Planned Parenthood Recognizes Outstanding Community Volunteers

CEO Honored for 15 Years Service; New Board Members Elected

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Pat McGeown

ALBANY, NY (05/20/2010)(readMedia)-- Over 100 local staff and supporters turned out last evening for a recognition of Patricia A. McGeown, President/CEO of Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, for fifteen years of service. The special recognition was a surprise for McGeown, and took place during the agency's Annual Meeting and Volunteer Recognition Reception program. The event is presented each year to honor outstanding agency volunteers and donors, and to formally elect new members to the UHPP Board of Directors.

New York State Senator Neil Breslin, UHPP Board President Geoffrey Moore; Board member, Cheryl Gelder-Kogan; Senior Vice President for Operations, Chelly Hegan and Senior Vice President for External Affairs, Rob Curry; as well as former Board President and longstanding supporter, Mary Kahl shared memories and offered recognition remarks for McGeown of Bethlehem. (see attachment for more details.)

During the Annual Meeting part of the agenda, two community members were elected to the UHPP Board of Directors. They were Ms. Nada Rifai of Troy and Dr. Tara A. Lindsley Ph.D. of Menands. Rifai is client-relationship and operational policy manager at Groff Net Works in Troy and Dr. Lindsley is a professor and research scientist at Albany Medical College in Albany.

Dr. Mary C. Kahl and Dr. William Kahl, as well as Mr. Charles M. Liddle, all of Albany, were recognized and named UHPP Lifetime Trustees. Lifetime trustees have given a lifetime total of $20,000 or more to the agency.

The event also recognized eight community volunteers who contributed an exceptional number of hours as public affairs volunteers in 2009. Volunteer patient escorts recognized included Matthew Arnold-Lloyd and Linda Leue of Albany, Joe Levinger of Altamont, Nora Adelman of Athens, Chris Bayley of Feura Bush, Stancia Cramer of Leeds and Dianna DeFreest of Troy. Judith Karis was recognized for her volunteer work in office support.

Pauline Kamen Miller of Melrose was recognized not only for volunteering as a patient escort but also for her work lobbying legislators, writing letters to local papers and leading the agency as a member of the UHPP Board of Directors. UHPP named Miller the Outstanding Volunteer of 2009.

Special tribute was also paid to Mark Yolles of Albany who has volunteered as a UHPP patient escort for twenty years. UHPP patient escorts greet patients on days of anti-choice picketing, offering a warm smile and friendly greeting, as well as a sense of safety and security. Patient escorts also help monitor the activities of the picketers and ensure that all laws affording access to reproductive health services are followed.

Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood (UHPP) is a community-based non-profit organization providing advocacy, education and medical services for reproductive health care since 1934. In 2009, over 14,000 patients made 24,975 visits to UHPP health centers located in Albany, Hudson and Troy. UHPP health educators present over 300 education programs reaching over 5,000 youth and young adults. UHPP services are delivered with special concern for the underserved.