The Danish American Club has given $70,000 to Greenwich's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the largest single donation the fund has received since a 2021 town ordinance established it.

The Trust Fund announced the gift, saying it would provide significant resources to advance its mission of preserving existing and creating new affordable housing in Greenwich. Greenwich Free Press first reported the announcement.

That mission, spelled out in the founding ordinance, calls for expanding affordable rental and homeownership opportunities consistent with Greenwich's Plan of Conservation and Development and the town's Affordable Housing Plan.

The fund has already provided loans to two approved residential developments that will deliver 55 affordable rental units. It holds loan commitments to four more approved projects expected to add 82 affordable units, according to the Trust Fund's announcement.

The donation comes from a Byram institution with deep Greenwich roots. The Danish American Club traces its history to 1901, when Milo Mead, a member of one of Greenwich's founding families, sold a vacant plot of land in Byram to the club. Mead was not Danish himself.

Marianne Rasch Tierney, the club's treasurer, quoted the club's written history in the Trust Fund's announcement, noting that Mead "quite rightly, Milo was not a Dane but had the heart of a Dane."

Over 125 years, the club has provided social and religious support to Danish brotherhood and sisterhood societies and to immigrants arriving from other European nations in the early twentieth century, according to the announcement.

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund operates with a seven-member board and an 11-member advisory council, according to the town's website. It accepts tax-deductible contributions from residents and private institutions and also pursues local, state and federal funding.

Residents interested in donating can find details on the town's Affordable Housing Trust Fund page. The board and advisory council are tentatively scheduled to meet Sept. 16, according to the town's calendar.