Marti Badila takes helm at Village Improvement Association

For more than 115 years, the Village Improvement Association has worked to support the greater Rehoboth Beach community.

As Marti Badila begins her presidency, the club is growing and expanding its outreach programs. Through world wars, financial crashes and pandemics, the VIA has been there helping others, and 2024 is no different.

Badila’s leadership experience has prepared her for the unique challenges of leading a club. She has an extensive, successful background in public relations and marketing. Her career encompassed serving as press officer for a federal agency overseeing the banking industry, working as communications director for a nonprofit organization, promoting the seafood industry, and managing marketing efforts for a sole importer of luxury porcelain and hand-blown crystal from Eastern Europe.

Badila also volunteered for many years at various food banks and organizations providing support for the homeless. With a strong commitment to functional fitness for everybody at every age, Badila worked in the fitness industry in various roles for many years. She is  a comprehensively trained Pilates instructor and a volunteer coach for the Matter of Balance program in Sussex County. During her years as a VIA member, she has helped bring several exercise classes to the club.

Badila has a deep understanding of the area, as she has been vacationing here since she was a child, and her family has had a home in Rehoboth since the early 1960s.

For the past two years, Badila has served as first vice president and head of fundraising for the VIA.

Each VIA president chooses a special project, and Badila has selected working with Family Promise of Southern Delaware to help families stay together as they face food and shelter insecurities. Also, during the winter months, she will be supporting Code Purple efforts. As an intake volunteer at the Community Resource Center, she learned how quickly people can spiral into desperate situations.

“It is a privilege to work with the dynamic women of the VIA to meet the growing needs of homelessness and food insecurity within our community. I look forward to expanding our programs to reach as many women as possible in the Rehoboth area,” said Badila.

The Village Improvement Association of Rehoboth Beach is a women’s civic and charitable organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service.

To learn more, go to rehobothbeachvia.org.