Page 48 - BusinessWest January 6, 2021

People on the Move
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measurable environmental impacts and the trailblazers who achieved them. Only 100 people per year are chosen to receive this honor. Vardakas was appointed president in 2013 and has been instrumental in Aegis Ener- gy’s success as a leader in co-genera- tion in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. With more than three decades
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staff protec- tion, physical layout modifications, passenger com- munications, and passenger facility enhancements.
In addition to these safety measures, Bradley Interna- tional Airport has also prioritized other initiatives to enhance the passenger journey, including contactless parking check-in/check-out availability (pre-regis- tration required); renovated restrooms with touch- less faucets, hand dryers, and light signals to indicate stall availability as well as added privacy and surfaces that promote more effective cleaning; terminal-wide air-purification technology, which will be in place in early 2021; and expanded mobile ordering in partner- ship with our restaurants, also to be introduced in 2021.
Thunderbirds Foundation Donates More Than 1,000 Stuffed Animals
SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Thunderbirds Foun- dation announced a donation of more than 1,000 teddy bears and stuffed animals to local charitable partners, the culmination of a successful drive-thru Teddy Bear Toss presented by Teddy Bear Pools & Spas and held on Dec. 12 outside the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. The Thunderbirds’
United Way
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Bus program, which, as that name sug- gests, fills a school bus each August with age-appropriate backpacks with all the school supplies kids need.
This year, the agency filled 2,600 such backpacks, but in this era of COVID, the exercise was quite bit a different than it has been in previous years.
“It was difficult to come by this stuff because it’s usually donated by the public,” said Mina. “People come to Six Flags, and they get a free roller- coaster ride when they bring items for the backbacks. There’s also a huge collection point at the Holyoke Mall. All those things were not allowed this year.”
So the agency relied instead on a large donation from the MassMutual Foundation as well as some money from the COVID-19 Relief Fund to pur- chase the needed items at a discounted price.
Overall, these various efforts have been a continuation of that golden thread Mina mentioned earlier, a concerted effort to enable individual donors to collectively make a huge dif- ference in the lives of countless people.
“It’s about empowering the masses to do things that they can’t do alone,” said Mina in summing it all up. “That’s why payroll deduction, which has been the hallmark of the United Way since its inception, is so important. It allows people who don’t have money in the bank, who aren’t necessarily individu- als of high net worth, to be able to take a little money out of their paycheck every week, so, at the end of the year, they might have a $52 donation. That $52 donation, added together with
the other folks at their company who do the same thing and give a dollar
a week, ends up being an enormous amount of money. But they could never do that on their own if they had to give a lump sum.”
Finding a Way
Looking to the future, though, pay- roll deduction is becoming a less-effec- tive way to raise money, for those rea- sons mentioned earlier, he said. Mean- while, instead of channeling funds to other agencies, the United Way will be looking to provide more direct services to the residents of this region.
“We just finished a needs assess- ment, and 90% of the respondents
were donors, and of those 90%, 82% thought that the model we had of fund- ing agencies to do good work, to be a middleman of sorts, was not a model that is modern; it’s not a model that they’re willing to continue to support at the levels that they have in the past.
“They want to know that their con- tribution is directly impacting things,” he went on. “So we looked at the areas that these donors were identifying as gaps, and we put that together with some intelligence work we did on our own, plus what other agencies were telling us, and we identified three huge gaps that we’re going to fill: food inse- curity, continuation and expansion of the call-to-talk and Mass 211 lines, and youth-development programs.
“These are our core areas,” he explained. “The survey only reinforced what we already knew — that our niche is basic human needs and helping peo- ple improve their quality of life.”
Looking ahead to 2021, Mina said it will be a milestone year for the United Way, and the occasion will be marked in a number of ways.
But for many of the region’s resi- dents, there won’t be much to cel- ebrate. Indeed, while 2020 was the roughest year in memory for many, the
coming months are projected to be in some ways even worse as those basic human needs he mentioned continue to mount, healthcare issues multiply because of the many effects of the pan- demic, and resources become more scarce.
“There’s going to be a major short- fall in resources in the next year because COVID is having devastating effects on our economy as well as our health,” he said. “But we’ll figure out
a way to deal with it; we’ll figure out a way to continue doing our job. We’ve faced tough times before — we’ve faced World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, the ’60s ... we’ve been there through all these things, and we’ll be there through this, too.”
Figuring out a way and doing its job. This is what the United Way of Pioneer Valley has been doing for a century now. And as its second century starts, this track record of success is certainly worth celebrating. u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
of experience in the combined-heat- and-power industry, he is well-quali- fied to create and guide the vision for the growing company and is a sought- after resource for policymakers and regulators in the distributed-energy industry.
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Pioneer Valley Federal Credit Union (PVCU) wishes Iggy Collura, a mem- ber of the board of directors for almost 40 years, well in retirement. Collura
CEO Anabela Grenier and board mem- ber Kathy D’Angelantonio handed Collura his commemorative gifts and reminisced with smiles as Collura shared his favorite memories. Collura served as chair of the policy committee and was a member of the nominating and asset/liability committee. He also participated in legislative efforts both locally and nationally.
American Eagle Donates $3,000 to Diaper Banks
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — In the spirit of the holi- days and to reinforce its long-term commitment to assisting families in need, American Eagle Finan-
cial Credit Union awarded $3,000 in grants from its donor-advised fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to three nonprofit diaper banks in Con- necticut and Western Mass. Square One Diaper Bank in Springfield, the Diaper Bank of Connecticut, and Gentle Love Diaper Pantry, a youth-led nonprofit organization at Manchester (Conn.) High School, each received $1,000 to purchase and distribute diapers to needy families in their respective com- munities this holiday season. “More than ever, our families are struggling to meet their basic needs. The cost of diapers can be as high as $100 per month for some families,” said Dawn DiStefano, executive vice president of Square One. “Thanks to the generosity of American Eagle Financial Credit Union and other community partners, we can continue to lessen this burden by supplying emergency diapers to those in need.”
mascot, Boomer, along with staff members, then made deliveries of hundreds of stuffed animals to Square One, the Center for Human Development (CHD), the Boys & Girls Club of Springfield, and the Boys & Girls Club Family Center in Springfield. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Teddy Bear Toss event was much different than in previous years. Instead of tossing the bears onto the ice after the T-Birds’ first goal during a home game in December, fans brought their new teddy bears or stuffed ani- mals and ‘tossed’ them out of their vehicles as part
of the drive-thru Teddy Bear Toss at the MassMutual Center. Boomer, the Nicebox Icebox, and front-office staff were present to collect donations and properly package and sanitize them. Those that couldn’t make it that day also donated at the Thunderbirds office, Teddy Bear Pools & Spas in Chicopee, the Springfield Visitor Center, or at New Valley Bank’s headquar-
ters in Monarch Place in downtown Springfield. The Thunderbirds thank their partners that stepped up and were able to make this event a reality, including Teddy Bear Pools & Spas, Balise Auto Group, Western Mass News, the Springfield Business Improvement District and downtown Visitor Center, New Valley Bank & Trust, and Dunkin’ Donuts, as well as their tedd- bear delivery partner, BMW of West Springfield.
began on the board around 1980, providing leadership and exuding a volunteer spirit with PVCU for almost four decades. He served on multiple committees throughout his time and was an integral part of the local credit union’s history throughout the years. Recently, Collura was invited to the Brookdale branch to receive a memory photo book and a plaque to honor his time spent with Pioneer Valley Credit Union. Socially distanced, with masks,
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