Honesdale, Wayne County — Pocono Review recently reported that Honesdale Mayor Derek Williams works for the Wayne County Community Foundation, which sent at least $171,500 in grants to the Wayne County Arts Alliance — where his girlfriend Lisa Glover sits on the board. Williams and Glover both donated personally to WCAA’s building fund while his employer financed it. None of these relationships were publicly disclosed in connection with the donation or the matching grant.
This is a follow-up to Honesdale Mayor’s Employer Sent $171,500 to His Girlfriend’s Arts Organization.
That article tracked the money from the top. This one starts at the bottom — with the donor wall.
When WCAA bought its building at 959 Main Street in Honesdale on February 15, 2023, the Wayne County Community Foundation put up a $75,000 matching grant through what it calls the Florence Longmire Treat Fund. WCAA had to raise $75,000 on its own before the foundation’s money would release. A grand opening announcement reported that over 190 donors contributed — a figure Pocono Review cannot independently confirm, as the donor wall does not list a total count and the actual number may be higher or lower. They hit the goal in two months.
WCAA publicly posted its donor list on its website, organized by giving tier. We checked named donors at the Silver level and above against institutional records, and flagged notable connections at lower tiers. The donor wall is publicly available at waynecountyartsalliance.org/building-fund-donors. Here’s who showed up.
Platinum
Sue Stephan Foster heads the list at the Platinum level — above Diamond, meaning her contribution exceeded $10,000 and was almost certainly the single largest individual gift in the campaign. Her connection to the building runs deeper than a donation. Foster is the former owner of Missing Pieces, an art gallery that operated at 959 Main Street, Honesdale — the same address as the WCAA building this campaign purchased. Business records and a 2020 WCAA event listing both confirm Missing Pieces occupied that space before WCAA took it over. She lives in Hawley and remains an active WCAA member and listed artist on the organization’s website. The top individual donor to the campaign to purchase the WCAA building is the former owner of the gallery that previously operated in that space. That relationship is not disclosed on the donor wall.
Wayne County Community Foundation – Florence Longmire Treat Fund is listed directly below her. This is Williams’s employer. WCCF put up the matching $75,000. Its CEO is Ryanne Jennings. Its Grants and Outreach Manager is Connor Simon — who also appears later on this same donor wall at the Pewter level.
Diamond — $10,000+
Louis & Frances Gruber. Frances Gruber is a WCCF board member who has served since at least 1997. She is a Honesdale attorney. Her husband Louis donated alongside her at the Diamond level — the highest individual donor tier on the wall. Frances Gruber’s presence on both the WCCF board and the WCAA donor wall at $10,000+ connects the foundation’s governing body directly to the arts organization its employer was simultaneously funding.
Skier Family. A long-established Wayne County family with documented institutional roots in Honesdale. Henry Skier was one of the original directors of the Wayne Memorial Health Foundation when it was incorporated in 1981 — alongside Paul Meagher, who also donated to this same WCAA building fund at the Silver level and sits on the HNB board. The Skier and Meagher names appear together at the founding of Wayne County’s major hospital foundation more than four decades ago. The Skier family’s donation to WCAA at the Diamond level places them within a donor pool that includes multiple figures from that same original Wayne County institutional network.
Hickory Hill Foundation. A private foundation registered at 1385 Bridge Street, Honesdale, PA, with assets of $2,635,203 and $174,575 in grants distributed in 2024. Its sole listed officer, per its most recent IRS 990PF filing, is Pennell Whitney — the founder of The Cooperage Project, the Honesdale community arts venue at 1030 Main Street. Whitney bought and refurbished the historic barrel-making factory and launched the Cooperage, stepping down from its board at the close of 2020 after reaching term limits. The Cooperage Project’s former director — who went on to run the Wayne County Community Foundation as its President and CEO — is Ryanne Jennings. Whitney founded the organization that Jennings ran. Jennings now leads the foundation that provided the $75,000 matching grant that made the WCAA building purchase possible. Hickory Hill Foundation donated to WCAA’s building fund at the Diamond level — $10,000 or more — while also separately granting $41,000 directly to WCCF, according to Cause IQ grant records. A private foundation controlled by the founder of the Cooperage Project donated to the arts organization whose building was financed by the foundation whose CEO used to run the Cooperage Project — while simultaneously granting tens of thousands of dollars to that same foundation. The foundation’s phone number carries a 612 area code, indicating Whitney’s current base is Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Honesdale National Bank. HNB donated at the Diamond level — $10,000 or more. Its current President and CEO is Kate Bryant, who also sits on the board of the Wayne County Community Foundation — Williams’s employer, which provided the $75,000 matching grant that unlocked this same campaign. Bryant’s dual role at HNB and on the WCCF board means the bank whose CEO governs the foundation that funded WCAA also donated directly to WCAA’s building fund. HNB’s board of directors includes Robert C. Grimm, whose construction firm built UNCDC’s Bucktown Center; Paul M. Meagher, who donated separately at the Silver level on this same wall; Roger Dirlam, who is selling the Commercial Drive property to UNCDC for Timber Mill Commons; and Michael W. Cavage, owner of Pioneer Construction. The HNB boardroom connects the bank, the foundation, the construction firms, and the property seller documented across Pocono Review’s Honesdale investigation.
