United Adult Ministries (UAM) will honor three individuals with The Rose Kryzak Senior Leadership Award at their annual gala fundraising dinner on November 3, 2011.
The award is dedicated to the late Rose Kryzak, a public advocate who campaigned for the rights of older adults. Kryzak, who was a resident of the UAM-sponsored Flushing House for the final 13 years of her life, passed away on June 24, 1999 at the age of 99. She was best known for championing the passage of New York State’s 1987 Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage legislation (EPIC). Her other causes included Social Security, mandatory Medicare assignments and universal health care.
In order to be eligible for the award, winners had to establish, operate or expand programs that benefit the older adult population and were required to have a record of advocacy and securing funds for senior programs.
This year’s recipients are Lawrence Harfmann, Stavroula Joannidis, and Rose Lawrence.
“They have all soldiered on in the great tradition of Rose Kryzak, making major contributions of service and caring for older adults,” said Robert F. Salant, the director of community relations at Flushing House, which is a not-for-profit retirement residence. “The legacy of Rose Kryzak shall not be forgotten, and that’s why each year since her passing, we bestow these awards in her name.”
Harfmann, who volunteered as the chairman of the ‘Save Our Social Security Office’ campaign in Glendale, Queens in 1982, is a Master of Social Work who has served as program manager of the CCNS Catherine M. Sheridan Senior Center in Jackson Heights since 2001.
Joannidis has been director of the HANAC Archbishop Iakovos Senior Center of Long Island City since 1993. She also served as the site manager for the HANAC Senior Residence, the federally-subsidized building housing seniors and disabled adults, between 1995 and 2002.
Lawrence is a Licensed Master Social Worker who was program manager of the CCNS Seaside Adult Community Center of Rockaway Beach from 2004 until her retirement in July of 2011. She previously served as program director of the St. Louis Senior Center in Brooklyn from 1990 to 2004.
The fundraiser, which begins at 6 p.m., will be held at Westbury Manor in Long Island. All proceeds collected will sustain an endowment fund which allows Flushing House to remain affordable for the older adults who reside there.
