Local Touch: Charity That Begins in the Chapter

Local Touch: Charity That Begins in the Chapter

By Kate Prouty

Continued from the Home Page

Because charitable events take considerable volunteer manpower to plan, some chapters are limited to just one event per year, and it can be a challenge for them to select a single charity. Often a member suggests a cause close to her own life, an organization where he sits on the board, or a nonprofit whose taxes have crossed her desk.

More often than not, chapters chose a local charity, where their efforts will truly be appreciated by the community. The chapter and the organization may then work together for years.

Even though chapter members are strictly volunteers, there is certainly no shortage of willingness to help. The examples that follow are only a sliver of how much energy chapters have put into charity work.

Personal Choices

Young CPAs in the Syracuse Chapter, who ran a food drive for the Food Bank of Central New York in the fall, also chose to organize a toy drive for a local nonprofit, the Elmcrest Children’s Center, a 160-year-old child welfare organization.

A few years ago, Syracuse Chapter members coordinated a similar toy drive for the Salvation Army, according to Young CPAs Committee Chair Anthony Abboud.

“But it just didn’t feel personal enough,” he said, “and we decided to pick a more local charity.” Now, after they’ve collected games, young CPAs visit Elmcrest to play with the children, who are grateful for the donated gifts and the visitors.

“What makes it nice is the local connection. We see the appreciation on the kids’ faces…and we know the center really relies on donations from our community,” Abboud said. Plus, individual CPAs and firms in the area, Abboud guesses, are more likely to contribute to a local cause than to a national one.

Generosity of the holiday season may also encourage people to donate their time and money. The U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program, for example, remains a popular choice for holiday toy drives, and chapters often combine the collections with a holiday party or networking event. This year the Mid-Hudson Chapter raised more than $600 for Toys for Tots by raffling off Mets memorabilia, and the Suffolk Chapter held its 10th annual toy drive, collecting what U.S. Marines said was, with over 3,500 toys, the largest toy contribution made by a single organization.

The Nassau, Northeast, Rockland, Utica and Westchester chapters also coordinated holiday toy drives with local and national agencies.

But donations don’t stop in December. Throughout the year, chapters find charities in need.

By hosting a bowl-a-thon, the Staten Island Chapter raised more than $23,000 to support research for a neurological disorder called Batten Disease.

“It’s a very significant contribution,” John Rissman said. “For an organization that raises a few hundred thousand dollars a year, $23,000 goes a long way.”

Rissman, a Staten Island Chapter member, is also treasurer for the Metro New York and New Jersey Chapter of the Batten Disease Support and Research Association (BDSRA), an international research and support organization for families of children with the inherited neurological degenerative disorder.

“Our hope is bolstered by caring people within the Society, giving of time, energy and money to help complete strangers battle against a deadly disease that so few people are aware of,” Rissman wrote in a letter thanking Staten Island Chapter members for their contributions.

He and Jerry LoVerde are personally connected to the BDSRA and have helped plan the event for years.

In addition to annual blood and toy drives, the Nassau Chapter also thought locally when planning a 5K run to raise money for Island Harvest, a food rescue nonprofit on Long Island that will rescue and redistribute roughly five million pounds of food this year.

This is the first time Nassau chose Island Harvest as the recipient of its proceeds; the chapter raised more than $7,500.

“You got to help those in your own backyard first,” said Kerry Dudkewic, Island Harvest senior manager of business development, about the tendency to choose a local charity.

“People select a specific charity for so many different reasons, but a lot keep it local because it’s close to home,” Dudkewic added. “They understand that some of their neighbors may be the ones who are hungry.”