Fundraising Gala for Worldwide Community First Responder

Worldwide Community First Responder, a non-profit/charitable organization with a mission to prevent deaths worldwide through education and training, is celebrating its 5th anniversary this month with a gala event.

The gala will be held Sept. 24 at The Time Nyack, the hip new hotel in Rockland County. The Master of Ceremonies will be Brysen Van Eck, News 12 Westchester/Hudson Valley Meteorologist. The Keynote Speaker will be Peter Helder Bernard, Esq., Consulate General for Haiti in New York.

WCFR will be honoring two individuals and two organizations at the gala:

• Haitian American Nurses Association (HANA)
• Volunteer New York!
• Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de Léogane (FSIL)
• Roxanne Watson — LiveOnNY
• Dr. Daniel Allonce

The gala will feature live entertainment, food from BV’s Grill and an open bar. Free valet parking is sponsored by Barry J. Dorfman, LUTCF. All funds raised at the event will support WCFR's life saving programs. Tickets are $100 for members, $125 for non-members and great sponsorship opportunities are still available. For more information and to buy tickets, click here.

WCFR was founded in Rockland in 2011 by Jackie Cassagnol, a faculty member at Helene Fuld College of Nursing in Manhattan who has lived in the county for 20 years. After the Haiti earthquake of 2010, a fire awakened inside the Spring Valley resident that led her to create WCFR.

“Nurses and medical professionals know their way around a hospital or medical office, but are not formally trained for emergency situations like the one that happened in Haiti," she told Patch in 2013. "In a situation like that, you have to be able to brace yourself for what you may see or may have to do. Without proper training, one can become traumatized in those conditions.”

Worldwide Community First Responder is based in Nanuet (Cassagnol was involved with the relaunch of the Nanuet Chamber of Commerce). It offers two main services: WCFR Health Education and the WCFR Training Program.

• WCFR Health Education focuses on educating community members worldwide of deadly health conditions and preventative measures.
• WCFR Training is dedicated to providing worldwide community-based first response and first aid training.

WCFR provides its services worldwide to all communities regardless of gender, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability, economic and social class. WCFR members are a diverse group of volunteers who provide their services free of charge. Through their efforts, WCFR members seek to empower individuals in their own communities and save lives.

IMAGE/ WCFR