The Princeton Area Community Foundation has honored Carol Golden with the Annual Leslie “Bud” Vivian Award for Community Service.
The annual award was created in honor of the late Leslie “Bud” Vivian, the longtime Director of Community and Regional Affairs at Princeton University, who was committed to the Princeton community. Established in 1995 by members of the Princeton University’s Class of 1942 and 16 local organizations, the award is made possible through the Vivian Memorial Fund, an endowed fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation.
“Carol is a dedicated volunteer whose work has contributed mightily to the Princeton community,” said Jeffrey M. Vega, the President & CEO of the Princeton Area Community Foundation. “We are proud to honor her with the Leslie “Bud” Vivian Award for Community Service.”
Golden is the Chair of Housing Initiatives of Princeton (HIP) and the Chair of the Mercer County Community College Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Princeton Affordable Housing Board.
She was a long-time Board Member of the local chapter of Planned Parenthood. She also served as a Board Member of the Greenwood House for many years, and spent about a decade as President of 101:, a local nonprofit that provides scholarships to Princeton High School students. She was a member of the Shared Services and Consolidation Commission that worked to merge Princeton Township and Princeton Borough.
She and her siblings also organized several concerts to raise money for the Parkinson Alliance in honor of their mother, who was a high school English teacher in Lawrence.
“Volunteer work is important to me because I feel like I have skills and passion to contribute,” she said. “I have been lucky enough in my life to not to have to work to support myself, and I found myself in the position that I wanted to contribute to my community. I wanted to try to even the playing field for others, because there is so much disparity, even here in Princeton.”
Working with HIP is meaningful because affordable housing changes people’s lives, she said.
“You need a roof over your head and you need food. If you don’t have that, you can’t do anything,” said Golden. “The working poor really need help, because they are working really hard and they can’t make ends meet. There’s not enough affordable housing, and what you call affordable isn’t always affordable on the wages they are making.”
Golden holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Princeton with her husband, Andy, the President of PRINCO. The couple have two adult sons, Jake and Elliot.
She will be presented with the 2017 Leslie “Bud” Vivian Award for Community Service on June 10 at the Housing Initiatives of Princeton’s Annual Garden Party. For more information about the fundraising event, which will be held from 5 pm to 7 pm at Kale’s Nursery, 133 Carter Road, Princeton, visit HIP’s website.
Previous winners of Vivian Award include Bill Wakefield, the Rev. David McAlpin, Marcy Crimmins, A. C. Reeves Hicks, Hank Pannell, Jocelyn Helm, Harry Levine, Ted Vial, Harriet Bryan, Pat Van Ness, Claire Jacobus, Anne Reeves, William F. Johnson, Karl Light, Sarah Hirschman, Shirley Satterfield, James A. Floyd, Jack Roberts, Ray Wadsworth, Herb W. Hobler, Mark Freda and Nancy Beck.
