News

December 5, 2019

Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York Celebrates Donors, Volunteers and Achievers

The Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York celebrated donors, volunteers, and achievers at their Annual Awards Dinner held on November 20th at the Shaker Ridge Country Club. The event also showcased the artwork of our art therapy participants from Studio-E.

Kicking off the night, we said thank you to our 2019 Winning Kid, Madeline. She was an incredible representation of children with epilepsy. We were so lucky to have her share her story and become the face of our #EndEpilepsy campaign. Alexis Gotham was recognized for winning the 2019 Nick Birchak Strength of Character College Scholarship. We also honored board members, Eugene Nachamkin for 15 years of service, and Denise Sullivan for 10 years of service. We thank you for your dedication to our mission.

Companies were recognized for their support during 2019, including the Red Flame Corporate Partners who donated $5,000 or more, which included Albany Medical Center, Fingerpaint, Greenwich Biosciences, Hannaford, KeyBank, Massry Family, Melissa D. Bisaccia Scholarship Fund, Pioneer Bank, Sonic of the Capital Region, Turf Hotels, UCB, Inc., and the University at Albany Foundation. We also thanked our many, many Special Event Corporate Sponsors who sponsored at $1,500-$4,999. The list of sponsors recognized may be found on our web site at www.epilepsy.com/northeastern-new-york under “Events.” Several awards were presented for raising awareness and fundraising, including the Capital Region Chamber and Women’s Business Council with the Community Partner Award for their support during our reign as the Adopted Non-Profit throughout 2019.

Also recognized was Anoush Koroghlian-Scott with the President’s Award and immediate past president, Kevin Volk. We had the pleasure of presenting Derrick Rumenapp with the Raising Awareness Award, who gave a heartfelt speech reading an original poem about his family’s struggles with their son’s battle with epilepsy. We also honored Patricia Kochetta with the Outstanding Fundraising Award. She expressed her gratitude for the Foundation, along with her dedicated co-workers at Riccardi Elementary School. Finally, we recognized our Studio-E Art Therapy students and showcased their fine work during the cocktail hour.