Recognition Reception Honoree
Deborah Sapin-Feldstein

Deborah Sapin-Feldstein, Executive Director of Aldersgate Youth Service Bureau in Willow Grove, has been an active participant in the Abington/Rockledge community during her 18 years at the agency. Her commitment to making the Township a safer and better place for youth to grow and thrive stems from her experience as a child growing up in a household that emphasized and honored involvement in service and activities that helped others. Her career choice as a psychiatric social worker and family therapist reflects her commitment to being an active participant in making her world a better place.

Through Deborah's leadership at Aldersgate, she has guided the organization to become an active, effective, and strong community partner, consultant, and collaborator. As one of the more active community allies among the social service organizations, she has lent agency resources, conjointly developed new programs, and shared professional skills and Aldersgate staff with the Abington Police Department, ACT, and the Abington School District as well as other Abington-based religious and service organizations.

As the first Chairperson of ACT when it formed in 1994, Deborah guided this organization and the community during a time of crisis by helping to galvanize resources and bring together different groups for discussion and problem solving. She sees the continued willingness of the community to deal directly and effectively with difficult issues as one of the reasons that Abington Township is a strong and vital community today. Through ACT's recognition of the importance of bringing the many community organizations together to maximize opportunities for collaboration and cooperation, the Township gathers accumulated strength and energy from the separate organizations.

Deborah's vision of Abington Township includes its being recognized and credited as a national community model for its ability to "think outside the box" as it consistently develops innovative and comprehensive community reaction through effective partnerships when responding to and dealing with community crises. She believes that Abington Township and Rockledge Borough together form a community that has fully embraced the mantra, "It takes a whole village to raise a child."

Deborah believes that future community goals for its youth should include the extended social service, business, and religious community linking together to promote additional youth/adult mentoring opportunities. She also thinks it is important that new opportunities be developed for enhanced civic engagement for both Abington's youth and adults. She envisions progress with young people becoming more involved in these community partnerships, having more avenues to dialogue with adults in the community outside their family and school, and ultimately having a stronger sense of community pride.

Deborah has been honored and recognized by the Abington YMCA for her critical role as the first Chairperson of ACT. She has also been honored by the Board of Directors of Aldersgate Youth Service Bureau for fifteen plus years of service to the organization. She received a Masters Degree in Social Work from Columbia University and a postmasters certificate in family therapy from The Family Institute of Philadelphia, a three-year, postmasters training program. She also participated in LaSalle's Nonprofit Management Development Center training program for Executive Directors in the Philadelphia area, resulting in earning a postmasters certificate in Nonprofit Management. Prior to coming to Aldersgate, Deborah worked in both out-patient and in-patient mental health settings in New York and New Jersey.

Deborah lives with her husband Brad Feldstein, a member of the Department of Pediatrics at Abington Memorial Hospital, and their daughter Rachel. She enjoys traveling and spending leisure time with her family as well as exercising, reading, and walking several miles each Sunday in Fairmount Park. She is also an active volunteer in the community in which she lives.

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