Editorial: Volunteers make life better for everyone

CHEERS: To the hundreds who showed up for an important annual event and a reminder that health care is something that we cannot take for granted. The March of Dimes’ 47th annual March for Babies walk at Woodbury Common was well on its way to this year’s goal of raising $150,000 when marchers began their effort. The crowd included many families with a personal understanding of the importance of the March of Dimes’ work, especially funding research, providing education, advocating for policy changes and creating a support network for families. In the United States, one in every 10 babies is born prematurely, according to Kristi Greco, community director for the March of Dimes, and that is the leading cause of infant mortality. As organizers and participants alike agree, the March of Dimes wants to give “a fighting chance for every baby.”

CHEERS: To the many volunteer fire companies that once again made their important job more visible and more inviting during the annual RecruitNY weekend. The idea has been credited with reversing an alarming trend, the decline in membership from 120,000 in the 1990s to 80,000 only a decade later. Through the efforts of RecruitNY, that number climbed by about 25,000 in the past few years. “We stopped the hemorrhaging,” said John D’Alessandro, secretary of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York. “Now our mission is not to fall backwards.”

CHEERS: To the State of New York Mortgage Agency beautification initiative for its plan to spruce up a section of the East End in the City of Newburgh on June 9. PathStone Community Development is organizing the event locally. “We’re not there to paint their whole house or put on a new deck or anything like that,” said Eileen Clifford, director of PathStone’s housing program. “But just painting porches, cleaning up garbage debris, trimming shrubs, putting out new mulch, putting in some flowers. Just making it look nice.” The agency held its first spruce up effort last fall in Albany and this year has expanded to Buffalo, Long Island and Troy in addition to Newburgh. Volunteers will concentrate on properties in the corridors of Chambers, DuBois, Johnston and Lander streets. The initiative has received funding from M&T Bank and others are donating a truck of mulch for gardening projects and food for volunteers.

CHEERS: To the City of Newburgh for replacing its cash-only system to pay for boat launches with an automated meter. Boaters buying a $15 day pass will pay at a meter and display the receipt in their windshield under the new system. The change is designed to make the operation more efficient, on the one hand, and more secure for the city on the other. It comes nearly a year after the former comptroller of the city, John Aber, was charged with stealing cash paid by people using the Hudson River launch. Aber resigned after being arrested on May 24, 2016, and charged with fourth-degree grand larceny. He pleaded not guilty and is due to make an appearance in court on May 8.