Gold — $5,000–$9,999
Honesdale Rotary Club. Civic organization. No documented conflict connection.
Phyllis Chekenian. Listed as one of the WCAA Board and Leaders who “made this building a reality.” She is credited by name in the grand opening announcement as a key leader of the fundraising effort — meaning she was simultaneously a board member soliciting donations and a Gold-level donor herself. Her dual role is not disclosed on the donor wall.
David Harvey. Also listed as one of the WCAA Board and Leaders credited with making the building a reality. Same dynamic: a board member who helped run the fundraising campaign and donated at the Gold level. The grand opening announcement describes him as one of the key figures who led “the fundraising and many renovations.”
Sandra & Matt Povse. Sandra Povse is listed as one of the WCAA Board and Leaders who made the building a reality, and she appears again in the lower Pewter tier under her first name alone — suggesting a separate additional donation. A board member who donated at both the Gold and Pewter levels.
Cynthia & David Salisbury. Not identified in available records as connected to the WCCF/borough network.
J D Contracting. A local contractor. Relationship to the network not documented in available public records.
Centre Geriatric Care LLC, Xenia Kugler & Denny Shannon. A local business and individual donors. Relationship to the network not documented in available public records.
Silver — $1,000–$4,999
Derek Williams & Lisa Glover. The mayor of Honesdale and his domestic partner donated jointly at the Silver level — $1,000 to $4,999 — to the building fund of an organization his employer was simultaneously funding with a $75,000 matching grant. Williams’s employer, WCCF, is listed directly above him on this same wall under Platinum. Neither Williams’s employment at WCCF nor Glover’s board role at WCAA was disclosed in connection with the donation or the matching grant.
Williams also appears separately at the Pewter level under “Mayor Derek Williams” — a second, smaller donation listed individually. He donated to this building fund twice.
Paul & Sandra Meagher. Paul M. Meagher Sr. is a sitting director of Honesdale National Bank — confirmed on HNB’s own shareholder page — where he has served for over 30 years, per the Meagher Insurance Agency’s own website. He has also served as President of the Wayne Economic Development Corporation (WEDCO), sits on the Wayne County Planning Commission, and serves as a trustee of Wayne Memorial Hospital. His son, Paul Meagher Jr., serves as chair of the Long-Term Care Board at Wayne Memorial Hospital and is listed as a member of the Greater Honesdale Partnership and the Wayne Highlands School District Excellence by Design committee. The Meagher family donated at three separate tiers on this wall: Paul and Sandra at Silver, Timothy Meagher at Bronze, and Meagher Insurance at Copper — representing one of the largest cumulative donor presences on the list from a single family. HNB’s board also includes Robert C. Grimm and the bank’s CEO Kate Bryant, who sits on the WCCF board — making the HNB boardroom a documented intersection of the bank, the foundation, and the construction firm all represented on this donor wall.
Dan & Sara Nelson. Their relationship to the broader network documented in this investigation has not been established in available public records. Pocono Review notes that Kendra Nelson — the PPP co-founder hired as Honesdale Borough Manager eleven days before the $400,000 PPP council vote — also donated to the WCAA building fund, listed separately on the donor wall under the board and leaders section. Whether Dan and Sara Nelson are related to Kendra Nelson is not known to Pocono Review at this time.
Bronze — $500–$999
William Schweighofer & Ann Foster. William Schweighofer is the Chairman of the Board of Honesdale National Bank — the same HNB that donated at the Diamond level on this same wall, and whose CEO Kate Bryant sits on the WCCF board. The Chairman of HNB donated personally to WCAA’s building fund while his bank donated institutionally to the same campaign, and while the foundation whose board his bank’s CEO governs provided the $75,000 matching grant that made the purchase possible.
Glover Family, in loving memory of Martin Glover Sr. Martin T. Glover Sr. is Lisa Glover’s father, confirmed by his June 2019 obituary, which lists “Lisa Marie Glover” among his survivors. The Glover family donated to the WCAA building fund in his memory — in addition to Glover’s personal joint donation with Williams at the Silver level.
