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Annual Dinner

Greater Pike Community Foundation’s Annual Dinner is a signature community celebration that brings together residents, nonprofit leaders, businesses, and philanthropists for an evening of connection, gratitude, and impact.

Held each year, the event honors individuals, organizations, and businesses whose leadership and service have made a meaningful difference in our community. During the dinner, Greater Pike presents its annual awards recognizing excellence in community service, nonprofit leadership, and business engagement. As part of these honors, a charitable contribution is made to nonprofit organizations selected by the award recipients.

The Annual Dinner is open to the public and features sponsorship opportunities, individual and table-level tickets, and advertising options in a commemorative keepsake program. Proceeds support Greater Pike Community Foundation’s mission to strengthen Pike County through philanthropy, partnerships, and long-term community investment.

Join us for an inspiring evening celebrating the people and organizations helping Pike County thrive, today and for generations to come.

2026 Honorees

Barbara J. Buchanan Community Service Award

John “Duke” Schneider

Nonprofit Excellence Award

Pike County Historical Society

Richard L. Snyder Business Leadership Award

McAteer & Will Estates with Keller Williams Real Estate

11th annual awards dinner save the date

About the Honorees

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McAteer & Will Estates with Keller Williams Real Estate

McAteer & Will Estates with Keller Williams Real Estate was founded eight years ago by Lisa McAteer, Alexander McAteer, and Carl Will. The company, which serves both Pennsylvania and New York, has helped families from all over the world find their way to the Pike County area, while also guiding local sellers toward their next destinations.

Rooted in a culture of giving back, the realtor has a history of creating meaningful, free community events that bring people together. McAteer & Will’s annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration at Airport Park in Matamoras draws nearly 5,000 attendees each year, while its Halloween extravaganza in Milford features a DJ, dancing, free candy, face painting, videogames, go-karts, and a costume contest. The company has organized free photos with Santa and community Easter egg hunts, continuing its mission to make special moments accessible to everyone.

The firm also steps up with practical, hands-on efforts. For the past eight years, McAteer & Will Estates has provided free moving trucks to its clients—an initiative that proved especially impactful during Covid, when access to moving resources was limited. It has also proudly supported local school districts, student athletes, theater programs, nonprofit fundraisers, and individuals in times of need.

“This isn’t just where we work—it’s where we raise our families, build our lives, and create our memories. Giving back is our way of honoring the place we’re proud to call home,” said Lisa McAteer. “Every home we help sell or buy is a part of a bigger story – and giving back is our way of saying thank you to the community that lets us be a part of those stories.” 

Greater Pike provides a permanent and personal way to give back to the region we love and have worked so hard to nurture and maintain.

Since our founding in 2012, people who care about Pike County have invested money with Greater Pike. We now care for over 50 individual funds that support a wide variety of local causes.

Collectively, these dollars create our community’s endowment; a pool of resources invested for long-term growth, providing ongoing dollars to create positive impact in Pike County now and forever.

John Duke Schneider

John “Duke” Schneider, a Pike County attorney for over 50 years, came to Pike County in 1965 following graduation from West Point and stints as an Airborne Ranger Infantry officer in Germany and California. He graduated from Penn State Dickinson Law and was admitted to the Pike County Bar Association in 1968. As a young lawyer, he served a term as public defender, president of the Pike County Bar Association, and president of the Milford Lions club.

His mother and father had moved to Pike County after Interstate Route 80 condemned their home in New Jersey. Ironically, I-84 took a portion of their Pike County home, which led Schneider to begin a successful litigation career representing landowners in condemnation cases in state and federal courts.

He and his wife, Joan’s, purchase of a Milford home led to the development of the private “Trees” subdivision on the old Milford Road, where they raised their son and daughter. As a licensed real estate broker, Duke conceived and developed one of the first whole-ownership resort campsite communities in the United States—Trail’s End in Shohola—followed by Tall Timbers in Vernon, NJ, and Mountain Shadows in Stillwater, NJ.

In the 1980s he and Joan became the part of a small development team of friends that built three resort projects on Sanibel Island in southwest Florida, where they maintained a winter residence.

Work with his friend and client Richard L. Snyder on the Milford Enhancement Committee provided the impetus for Duke’s interest in the Milford streetscape (Pike County’s “front porch”), the development of numerous arts and community events including Black Bear Film Festival and Milford Music Festival, and the founding of Greater Pike Community Foundation in 2012. Duke served on the board of Greater Pike for nine years. 

He and his sister Jill Davis, following the sale of the family Pike County home, created the Gertrude and Edward Schneider Family Fund at Greater Pike to benefit area nonprofits. Duke and his wife Joan also went on to create the Schneider Family Fund at Greater Pike. Following the death of Dick Snyder, Duke formed the Snyder Chair of Conservation Studies Fund in honor of Dick’s memory. That fund, together with acreage that Dick donated to the Delaware Valley School District in his lifetime, will allow Milford to continue its national reputation as the “birthplace of the conservation movement.”

In the 1990s, Duke became a founding member of the National Network of Estate Planning attorneys. This area of legal concentration provided an education into the financial-planning and giving world. Duke encourages clients and friends to create a lifetime plan and build their own legacies for future generations.

PCHS

Since its founding in 1930, the Pike County Historical Society has been a cornerstone of the community, dedicated to preserving the rich history and heritage of Pike County for future generations. The society maintains a 1904 neoclassical mansion, once the summer home of Jersey City politician Dennis McLaughlin, as its Columns Museum, adding to Milford Borough’s unique historic architecture.

Along with archival holdings and a research library, the Columns Museum is home to the famed Lincoln Flag—a 36-star flag that decorated the Presidential Box at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Used to cradle the wounded president’s head, the flag still bears traces of his blood. It was brought to Milford in 1888 by Jeannie Gourlay Struthers, a young actress who performed in Our American Cousin that fateful night.

While this artifact is a highlight among the museum’s two floors of exhibits, every display tells an important story that has shaped both the county and the world. Of special note is a permanent exhibition centering on the indigenous inhabitants of Pike County, titled “The Lenape: Original People Reconciling the Past, Embracing the Future.”

“Community support is essential to these efforts, whether through visiting, attending programs, becoming a member, volunteering, or contributing to help keep Pike County’s history alive and accessible,” said Lori Strelecki, Pike County Historical Society Director.

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