Valley United Way is very pleased that Salve Regina University has selected Board member and Secretary Melissa Pucci as the winner of their prestigious Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.  The Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes exceptional achievement of alumni younger than 35 years old.  Honorees have demonstrated great promise and accomplishments in their chosen professions and/or through community, public or humanitarian service.  Recipients have made meaningful contributions to their community, family or alma mater, providing a role model for students and alumni.  The award will be conferred during a ceremony on September 25 at the Newport, RI campus as part of Fall Festival Weekend.

Jack Walsh, President, C.O.O. of Valley United Way said, "Melissa's award is certainly no surprise to any of us who have had the pleasure of working with her. Her leadership skills were obvious to us years ago when she was a member of our High School Volunteer Council, and we have been very fortunate that after college she came back to the Valley to share her time and talents to help make the Valley a better place to live and work".

Here is some additional information about Melissa. She was nominated for her award by Erin Hanna,  a member of the Class of 2002 at Salve:

Melissa Pucci exemplifies the model of servant-leader, maintaining a creative balance in the professional, civic, and faith dimensions of her life.  Graduating from Salve Regina in 2000, she went on to earn a master’s degree in religious studies from Yale University. Despite a demanding career as the director of admissions for Yale Divinity School, Melissa selflessly dedicates herself to a number of community organizations aimed to promote philanthropy, volunteerism, and advocacy throughout Connecticut’s Lower Naugatuck Valley. 

An active volunteer with the Valley United Way since a high school student, Melissa joined the board of directors in 2005, serving in a number of capacities. She also advises the Youth Leadership Program and chairs the Volunteer Action Center’s Advisory Committee. 

Melissa is also serves on the Birmingham Group Health Service’s Foundation Board, and since 2000 has been an active member of its Umbrella Resource Committee – raising funds and awareness about the services the Umbrella program offers to victims of domestic violence.  Since 2006 she has acted as co-chair of their annual Bowl-to-Benefit, a day-long event attracting over 1,000 bowlers and volunteers; the event raised over $114,000 in 2010. 

In 2009, she was named to the executive board of the Housatonic Council, Boy Scouts of America, as the fundraising chair.

“I live by the ideal, ‘those to whom much is given, much is expected.’  I have been blessed with a great deal in my young life; wonderful parents; a good education; a strong call to the social gospel.  Jesus calls upon us to provide basic needs for all his people regardless of their station in life; the Sisters of Mercy were founded on these corporal works of Mercy.”  Melissa is a dedicated parishioner of St. Mary Church, Derby, CT serving as lector, event volunteer and a lead fundraiser. Most recently while at the helm of the Friends of the Rectory committee, Melissa helped to secure over $80,000 in donations in order to complete and furnish a new rectory, replacing the one destroyed by fire several years earlier. 

Melissa also gives back to her alma maters, as a class representative for the Salve Regina Class of 2000 and as a class agent for Yale Divinity School. Named a “Woman Making a Difference in the Valley” by the Griffin Hospital’s Valley Women’s Health Initiative in 2008, Melissa continues to be a role model by inspiring those around her to give back.  Displaying tremendous potential for continued success as a woman of faith, a college administrator, and an advocate for the less fortunate, the best is yet to come from this promising young woman. 

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