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PARTNERS | HEALTHY CITY | HOW HEALTHY | VISION | SUMMIT | PRIORITIES | FUNCTIONS | CITY OF FALL RIVER |
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The SMILES (Southcoast Mentoring
Initiative for
Learning, Education and Service)
Program of Fall River and New Bedford held its fourth fundraiser with a
3.6 mile
walk/run/cycle/skate around the University of
Massachusetts-Dartmouth ring road on March 25, 2012. Hundreds of Individuals and teams
collected pledges for the event and organizers announced a gross total of
over $85,000 in pledges at the end of the event.
SMILES, established in 2003,
works by matching volunteer mentors to students in the New Bedford and
Fall River public schools. Mentors meet with their young friends for an
hour a week at the students’ school. The goal is to increase the
students’ chance of graduating high school and to deter them from drugs,
alcohol, violence and gang involvement. “Our BayCoast employees
were here in force to honor one of our fellow workers and SMILES mentor,
Sue Medeiros, who passed away unexpectedly last December” said
BayCoast CEO Nick Christ who chaired this year's event. "Sue was
dedicated and a tremendous cheerleader for what she believed in,"
he added. Click
here for a
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(Top row) Groups from Bank Five and BayCoast Bank record their pledges and pose for group photos before People Incorporated CEO Robert Canuel welcomes the group with VPs Pam O'Neill and Jenny Diblasi at his side. (Row two, left) Miss New Bedford, Marlena Johnson, leads the crowd in the National Anthem. (Row two, center and right) Beth Methia leads the crowd, including Camp Jack coordinator Kristen Gunderson, right, in a warm-up routine. (Row three, left) Catarina Bauer cheers the group as they exit the Tripp Athletic Center. (Bottom row) Nicole Almeida of BayCoast Bank leads the group toward the ring road where BayCoast VP Nina Tabias cheers the group on, including PI COO Bill Perkins, VP of Communications and Administration Pam O'Neill, and President and CEO Bob Canuel. |
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