It all started with milk! Local women founded the Child Health Association of Sewickley (CHAOS) in 1923, during a period in history when child welfare programs were scarce. One of the earliest service projects of the organization was to provide free milk for area public school children to combat malnutrition. Food deliveries to needy children, and the employment of a dental hygienist and visiting nurse to supplement public school staffing, were among other early efforts.

In 1946, CHAOS broadened its focus beyond Sewickley to include all of Allegheny County. At this time, CHAOS assisted in establishing the Sewickley Fresh Air Home in Leetsdale, which offered weekend retreats for needy Pittsburgh children. CHAOS’s support of the Home continued through the early 1970s. CHAOS expanded its philanthropy to offer free well-baby clinics at Sewickley Valley Hospital to provide immunizations against polio and other preventable childhood diseases, as well as services for the speech and hearing impaired.

By 1973, CHAOS had raised over $283,000 through a variety of local projects, including concerts, tennis and golf exhibitions, and house tours. In that year, however, the organization took a major fundraising step with the production, publication and promotion of the Three Rivers Cookbook, Volume I. By the mid 1970s, the cookbook received not only local but also national acclaim, and CHAOS found itself the publisher of one of the top five community cookbooks in the country!

In 1981, with the added success of the second cookbook, Three Rivers Cookbook, Volume II, CHAOS extended its charter once again and began to fund child-related charities throughout western Pennsylvania. As increasingly complex issues replaced the needs and problems of 1923, the organization responded by making grants to agencies offering psychological services, educational and recreational programs, handicapped assistance, and a variety of other social services. A third cookbook, Three Rivers Cookbook, Volume III, was published in 1990 and once again, the publication was heralded locally and nationally as “one of the best”. Along with funds raised through the well-known Sewickley House Tour and a variety of smaller endeavors, steady proceeds from the Three Rivers Cookbooks have enabled CHAOS to make grants twice yearly, totaling well over $3.6 million. In 1992, CHAOS established a modest endowment fund to help ensure its future as a grant maker in western Pennsylvania.

In the new millennium, CHAOS took on new projects, including the annual Sewickley Valley Antiques Show and the publication of still another cookbook, Three Rivers Renaissance, Volume IV, both launched in 2000. Both efforts have proven to be extremely successful in raising funds so that CHAOS can continue helping children in need throughout the region. CHAOS’s Community Research Committee reviews grant proposals twice yearly and grants an average of $100,000 per year to qualified agencies.

Today, in spite of a national decline in membership in women’s organizations and a large increase in the number of women participating in the workforce, CHAOS remains strong. Still an all-volunteer organization of approximately 60 active members and a caring constituency of over 150 associate members, CHAOS continues to reach the goals set forth by its founders: running a myriad of fundraising projects, including the cookbook business, on volunteer power, providing countless hours of hands-on service to the community, and helping to fund agencies dedicated to serving the needs of children throughout western Pennsylvania.