by passing the Martin Mitchell Mansion Friendship Plate. The yearlong journey continued on Sept. 20 when the plate was given to the seventh recipient during a presentation at M. Brown & Associates, Ltd., located in Naper Courtyards, just north of 95th Street along Route 59.
With the plate filled with “Grandma’s Best Brownies,” baked to perfection by Laura Brown, left, Mark Brown presented the tasty treats to Vicky Joseph, founder of Families Helping Families, one of the charitable causes his company, a group of financial planners and investment advisors, supports. This year Families Helping Families is celebrating its 20th anniversary of providing assistance to homeless families so they can become self-sufficient.
During the presentation, Vicky learned that the special brownie recipe had been passed down by Mark’s mother, Adele. Vicky also was given instructions regarding how to keep the Friendship Plate moving around the city, details of which are kept in a carrying case with a recipe book that also will record the journey.
Now it’s Vicky’s turn to bake and select someone to receive the Martin Mitchell Mansion Friendship Plate within 15 days, if possible. To follow the journey of the plate, complete with recipes, visit www.napersettlement.org.
CAN passed the Friendship Plate in Naperville’s Central Park
A month ago, Sherry Healey, who leads a group called Community Access Naperville (CAN), selected Mark Brown to be the sixth recipient of the Friendship Plate, celebrating the third year that his company, M. Brown & Associates, had sponsored the summer CAN Camp.
Promptly as the church bells began ringing at 10AM, members of CAN delivered their plate of goodies to Central Park, just across Benton Ave. from the First Congregational United Church of Christ where the organization of young adults meets for various activities throughout the year.
“We’re celebrating Mark Brown to show appreciation for his sponsorship of CAN CAMP for the past three years,” said Healey. “His support enables us to fully cover the cost of staff and all activities for our 5-day summer camp, where our participants engage in fun and meaningful activities in the community alongside their typical peers.”
On behalf of his team of financial planners and investment advisors, Brown accepted the plate filled with Chocolate Coconut Nuggets as well as the carrying case with all the instructions to pass the plate to the next group, likely to be tapped in September.
When Brown saw the name of his company on the green CAN t-shirt, everyone present noted his surprise and delight that was displayed in his strong sense of community spirit. Sponsorship of the camp, he said, made him feel even better than he did back in the days when he sponsored a baseball team in one of the local leagues.
And what a team of happy CAN campers!
Thanks to the sponsorship of M. Brown & Associates, one of the peers of Community Access Naperville produced this YouTube video featuring highlights of the week of 2014 CAN Camp.
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For updates about the Friendship Plate, follow its journey as it is passed with copies of the recipes that fill it at www.napersettlement.org. Cheers to chocolate!