The Peru Gazette

United Way Officials and the volunteer Campaign Team meet to announce to the media that the Campaign Team raised $725,115.00 for the 2017 Campaign to help with high priority health and human service needs throughout the Adirondack Region. Pictured here at the table from left to right is Assemblyman Billy Jones, Past Campaign Chair and Board Member; Amy Kretser, Campaign Chair; John C. Bernardi, Executive Director/CEO; Bill Ferguson, SEFA Chair and pictured in the back are members of the United Way Campaign Team and staff.

Amy Kretser, Executive Director of North Country Association for the Visually Impaired (NCAVI), served as the Campaign Chair this year. She said “we are so delighted to deliver this exciting news to our three county region. It is once again a testament to the generosity and caring nature of the North Country. It was very challenging this year and we are proud of what we have been able to achieve. It was a valiant team effort among campaign team volunteers, United Way staff and employee campaign representatives, but most of all, it was the generosity of businesses, organizations and individuals that made it successful. I am always so impressed to see how people in our region come together for their friends and neighbors.”

Other campaign team members included: Bruce Garcia, Marge Garcia, Julie Kramer, Tony Searing, Lisa VanNatten, Jerry Morrow, Bruce Gray, Deena McCullough, Gayle Alexander, Dan Alexander, Ginger Phinney, DaleAnne Wolter, Joelle Lamica, Hannah Provost, Alex Forester, Beth Barnes, Jamie Basiliere, Billy Jones, and staff members Marion Daniels, Kathy Snow, Rachel Brown, Leona Andrews, Mary Gibbs and John Bernardi, Executive Director/CEO.
The State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA) also wrapped up recently. The regional committee, led by Chair, Bill Ferguson of Empire State Development and Vice Chair, Tammy Menard of SUNY Plattsburgh, raised $119,152.10 among state employees across the region. John Bernardi said, “The SEFA Committee and their state employee colleagues across the region are a great group of people and together they make a big difference to our friends and neighbors in need”.
The mission of the United Way, which serves Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties, is to be a leader in community partnership building and to increase the organized capacity of people to care for one another. The funds raised from this campaign will be allocated to local community partner agencies based on donor designations and agency applications for additional funds. A committee of community members will review requests for undesignated funds and recommend to the board of directors the awarding of grants based upon prioritized community needs throughout the region. Vicki Marking, President of the United Way Board of Directors said, “All the funds stay local and go toward supporting critical services for our friends and neighbors here in the North Country.” Last year, the health and human service network supported by the United Way provided service to nearly eighty thousand people throughout Clinton, Essex and Franklin Counties.