thank you first responders

Celebrating Healthcare Heroes With Random Acts of Kindness

AAA Northeast employees brought 1,026 boxes filled with healthy snacks, free membership vouchers and a message of appreciation to healthcare workers on National Random Acts of Kindness Day, Feb. 17.

Some volunteered to decorate and fill the boxes with healthy snacks, including nuts, tea and protein bars. The boxes were delivered to 36 healthcare facilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.

Connecticut

Fran Mayko, AAA public affairs specialist, and Michelle Glifort, AAA battery technician, visited Milford Regional Medical Center, Bridgeport Hospital and the VA Medical Center in West Haven on Feb. 17 and Griffin Hospital in Derby later that week.

Melissa Silver, left, of the Bridgeport Hospital Foundation in Connecticut greets Fran Mayko of AAA as she arrives with snack boxes for hospital staff.

Massachusetts

Mary Maguire, director of public-government affairs, and Sandra Marsian, vice president of marketing, led the efforts in Massachusetts. They brought more than 300 boxes to healthcare facilities in Attleboro, Dorchester, Falmouth, Greenfield, Northampton, Roxbury, Springfield, Palmer, Westfield and Weymouth.

Catherine Daly, a respiratory therapist at South Shore Health in Weymouth, said the donations help lift everyone’s spirits.

“Everybody is part of this pandemic. Whether you’re a healthcare employee, working for AAA, working for a grocery store, we’re all doing our part. To get these little thank yous from everybody, just means the world,” Daly said.

From left, Breda Devlin, John Ralston and Catherine Daly from South Shore Health in Weymouth, Mass.

New Jersey

“The healthcare workers have done such a terrific job under difficult circumstances,” said David Hughes, president of the New Jersey division of AAA Northeast. “AAA would like to recognize their efforts.”

David and Shani Jarvis, manager of content-design for AAA public affairs, took that message to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson and St. Joseph’s Wayne.

Miriam Sewer of St. Joseph’s in Paterson.

New York

Two AAA contingencies covered areas in the New York City and Utica areas. They visited about 12 hospitals in the Bronx, Bronxville, Cooperstown, Oneonta, Utica and Yonkers in efforts led by Gerri DiSalvo, public affairs specialist in Garden City, and Patti Artessa, public affairs director in Utica.

“Healthcare workers have endured the strain of the pandemic for nearly a year. AAA wants to support these heroes by giving them a snack so they can physically recharge,” said Robert Sinclair Jr., senior manager of public affairs.

From left: Patti Artessa, AAA regional director of public affairs in Utica; Tinny Williams of A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta; and Stacie Harvey, manager of AAA Oneonta branch.

Rhode Island

Cassidy Dubie O’Connor, AAA public affairs specialist, and Jillian Grossguth, executive assistant, left AAA Northeast headquarters in Providence with 200 packages and made eight stops around the state.

Cassidy Dubie O’Connor and Jillian Grossguth arrive at South County Hospital in South Kingstown.

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