On June 7th, The Arc Westchester hosted it’s 73rd Annual Membership Meeting. The meeting was held virtually with over 70 individuals comprising of chapter members, invited guests, staff, and board members. The evening began with a Special Meeting where a vote on proposed changes to our Chapter Bylaws, and a review of the Membership Resolution took place. Immediately following,  73rd Annual Membership Meeting was called to order!

The Annual Meeting included a review of the 2021 Annual Membership Meeting minutes, review of the 2021 Financial Report, and a presentation from The Arc Westchester Foundation‘s Executive Director Nancy Patota and Foundation Board President Reudi Laager.

Jeff Wood, New Board President

In addition to welcoming a new board president, we formally elected new board members for our Board and Nominating Committee. These individuals are listed below:

John Barrett nominated for a three-year term on the Board.
Austin Harris nominated for a three-year term on the Board.
Danusia Pawska nominated for a three-year term on the Board.
Christopher Orlando nominated for a three-year term on the Board.
Anne Majsak nominated for a two-year position on the Nominating Committee.
Louise Weston nominated for a two-year position on the Nominating
Steven Masket nominated for the position of President-Elect of the Board.
Danusia Pawska nominated for the position of Secretary of the Board.
Robert Nuccio nominated for the position of Treasurer of the Board.

All 9 nominees were elected to their positions respectfully.

We were honored to have a Erik Geizer, CEO of The Arc NY as our special guest for the evening. He spoke on topical matters related to local and state legislative issues along with advocacy efforts being made on behalf of the chapters. Immediate-Past Board President Kyle O’Loughlin Cahill gave farewell remarks, reflecting her term as president. She also introduced the new President of The Arc Westchester Board, Jeff Wood, who gave his first address as President. He gave a heartfelt message outlining his goals for the future and his immense gratitude to the organization for the support they have given him and his family.

Our Executive Director and CEO, Tibi Guzmán addressed an array of subjects, including our ongoing efforts in workforce recruitment, COVID-19 vaccination updates. and announced that our Preschool will receive a long-overdue 11% increase for the 2022-23 school year! This is in large part to the incredible advocacy of The Arc New York and  NYS Assemblymember Tom Abinanti.  We thank them for their continued support!

Finally, the evening was capped off with the presentation of The Richard P. Swierat Advocate of The Year Award. It has been a tradition to present an to a person who has shown outstanding advocacy leadership skills on behalf of our mission.   This year’s recipient was Noah Krantz, a participant in our Choices Program. Noah was recognized for his dedication to helping others, constantly striving to better himself, and always being excited for whatever challenge lies ahead.

You can view Noah’s entire acceptance speech below:

For any additional information regarding our June 7th 2022 meeting, please feel free to reach out to info@arcwestchester.org, or visit our contact page.