Honors Volunteer Ray Macur and Orange County Department of Health Community Health Outreach Division
On Monday, November 26, 2018, Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County held its Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner at The Fountains in Middletown, NY. Following the Year in Review by President of the Board of Directors Jim Conklin and Executive Director Lucy Joyce, CCEOC honored outgoing board members and held the election of new board members. Board members include: Everett Collie, Megan R. Conroy, Kristin Jensen, Gary Johnson, and Maggie Smith.
“This year the Board of Directors has worked hard developing a new strategic plan and acquiring resources to support programs and the construction and maintenance of the Education Center and 4-H Park. We look forward to expanding our programming in the coming year(s),” shared Joyce.
In addition, this year’s Volunteer Award recipient was caregiver Ray Macur. Macur volunteers in the Relatives as Parents Program. RAPP is a support and resource network for the 3,000 kinship caregivers who are raising their relative children in the county.
According to RAPP Coordinator Logan Brennan, “Ray has offered something special to our kinship families these past three to four years. He has almost single-handedly raised over $15,000 for summer camp scholarships. Summer can be particularly hard for kinship families as they navigate their new family make-up and respond to the financial challenges of raising children. Because of Ray, dozens of kinship families have had summers they wouldn’t otherwise experience.” Brennan shared that what started as a small scholarship fund in 2015 has more than doubled its capacity due to Macur’s time and efforts.
CCEOC’s Friend of Extension 2018 was the Orange County Department of Health Community Health Outreach Division. The Community Health Outreach (CHO) Division provides outreach, information and referrals to individuals who are at high risk of contracting chronic or communicable disease, or who require medical management for acute or chronic health problems. Over the years, Cornell Cooperative Extension has collaborated with the Community Health Worker Program, the Healthy Neighborhoods Program, Migrant Health Services and abundantly with the Public Health Education Program.
“Successful collaborations between our two organizations include the Farm to School program, Migrant Farmer Worker program, DOH Farmers Market, Healthy Orange and Creating Healthy Schools and Communities. At the rate that we are going, I foresee many more successful endeavors in our future,” shared Eat Smart New York’s Hudson Valley Project Manager Stefanie Hubert, MS.
Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County enables people to improve their lives and communities by bringing local experience and researched-based solutions together in the areas of agriculture, families, youth development, environment and economic development. To learn more about CCEOC programs, please call 845-344-1234 or visit www.cceorangecounty.org.