County Executive Robert P. Astorino joined Volunteer New York! and Robison to recognize four Westchester County residents who either save lives through their volunteer work or whose lives have been saved. The event took place outside the County Center in White Plains in order to encourage the public to participate in the “9/11 Serve + Remember” projects being organized throughout the county in honor of those whose lives were lost or forever changed by the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
To learn more or register for volunteer projects taking place September 11-13, please call (914) 948-4452 or visit www.volunteernewyork.org/service. To sign up for the blood drive, please contact Janet Lokay at or (914) 995-2127.
“We come together each year as a community to honor the memory of those we lost on that horrific day 14 years ago,” Astorino said. “We do so by replacing our grief with giving; by letting go of our anger and taking action; by restoring love where there once was loss. The volunteers who join us each year speak to the strength of Westchester County.”
Westchester County’s formal 9/11 memorial ceremony will take place Sept. 11 beginning at 7 p.m. at “The Rising” at the Kensico Dam. The public is invited to attend.
Alisa H. Kesten, executive director of Volunteer New York! said: “Each year, #911Day brings our community and hundreds of volunteers closer together through the spirit of unity and compassion – similar to what we all shared after the events of Sept. 11. This year, many of our service projects will be supportive of first responders or give families and individuals a chance to take a life-saving action. Families, individuals and business groups are urged to register as soon as possible.”
David Singer, president of Robison, the presenting sponsor, said: “Our company, Robison, was built on service – service to our customers and our community. That is why Robison is honored to be able to support this important day for families and individuals of all backgrounds to join together and volunteer. This is an important day in our community to serve and take action.”
Featured Volunteer Profiles
Theresa Tippin, volunteer First Responder with Mohegan Volunteer Fire Association (Cortlandt resident)
Cortland resident Theresa Tippin will be starting her 10th year as a volunteer first responder with the Mohegan Firehouse this December, where she is a member of the department’s Color Guard. She was named a “Top 10” responder several times, and has responded to as many as 280 fire calls in one year. She has recently been accepted to be part of The Westchester County Peer Support Team. Her educational and career paths have been intertwined with health and fitness. She has led groups to participate in biking and walking fundraising events, raising thousands of dollars for disease research. If there is any free time, Theresa enjoys being with her daughter and two dogs, as well as helping at Yorktown’s Love In Action, a nonprofit that assists families who have been stricken by unforeseen tragedies. “I think it’s just the humanitarian act of helping others in what might be the worst times in their lives,” Tippin said of her motivation to volunteer. “To be a support system to them in any way is very fulfilling for me.”
Michael Welling, bone marrow donor advocate (White Plains resident)
Michael Welling was born and raised in Westchester County. Currently he resides in White Plains with his wife, Susie; 9-year-old son, Matthew and dog Marley. When his son was just an infant, the family was told he would need a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. Fortunately, a donor was found quickly. It was a man who had registered at a drive in Boston 15 years earlier. However, Matthew also needed a second transplant from a second donor. It was a nerve-wracking time as the family waited in the hospital for almost 30 days while a second donor search was conducted. Thankfully, another donor was found, Matthew received a second transplant, and today he is doing well. To find out more about Mathew’s story please visit www.matthewwelling.org. Michael Welling is a partner at Meridian Risk Management in Pelham, where their founding family strongly emphasizes and supports volunteerism in the community.
“I can tell you first hand that every volunteer can make a difference,” Welling said. “Ours is a happy-ending story... However, during the six months our family was living at Sloan Kettering, we watched an endless number of children lose their battles because they could not find just one volunteer bone marrow donor match. We found two. This fact still baffles me that in this day and age of social media, Internet, and medical science, that there isn’t a donor – of every kind – for everyone who needs it. An no technology, no app, no website, nothing can replace the core basic human value of volunteering.”
Howard Romanoff, organ recipient and donor advocate (Armonk resident)
Armonk resident Howard Romanoff was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in October 2007. He was an otherwise healthy, non-smoking individual, yet was told he would require a lung transplant within three to five years in order to live. After four years of being on oxygen, he was placed on the waiting list for a life-saving double-lung transplant. Six months later he received the double lung transplant at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, which saved his life. Since then Howard Romanoff has been an active advocate for organ donors, initiating the outreach of ShareLifeNY.org.
“It is hard to believe that New York ranks dead last among the 50 states in percentage of eligible registered organ donors,” Romanoff said. “I say dead last because a New Yorker dies every 15 hours waiting for an organ transplant that never comes, due to the lack of donated organs. I was one of the lucky ones.”
Arthur Bonagura, volunteer blood donor (White Plains resident)
White Plains resident Arthur Bonagura has been a platelet and blood donor with New York Blood Center for the past 50 years – giving blood and platelets as often as he possibly can. He retired after 45 years in Information Technology, with a primary focus on corporate Disaster Recovery and Business Resumption, and as a Certified Contingency Planner through the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI). He is certified with the American Red Cross as a Disaster Relief Volunteer and has worked on such major events as Super Storm Sandy, Hurricanes Irene, Katrina, Wilma and Rita, and the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attack in NYC. He also assisted at the two recent Metro North railroad accidents. He has also been running a Soup Kitchen in White Plains at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church each Sunday for the past 35 years.
“It’s just a good feeling that [volunteers] are doing what they’re doing to help other people and I can be a part of that,” Bonagura said.
Service projects taking place at the County Center on Sept. 11 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.:
- Write thank you cards for veterans and first responders with Volunteer New York!
- Make sleeping bags for adults in need with Lifting Up Westchester
- Pack swab kits for blood drives with New York Blood Center
- Create no-sew fleece blankets with Project Linus
- Join the bone marrow registry with Volunteer New York!
- Make paracord bracelets for the troops with Operation Gratitude
- Create educational games for children with Volunteer New York!
- Receive hands-only CPR training with the American Heart Association
- Donate blood (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) with New York Blood Center
- Give to the Early Learners Book Drive with Open Door Family Medical Center
- Contribute to the food drive with Hillside Food Outreach
- Sign up for Westchester County Emergency Preparedness Exercise with Westchester County Department of Health
To learn more and register, please call (914) 948-4452 or visit www.volunteernewyork.org/service. To sign up for the blood drive, please contact Janet Lokay at or (914) 995-2127.