Griffin Hospital Hosts a Great Annual Community Campaign Kickoff |
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Cabinet members Bill Purcell, John DeGray, Dr. Stephen Tracy, Dr. David Katz, Carol Kirby and Campaign Chair Fred Ortoli are all smiles as Griffin Hospital hosted the 2009 Community Fund Raising Campaign Kickoff.
It may have been a chilly early fall evening, but the warmth emanating from the large crowd in attendance at the Annual Community Campaign Kickoff reception on Wednesday, September 30 at The Center for Cancer Care in Derby more than made up for it. Griffin Hospital proved to be the perfect host for the event during their illustrious 100th anniversary year. The event marked the official start of this year campaign to provide support for a wide variety of health and human services in the Valley.
Mike
Marcinek, Chairman of United Way's Board of Directors, served as master of
ceremonies for the evening and along with all the other speakers stressed
the importance of the Community Campaign. Mayor Anthony Staffieri of Derby
heading a delegation of elected officials that included Ansonia's Jim
DellaVolpe, Shelton's Mark Lauretti, Seymour's Bob Koskelowski and State
Representative Themis Klarides. Staffieri acknowledged the important work of
United Way saying that its success would also be the success of the entire
community.
Griffin
Hospital CEO Patrick Charmel told the moving story behind Griffin Hospital's
large food donation to the community earlier this year when Griffin staffers
came to realize just how serious the hunger issue is in the Valley when a
patient and his family members came to the hospital and reluctantly admitted
that they had not had anything to eat for days because they were on a
waiting list at an area food bank due to the shortage of donated food.
Griffin employees helped correct that situation with an incredible food
donation. (Click here for the story.) Charmel stressed the central role the
hospital plays in the community and also the support provided by the many
agencies funded through the United Way campaign. He thanked Griffin
employees for their support of the earlier food donation and also for their
positive results with their own United Way campaign this year.
Marcinek then reported on two additional efforts recently undertaken by United Way's Corporate Volunteer Council that had the same kind of impact as Griffin's food donation. The first was the Back to School Clothes for Kids project that clothed 212 needy children for the new school year in Derby. He also praised the CVC, volunteers and donors for their work this past week in building Harvest House III - a house made of donated food items that was dismantled Monday with the food being distributed to area food banks.
Campaign Chair Fred Ortoli then took over the microphone to introduce the members of his cabinet and to recognize dozens of others who have stepped forward to volunteer. He also shared some very encouraging early results from the campaign starting with Griffin's phenomenal campaign that grew by more than 30% to over $26,500 this year. Equally impressive was the Shelton Public School's 67% gain to $20,000 - and they are still counting.
He took another moment to describe the work of Larry Janesky and the employees at Basement Systems who grew their campaign from $3,200 to over $15,000. He also spoke about first time campaigns that will be starting soon, but encouraged every one in the audience to help make this campaign successful at a time of great need.
Marcinek then passed along the good news that United Way's own Board of Directors had completed their campaign with 100% participation and over $35,000 pledged to the effort.
All in all, it was a terrific evening, and we would like to say a special thanks to Patrick Charmel and everyone at Griffin for sponsoring this year's event and to everyone who came out to warm up a chilly evening and support Valley United Way!
CAMPAIGN UNDERWRITERS
Coordinated Transportation Solutions, Inc. * Dworken, Hillman, Lamorte & Sterczala, PC * Falcioni Painting * Fletcher Thompson * Fred Ortoli Photography * Gexpro * Inform Printing * Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. * The Kerite Company * Riverview and Edward F. Adzima Funeral Homes * Venman & Co. LLC * The W.E Bassett Company * Webster Bank
