Tom Park was born and raised in Philadelphia. He grew up in the inner city and attended Most Blessed Sacrament School in southwest Philadelphia, which once boasted as being the largest Catholic Grade School in the nation. His faith schooling prepared him for supporting community activities, developing strong partnerships and taking personal responsibility in the spirit of Rotary.
Tom attended Delaware County Community College and finished his education at the Computer Learning Center where he received a degree in Computer Science in 1982.
While in school, Tom met Cora and they were married in February 1981. She has been his best friend ever since. Six years later, they decided to have children and they adopted their first son Chad Thomas on April 28, 1988. Being a proponent for change, Tom introduced National Adoption Day to Schuylkill Elementary School in 1992 where many families celebrate their adoption of a child from foster care and celebrate this loving event with friends. These events raise awareness of foster adoption which helps to combat the old stigmas of adoption. Tom and Cora went on to adopt two more children, Evan Tyler in 1995 and Sara Rose in 1998.
In 1991 Tom started a company that specialized in Direct Marketing and Fundraising for the non-profit community in Bensalem PA. Cora joined the company and they formed TC Direct. Their first endeavor in the community was organizing, fundraising, and sponsoring a Holiday Auction to benefit The Ronald McDonald house. They ran this event for eight years and raised over $150,000 for the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia PA.
In response to the September 11, 2001 tragedy, Tom organized a distribution center through TC Direct to support the relief efforts of the rescue workers for the American Red Cross. The Red Cross diverted many trucks of donated items to this warehouse where they were unloaded and sorted. Tom coordinated the delivery of supplies to the appropriate location such as ground zero, The Javitz Center and Maguire Air Base where they were training the rescue workers. For his humanitarian initiative and leadership, the American Red Cross awarded Tom the Man of the Year Award 2002 and Business of the Year Award 2002.
Through the years Tom received other awards for his volunteer efforts which include Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2004 from the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association, and A Proclamation from the NJ State Senate in 2006. The Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce honored Tom with The Community Leader of Distinction in 2016. He has served on the Advisory board for The New Brunswick Salvation Army where he spearheaded winter coat and toy drives for the local community.
Tom joined the Rotary Club of New Brunswick in February 2016 and immediately got involved in various projects. Soon after joining, he initiated and co-chairs the Rags to Runway event for the benefit of Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey and the Club Foundation. We are pleased to recognize and honor the community service efforts of Tom Park.
