The Crescent Hills Civic Association has deep roots in Penn Hills.
Celebrating its 90th anniversary, the powerhouse association is 13 streets strong and has ties with institutions throughout the township.
Andrea Getsy, 80, who served as president of the association for eight years before leaving office in January, has been involved in the group since the 1970s. She moved to the neighborhood in 1967 with her late husband, Jim.
“We’re blessed to have this long-loved organization,” Getsy said. “This community has around 600 homes, and I probably know about 100 people.”
Navigating her first year without her husband, Getsy said she is leaning on the comfort of the organization and her neighbors.
The association began in 1935 when the neighborhood formed the Women’s Civic Club of Crescent Hills and Marion Decker was installed as its first president. The men’s civic club was formed three years later.
In 1947, the group founded Crescent Hills Park, a 1.5-acre public park on Sycamore Drive. The association has maintained the park through fundraising and made additions to the landscape, including adding a baseball field; a playground area with a climbing fort, swings, monkey bars; tennis/street hockey courts; a picnic shelter; and a walking trail.
“We want to promote community life,” Getsy said. “We paint the equipment, fix the equipment, and landscaping is all done by our wonderful volunteers.”
The park has become home to a few of the association’s annual events, including an Easter egg hunt, the first of which was hosted in 1990, and Reading in the Park, which began in 2015.
“(Reading in the Park) was a lifesaver during covid,” Getsy said. “It was the most popular during 2020 and 2021.”
In the years following the park’s initial establishment, association members began working with municipal officials to build a sidewalk on Frankstown Road to make accessing the park safer for people in the neighborhood. Efforts began in 1957. In 1984, the sidewalks were officially installed after the association raised half the funds and the municipality matched its efforts.
“This connected all the streets in the association so no matter what street you lived on, you could walk safely to the park,” Getsy said. “A long walk to be sure but a safe one.”
Getsy said neighbors maintain the sidewalk, including shoveling it after snowstorms, and have kept the contract with township officials for 40 years. A bus shelter was built along Frankstown Road in the early ’90s.
Other association highlights include bus shelters, funded and maintained by association members, on Spring Grove and Earlwood roads in 1959 and 1989, respectively.
In 2005, the group began an anti-litter committee in which members adopted multiple state highways they maintained. During the 2019-20 school year, the association partnered with the Penn Hills elementary and high schools to host an anti-litter-themed coloring and poster contest. In 2022, the group continued its efforts by donating 1,200 anti-litter workbooks to Penn Hills Elementary School students.
“The only way to stop litter is to educate the youth,” Getsy said.
After decades of service and volunteerism — and nearly 10 years of leadership — Getsy is passing her presidency to Tim Mizerak. In his introduction in the association’s newsletter, Mizerak describes himself as a 39-year-old with a background in data science and business operations.
He is hoping to expand the association’s social media presence, “elevate events,” update fundraising options and reshape volunteer roles to better suit everyone helping out.
“We have big plans, and as such we have never needed more help, so now is the time to get involved,” he wrote. “I look forward to seeing you around town.”