Thank you for joining us to celebrate 45 years of making a difference in countless lives throughout the Mohawk Valley at Friday’s Healthy for Good Expo and America’s Greatest Heart Run & Walk on Saturday! What a wonderful weekend of events filled with educational experiences, heart-health screenings, physical activity and so much more!
And thank you for helping us honor the humble beginnings of this wonderful event started by Larry Lewicki and a few Steuben Striders running 18 miles from Barneveld to Utica to deliver a check to the heart radiothon.
Who would have thought from that kind and meaningful gesture that all these years later we would still be celebrating their act of kindness that has turned into 45 years of improving health and saving lives of our friends and our families like Angel Woolheater and Jaxon Hayes who both have survived heart surgeries and a stroke.
They are survivors because of incredible medical advances funded by the dollars you raise. Just amazing!
You’re making a difference in so many ways! Your past and continued support has allowed us to:
- Fund over $290,000 through 72 Community Impact Grants to 43 local organizations – this year’s grants being awarded to Center for Family Life & Recovery; Parkway Center; Boy Scouts of America; The House of the Good Shepherd; and The Root Farm.
- Fund summer research interns at Masonic Medical Research Institute for six consecutive years.
- Train thousands every year in CPR – with 825 students and faculty being trained in Hands-Only CPR during February’s CPR Collegiate Challenge at Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica College and Herkimer College.
- Provide education to hundreds of businesses and families across our community about risk factors for heart disease and stroke with almost 400 people provided a free comprehensive health screening just at Friday’s Expo alone.
- Continue funding life-saving research and medical advances that allow for the best treatment protocols to be used every day by our doctors and medical centers to save our loved-one’s lives.
- Educate thousands of our children in schools throughout Mohawk Valley through our Kids Heart Challenge programs that teach them the benefits of mind and body well-being, physical activity, eating healthy, and refraining from tobacco use.
There is so much more to be proud of that your support is making happen in our community. Thank you for being part of what makes Utica “America’s Greatest!”
The AHA is proud to receive the highest rating (5 Stars) by Charity Navigator, the Nation’s premier evaluator of non-profit organization’s financial, transparency and accountability practices. For more information visit: How We Raise & Invest Donor Dollars | 2017-2018 Annual Report