Timothy Meagher, in honor of Sandy Meagher. Second Meagher family donation at the Bronze level.
Carolyn & Vannie Williams. Carolyn & Vannie Williams share the mayor’s surname and are identified in public records as his parents. Williams referenced his parents in a May 19, 2026 Facebook post, writing that “blog posts” were attaching “imaginary misdeeds to characters like my folks.” WCCF, where their son works, provided the matching grant that made the purchase possible.
Grimm Construction. Robert C. Grimm is a sitting director of Honesdale National Bank — confirmed on HNB’s own shareholder page. His fellow HNB board members include Roger Dirlam, who is selling the Commercial Drive property to UNCDC for Timber Mill Commons, and Paul M. Meagher, whose family donated at three separate tiers on this same wall. Grimm’s construction firm built UNCDC’s Bucktown Center in Dunmore and was publicly honored for “longstanding support” of the developer at its 2024 groundbreaking, as Pocono Review documented in its Timber Mill Commons investigation. A contractor with documented ties to the same developer whose project Williams helped advance while representing WCCF — sitting on the same bank board as the property seller — donated to the building fund of the arts organization Williams’s employer was simultaneously funding.
Copper — $200–$499
Meagher Insurance. Third Meagher family entity on the donor wall, this time as a business. Paul M. Meagher Sr. heads the Meagher Insurance and Financial Services operation and sits on the HNB board alongside Grimm, Dirlam, and Kate Bryant. The Meagher name now appears at Silver, Bronze, and Copper across individual and business donations — the most distributed single-family presence on the entire wall.
Wayne Memorial Hospital. A major institutional donor. Paul M. Meagher Sr. has served as President of the Wayne Memorial Hospital board. His son Paul Meagher Jr. currently serves as Chair of the Long-Term Care Board there. The hospital’s institutional presence on this wall connects back to the same Meagher family network documented above.
Pewter — up to $199
Conor Simon — WCCF Grants and Outreach Manager and the person responsible for WCCF’s grant administration. Simon donated personally to WCAA’s building fund while working for the foundation that provided the $75,000 matching grant that unlocked the same campaign. His donation is not disclosed in connection with his WCCF employment.
Mayor Derek Williams — second donation, listed individually. Williams donated twice to this building fund.
Sandra Povse — appears to be a separate donation from the Gold-level “Sandra & Matt Povse,” suggesting she gave at both levels.
What the Wall Shows
The donor list for WCAA’s building fund is not a random cross-section of Wayne County arts supporters. It includes:
The mayor and his partner donating at the Silver level — twice in Williams’s case — while his employer provided the matching grant that made the purchase possible.
A WCCF board member, Frances Gruber, donating at the Diamond level to an organization her foundation was simultaneously funding.
A WCCF staff member, Connor Simon, donating personally to the same campaign his employer was financing.
Williams’s parents donating to the organization his employer funded.
Multiple WCAA board members — Chekenian, Harvey, Povse — who led the fundraising campaign and donated to it simultaneously, without that dual role disclosed on the wall.
Lisa Glover’s family donating in memory of her father, Martin Glover Sr., in addition to her personal joint donation with Williams at the Silver level.
The Honesdale National Bank donating at the Diamond level, while its CEO Kate Bryant simultaneously sits on the WCCF board — the same foundation that provided the matching grant. HNB’s Chairman of the Board, William Schweighofer, also donated personally at the Bronze level — meaning the bank’s top officer donated individually to the same campaign his institution funded. HNB’s own board includes Robert C. Grimm, whose firm built UNCDC’s Bucktown Center; Roger Dirlam, who is selling the property for Timber Mill Commons; and Paul M. Meagher, whose family donated across three separate tiers on this same wall.
None of these relationships were publicly disclosed on the donor wall or in connection with the matching grant. A member of the public reading the list sees names. They do not see that the mayor’s employer provided the matching grant. They do not see that the mayor and his partner donated to the same organization his employer funded. They do not see that the bank whose CEO sits on the foundation’s board also donated to the same campaign at the Diamond level.
That is what the donor wall shows when you read all of it at once.
This article is part of Pocono Review’s ongoing investigation into Honesdale Borough government. Related coverage: Honesdale Mayor’s Employer Sent $171,500 to His Girlfriend’s Arts Organization · Kendra Nelson, PPP Co-Founder, Now Runs Honesdale · The People Behind PPP · Lisa Glover Worked for a Google-Founded Nonprofit. Now She’s Redesigning Honesdale.
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