2007 Jefferson Award Medalists
Margaret Buckley Latham
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Buckley, 69, is a dedicated volunteer at the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, Menands, where every day for the past seven years she has walked the dogs. She initiated the Senior Animals In Need of Thee, or SAINT, program. When Buckley finds that an old, infirm dog is not adjusting well to shelter life, she takes it home and fosters the animal until it gets adopted. She sponsors the full adoption fee of every senior animal (7 years or older) at the shelter. A retired schoolteacher, Buckley also volunteers at her church's soup kitchen and visits nursing homes to comfort residents. |
Jim Fitzgerald Clifton Park
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Fitzgerald is the founder of Sports Are For Everyone, or SAFE, an athletic program for children with special needs program lets disabled children participate in community-sponsored recreation, play a team sport and have fun. He is instrumental in getting court time for the children's sports programs and keeping insurance in place. When public grant money doesn't go far enough, Fitzgerald funds sports programs out of his pocket. His service to members of the community who cannot speak for themselves has endeared "Coach Jim" to many.
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Joe Mooney Troy
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16, has volunteered his time to serve area disabled children. He has volunteered the CYO during basketball season since he was 8. He helps members of the challenger team by playing with them, teaching them the game and supporting them by being there. After basketball season is over, Mooney volunteers with the Burke Adams team for football. Mooney spent the summer of 2004 as a volunteer at Easter Seals summer camp for disabled children and has been there every summer since then.
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Ned Norton Albany
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Norton was managing a gym and training athletes including Jeff Blatnick (who went on to a gold medal at the 1984 summer Olympics) when six people with spinal cord injuries were referred to him. In 1988, Norton formed Warriors on Wheels Inc. Many of the warriors, often in their 20s, are referred to him from Albany Medical Center. They are people who have spinal cord injuries from being in car and motorcycle accidents, falls and diving incidents. He raises grants and recruits sponsors so he can offer the program to anyone who wants to participate.
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Thomas O'Clair Schenectady
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O'Clair has worked tirelessly for the past five years to bring attention to the lack sufficient mental health coverage in the state's health insurance system. O'Clair and his wife, Donna, lost their son Timothy to suicide in 2001. Insurance coverage for his mental illness had run out. O'Clair became an advocate for mental health parity and suicide prevention. His dedication and persistence resulted in Gov. George Pataki signing Timothy's Law, which requires health insurance companies to cover mental illnesses as comprehensively as they cover physical ailments. O'Clair also volunteers as a support group facilitator for suicide-attempt survivors and is a board member of the Capital District Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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Samuel Aronowitz Strasser Elsmere
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Strasser was honored for his 50 years of service to The Workshop Inc. From its start in a basement offering work force training for people with disabilities, The Workshop has grown into Northeast Career Services with branches in seven counties. It now places 400 disabled workers annually. Strasser, who was a lieutenant in the Air Force, received the NAACP's President's Award in 1992 to honor 25 years of his membership with the organization, including two as treasurer. Strasser helped Ethiopian Jews emigrate to Israel as fundraising chairman for the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York. In 1994, Bridge Builders of the Capital District gave Strasser its Thurgood Marshall Award for lifelong community service and "his extraordinary contribution to building bridges between the Jewish and African-American communities in Albany."
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