Page 36 - BusinessWest October 28, 2024

JoAnne Finck has been instrumental in many of the fundraising campaigns that have reshaped Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
to this region — and a tough job market — and eventually found work at Shawmut Bank in Greenfield, in its collection department.
She had a number of responsibilities, including being part of two-person teams that would repossess cars from owners who had fallen behind on their payments. And in the recession years
In the late ’80s, she would take part in phone-a-thons for the hospital’s annual giving campaigns before taking on a larger role with several of its fundraising drives, including the comprehensive Building Our
Future campaign as well as
the initiative for the cancer
of the early ’80s, there were plenty of cars to repossess.
It was not glamorous work, obviously, and not something she
recalls with any fondness, but it was a learning experience on many levels, and it reinforced an already-strong desire to help others.
“I got that delinquent rate from over 10% to 0.5% in less than a year,” she recalled. “And I learned that I was very good at working with people and helping them. I would try to work with them and say, ‘this is what you need to do ... communicate with me, and we’ll get you on the right path.’”
She would move on the loan office, and as her banking career progressed, her desire to get involved in the community grew. She ran the Sustaining Campaign for Youth for the local YMCA in 1982, a successful initiative that would inspire involvement with the United Way of Franklin County.
“It helped children, it helped people of need, and, being
the treasurer, I knew that the money raised stayed in the community, so I got very vested in the United Way,” she said, adding that she volunteered on its board for more than 20 years (including as treasurer and chair), ran leadership giving, and chaired its campaign in 1999.
“I was very vested in the United Way because I saw how it helped so many people,” she told BusinessWest. “We would have people speak to us, people who were homeless, people who had drug issues, and they talked about how this one place, the United Way, helped them. It was so impactful — for me, it was easy to raise the money. I hate asking people, but this was making a difference in people’s lives.”
Finck also handled major gifts for Lilly Library in Florence before getting heavily involved with another institution in that area — CDH. Or more involved, to be more precise.
“As a campaign volunteer, she stands out because of her unwavering enthusiasm and commitment; her grace, dedication to community, and persistency were paramou”nt to our success.
Finck >> Continued on page W35
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