Tina has been involved with a number of organziations for the last several years. She has led volunteer efforts for Rebuilidng Together Dutchess County, raising thousands of dollars to help those in need of housing, and helping to mobilize hundreds of volunteers for "work days" to repair homes for low income neighbors in need. She also serves on the Philanthropy Committee for the American Red Cross of Dutchess County, planning development strategies and supporting the fundraising efforts for ARC-DC. She chaired the organization's 100th Anniversary's Silent Auction event committee, and is leading the efforts to produce a Red Cross Legacy Wall in celebration of Red Cross' 100th anniversary. Tina also volunteers for United Way of Dutchess County's Young Leaders United, and has served as a Loaned Executive for United Way campaigns. She is a Forty Under 40 winner, and is active with Leadership Dutchess, helping to raise money and awareness, and plan and support events for these civic efforts. Her volunteers efforts also include Junior Achievement, where she has supported a number of events. Tina also serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Thomas assists people with disabilities at Abilities First's onsite supervised workshop in the assembly and packaging of subcontracted materials so they may gain vocational skills that will give them opportunities for employment in the community and enhance their self esteem.

Senior Girl Scout Troop 15 do not spend Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday or President's Day, both days off from school, shopping or playing video games. You will find them at the Lunch Box, a soup kitchen program of Dutchess Outreach, preparing and serving a meal for 150-200 people. For the last eight years, the troop has planned, shopped, prepared, and served at the Lunch Box. This is no easy task. They have to plan the menus, purchase the food, arrive early to prepare, serve for two hours, and then clean-up. For one serving, they make 10 pans of a main dish with a garden salad, pasta salad, dessert, etc. They also give fruit, hard boiled eggs, etc. to people as they are leaving knowing this may be the only meal they have that day. One summer, the troop maintained a vegetable garden and donated tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers,and potatoes to the Lunch Box. They wanted fresh produce to be available for the meals. The girls from the troop help put together a how-to booklet for other troops and youth groups wanting to volunteer at the Lunch Box. When not helping in the Lunch Box, the troop has held food drives, personal item drives, and diaper/formula drives for the Dutchess Outreach Food Pantry.

Sara Rockwell has been a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dutchess County, a program of Dutchess County Community Action Partnership, since September of 2007. Since that time, Sara has proven to be an integral part of our organization, making a tremendous difference in each life she has touched. Sara has been matched with two Little Sisters. After her first successful match closed, Sara was matched with her second Little Sister in November of last year. From the very beginning, the pair hit it off. They spend their time together baking, window shopping at the mall, and just hanging out and spending time together. Sara also shared one of her favorite hobbies with her Little, and taught her how to crochet. Together, they made a blanket which they donated to our silent art auction at our National Mentoring Month Celebration on January 30th of 2010. On April 9th, 2010, we had the opportunity to celebrate Sara at our 2nd Annual Volunteer Recognition Night. Quite fittingly, Sara was the recipient of our very own Spirit Award. Based upon the classic school spirit award we all remember from high school, the award usually given to someone who showed pride in their school and was never hesitant to lend a hand, we created our own Spirit Award to honor Sara. Sara is always willing to volunteer beyond her own mentoring responsibility by helping us at all of our agency events and assisting with program outreach. In addition to participating in all of our agency-sponored events, Sara consistently goes above and beyond by volunteering her time to assist us at recruitment and outreach efforts. Whether she's sitting in the rain at the Dutchess County Fair recruiting Bigs, or painstakingly making sure her piece is complete on time for our silent auction, Sara continuously stuns us with her support and devotion to our cause.

Rob Ranieri has taken CAPE to a new level. Under his leadership the Board has grown from five to 16 members. The Board has been trained in governance and fund development, has completed our Strategic Plan and is in the process of obtaining New York State approval for the development of an operational foundation which will address the deficit-funded status of the agency.

Pete Carr has been involved with the Mid-Hudson Civic Center for many years, and currently serves as the organization's Board President. He has also served the community in a wide array of capacities with other nonprofit groups, which has included the Campaign Leadership Team for United Way of Dutchess County. Pete is a Forty Under 40 recipient and serves on this committee for the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member of the Insurance Committee for the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce. He is a past President of the East Fishkill Rotary Club, and a former board member of the Pawling YMCA and Pawling Chamber of Commerce.

Mid Hudson Bereaved Parents of the USA (MHBPUSA) is simply a group of parents and their families who have suffered the loss of a child. We come together to offer solace and hope to each other as we learn to live with the deaths of our children. Each "veteran" bereaved parent holds a hand out to each newly bereaved parent and offers them a shoulder to cry on and ideas to help them cope with the pain of learning to live without their precious child.

Every week, volunteers from the Vineyard Community Church deliver food to 20 families and another 10 families will pick up food. That is over 1450 households a year that receive food from this all volunteer food pantry. The members stock the shelves, pack the boxes, clean the refrigerators, pick up the food at the Food Bank and deliver the food all on their own time. It is with compassion and a servants heart that they sign up to deliver food on a regular basis and do double time at Thanksgiving and Christmas, delivering the regular deliveries and holiday meals as well as gifts for the children. They have been known to take money out of their own pockets and purchase requested items that the pantry does not have such as coffee, diapers etc. They also have built relationships, inviting people over to their homes, praying for their needs and offer help such as household items or furniture.

Mary volunteers through the DC Office for the Aging as an instructor for the Senior Exercise Program at Interfaith Towers. She was recently recognized by the DC OFA for 10 years of service. She encourages an active lifestyle for an enhanced quality of life for the residents that attend this program. Mary has always assisted those in need in her community as needs arise, including shopping, laundry, cleaning, transportation (when she had a vehicle), errands, and in so many ways they are hard to list. She is the type of person that sees a need and immediately starts to think of ways she can be of assistance, then takes action to help in any way she can.

In 2005 and in direct response to the proposed development of lands found within an historic Revolutionary War encampment known as the Fishkill Supply Depot (FSD), Mara formed and led an ad hoc group of preservation and history-minded Dutchess residents in advocating for the protection and future interpretation of the remaining, undisturbed and undeveloped lands. Almost unilaterally and with no formal training, Mara began to lobby federal, state, and local officials and make contacts with other persons of influence to raise awareness of the FSD issue and press for getting the existing, available FSD lands off the market.