A Celebration of Senior Volunteers
Federation of Organizations hosted a Senior Volunteer Recognition Luncheon on Friday, June 3rd at the Crest Hollow Country Club. The event, which was well attended with over 550 guests, served to honor senior volunteers from the Suffolk County Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs and the Nassau County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.
The “Achievement Award”, given in recognition of extraordinary accomplishments, was given to New York State Senator Lee Zeldin who has been very supportive of the seniors in our community.
Ms. Fran Levesque, a teacher at John Qunicy Adams School in Deer Park, spoke about the tremendous impact the Foster Grandparents have on the children, parents and schools. Two students, Morgan who is 9 years old and Justin with is 10 years old, spoke on how having a Foster Grandparent made a big difference in their learning careers. “Foster Grandparents help in so many ways said Morgan. I think every one should have a Foster Grandparent.”
The Foster Grandparent Program connects local senior citizen volunteers with special needs children in schools, Head Start centers, preschools and other community locations. Currently, over 155 Foster Grandparents serve as mentors and tutors to over 2100 children daily throughout Suffolk County.
Federation also sponsors the Senior Companion Program. This program allows active seniors the opportunity to help frail seniors who are homebound. Andrea Shine spoke to the audience about how having a Senior Companion in her mother’s life gave piece of mind to the family while allowing her mother to live independently and how thankful she is that this program is available.
RSVP connects adults who are 55 years of age and older with a rewarding volunteer opportunity based on their availability, skills, interests, talents and abilities. There are nearly 600 volunteers providing services to over 75 different non-profit organizations throughout Nassau County. MPowering Kids is one of the RSVP sites. Its mission is to provide after-school tutoring, mentoring and cultural enrichment to promising, underprivileged students. Devorah Crupar, Executive Director of MPowering Kids spoke about the impact the RSVP volunteers have on the children and how their nurturing, one-on-one attention has created many success stories.
Because of the tremendous success of these programs in communities all across Long Island, numerous corporate sponsors, including Bank of America, CA, Inc., The New York Community Bank Foundation, Astoria Federal Savings Bank, The Knapp Swezey Foundation, Holtz Rubenstein Reminick LLP, National Grid, Flushing Savings Bank, State Bank of Long Island and The Townwide Fund of Huntington, Inc. have generously pledged their support.
Senator Lee Zeldin is presented with the Achievement Award for his extraordinary accomplishments
Pictured left to right: Barbara Faron, CEO, Federation of Organizations; Foster Grandparent volunteer Armatha Carter; New York State Senator Lee Zeldin; Ruth DelCol, Director of Development, Federation of Organizations
Town of Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone joins Federation to honor the Foster Grandparents who serve in Huntington
Pictured left to right: Ruth DelCol, Director of Development, Federation of Organizations; Town of Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone; Nancy Bloom, Gunderman and Gunderman; Dennis Sneden, DSNY Group
Legislator Judy Jacobs presented Federation's RSVP program with a Citation for our commitment to the community.
Pictured left to right: Douglas Manditch, CEO, Empire National Bank; Nassau County Legislature Judy Jacobs; Ruth DelCol, Director of Development, Federation of Organizations
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