The 41st Annual 98.3 WSUL Heartathon took place on Friday, February 22nd and once again our club was a powerful force in helping to raise funds for the annual event. Over $120,000 was raised by the event.
In addition our winter raffle drawing took place at the event with SC Democrat Publisher and CEO Fred Stabbert (ticket #34) taking the $1000 first prize, LM Rotarian Diane Babich (ticket #84) won the second prize of $250 and Daniel Belgard (ticket #83 purchased by his Mom and Liberty Rotarian Donna Belgard) won the $100 third prize. This was a true club effort as 18 members sold tickets and all 100 tickets were sold out 2 1/2 weeks before yesterday's drawing. The raffle cleared a profit of $3650 which the board of directors has designated the proceeds to go to the WSUL Heartathon, Boys and Girls Club, Literacy Volunteers and the 2019 Arbor Day Programs.
Our club has a number of "hummingbirds" that do their part when it comes to both the Heartathon and the Annual Winter Raffle. Our heartfelt thanks (pun intended) goes to Dave Thomson who has been an active member of the Heartathon Committee for many and years and was responsible for scheduling local organizations and VIPs to man the phones and appear on the air during designated times at the event. Thanks to Fay Cerullo who was a "main artery" to "The Heart Man" Al Frangipane as she organized the distribution of hearts by 11 of our club members to 36 local businesses bringing in $4726 for the event. Thanks to Sue Kraycer, Barbi Neumann Marty, Theresa Panny, Judy Siegel, Bill Silver, Gary Silver, Gary Silverman, Anna Milucky (Jeff Bank), Jack Strassman, Dave Thomson and yours truly (CD) for taking the time and effort.
We had a great turnout of members who came to the event during the Rotary "Power Hour" joined by our brothers and sisters of the Monticello Rotary Club. Participants included President Jack Strassman, Immediate Past President Judy Siegel, Past President Gary Silver, Barbi Neumann Marty, Charlie Mangini, Anna Milucky (Jeff Bank), Jonathan Schiller, Lori Orestano James, Les Kristt and Orshii Boldis. In addition there were a number of our members who not only gathered pledges but also reached deep into their pockets to make donations to Heartathon.
There is only one way to express how much the Liberty NY Rotary Club accomplishes locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. That would be
WGSD!!!!