Mayor’s Message
On Jan. 27 I was privileged to be part of the second Annual Voorhees Breakfast Rotary Community Awards Dinner.
Virtua CEO, Rich Miller, was honored as the 2010 Voorhees Business Person of the Year. Rich’s steady guidance has led Virtua to become the largest healthcare provider in South Jersey, with over 8,400 employees. He has been the guiding force behind the largest development project in the history of Voorhees, the state-of-the-art Virtua Hospital medical campus taking shape on Route 73. It will be a worldwide model for medical care and will create over 1,000 new jobs, significant tax revenue and a new sewer infrastructure. Rich’s dream becomes a reality on May 22 when all patients will be moved from the existing facility to the new facility. Rich has also been a passionate supporter of the March of Dimes, the American Heart Association, the Arthritis Foundation and the Boy Scouts of America.
Gisele DiNatale was honored as the 2010 Voorhees Citizen of the Year. Gisele is the co-founder of The Alicia Rose “Victorious” Foundation, named for her daughter who died in 2002 from a rare form of cancer. The Foundation raises money to create teen centers in hospitals all over the world.
More than 50 Teen Lounges have been funded by the Foundation and more than 7,200 Teen Kits have been distributed in 80 hospitals in 34 states. Over 43,000 critically ill teens and their families have been touched by the loving hands of Gisele and her Foundation. Gisele was also the driving force behind our legislature making the third week of January “Teen Cancer Awareness Week.”
Other finalists recognized at the dinner were Harry Platt, Ron Safier, Gary Frisch and Feriol Apistar.
The Voorhees Breakfast Rotary has donated thousands in scholarship money to local high school students and hundreds of food baskets and backpacks with school supplies to needy Voorhees families. They have donated books to the Virtua Hospital Pediatric Unit and over 500 videotapes to local senior facilities.
Internationally, the club has raised funds for victims of the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti.
Locally, the club is a fixture at Voorhees community events, particularly the Annual Picnic, Summer Series and Halloween in the Park. Each year, the club sponsors our local Easter Egg Hunt.
On behalf of the residents of Voorhees and the Township Committee, thank you to the Voorhees Breakfast Rotary Club and congratulations to Rich Miller and Gisele DiNatale.
Michael Mignogna is the mayor of Voorhees. He can be reached at mmignogna16@comcast.net.
