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Amanda Cabot & Peter Kjellerup
It didn’t take long for Amanda Cabot and Peter Kjellerup to be drawn to the Stroud Water Research Center.
“When we started to look around the area, the more we learned about the Stroud Center, the more impressed we were about what they were doing,” said Mr. Kjellerup. “We felt very lucky to have them in our back yard.”
Ms. Cabot said they wanted to support nature preservation, but she found it difficult to see what such big organizations as the Nature Conservancy do.
“But with Stroud it is very easy to see,” said Ms. Cabot.
They could see the value of the Center’s research, as well as the impact of spreading the word to teachers and children through its education program.
So they became involved with Stroud programs and seminars, and they earmarked a generous donation from the Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation, a philanthropy set up by Ms. Cabot’s grandmother.
The donation went to the Center’s education endowment which allows Stroud educators to develop new curricula and products that will reach larger audiences. One successful example is the Leaf Pack Kit which is being used by teachers around the country.
Ms. Cabot and Mr. Kjellerup settled in southern Chester County in 1982 when they built Five Star Farm, a dressage and horse breeding center on Hood Road in West Marlborough Township.
While they were at the farm, they started a small service to their students which grew into the North American distribution center for Dansko shoes, the popular clogs from Denmark.
The Cabot-Kjellerups sold 50 pairs in 1990. Last year their distribution center in Jennersville sold 600,000 pairs of shoes throughout North America.
Business grew at about 75 percent a year, “which is easy to do when you start with 50 pairs,” said Mr. Kjellerup with a chuckle.
They sold Five Star Farm in 1997, and now they are expanding their Dansko distribution — physically and virtually — with an addition to their already sprawling building in Jennersville, Pa. and a
Dansko.com outlet in cyberspace.
As busy as they are, they still have time to be involved with neighborhood work — and the Stroud Center is a big part of that.
