2 Volunteers at the Montrose VA Campus Honored for Efforts

Four volunteers from the VA Hudson Valley Health Care System earned awards April 29 for their efforts during 2014.

John Simpson, Fishkill, New York, and Suzanne Mazzola, Poughquag, N.Y., were named the Volunteers of the Year for the Castle Point, N.Y., campus. Maksym Makarczuk of Yonkers, N.Y. and Libby Penner, Garrison, N.Y., earned those same honors volunteering at the Montrose, N.Y., campus.

In Fiscal Year 2014, Hudson Valley volunteers and organizations donated more than 100,000 hours and $738,064 in gifts for a total value of about $3.3 million to help VA Hudson Valley Veterans. Volunteers performed a variety of functions like administrative/clerical, comfort item distribution, recreation, escort, greeter, driver and hospice support.

“These numbers should give you an idea of just how valuable there contributions are, the lives they touch, and the services they enhance which goes well beyond any measures,” said Yvette Rodriguez-Cacho, Voluntary Services Chief.

The VA Hudson Valley Health Care System is a Joint Commission-accredited, medical and surgical facility serving Veterans across six counties and 3,500 square miles. The VA Hudson Valley Health Care System consists of two campuses in Montrose and Castle Point, N.Y. as well as outpatient clinics in Carmel, Goshen, Monticello, New City, Pine Plains, Port Jervis, and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The system serves approximately 25,000 Veterans annually.

Founded in 1946 to provide for our nation’s Veterans while they are cared for by VA health care facilities, VA’s Voluntary Service program is one of the largest of its kind in the federal government. It is one of the largest centralized volunteer programs in the Federal government with more than 7,400 national and community organizations support the program. Volunteers have provided over 760 million hours of service since 1946.