‘Never expected this’: Best Buddies WNY able to further mission after donation from Golisano
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — One organization benefiting from the generosity of Philanthropist Tom Golisano is Best Buddies Western New York.
Tuesday, Golisano gave away $360 million to 82 non-profits across Upstate New York. And some, are still processing the good news.
Tom Golisano donating $360M across Upstate NY nonprofits
Lindsay Jewitt with Best Buddies Western New York told News 8 she started with the organization when it came to Rochester eight years ago. Since then, she’s seen it continue to grow.
And with that recent donation from Golisano, it will only take the mission further.
“I think that people have invested in us. We invest back in them. We’re hoping to bring more programs to the area. We have a really strong base of programs,” Jewett told News 8.
Best Buddies International has a 37-year history of serving individuals with developmental disabilities and those feeling isolated. The organization works in schools, job programs, and community inclusion.
“We want everyone to feel included, but not everyone does,” Jewett said. “And so how do you get to reach those people that don’t feel included, that don’t feel like they have a place in our community? And we help them do that, and that’s been amazing to watch.”
Tuesday, Jewett and her Board of Directors were invited to the Golisano Institute, along with other directors from non-profit organizations in the area. That’s all they were told.
“When you walked in yesterday, you had assigned seating. It was just very different than something I had been to before,” Jewett said.
“Best Buddies Western New York: $1 million,” Tom Golisano said as he donated that $360 million to 82 non-profit organizations. And 26 of those, specialize in intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“The last 36 hours have been kind of whirlwind, because you never expect this to happen. So, you don’t have a plan in place for how that money could be used. You have pipe dreams. And when you work in a field like disability rights, like there’s so many things that we could be doing, and there’s so many families that we could impact, so it just opens up so many more doors than we thought we probably would have had just by fundraising or doing grants in general,” Jewett said.
Jewett said her first thought when she heard the announcement, while being surprised, is hoping to expand Best Buddies reach in the Western New York community.
“It gives us a little bit of freedom. A lot of us are raising money, and this is not just for Best Buddies, but for any organization that is in the area. Fundraising is what we need to do in order to make our lives easier, and our programs work, and that’s a burden when the economy is changing and when just money is tighter for families,” Jewett said. “That’s rare. You don’t have somebody in the community that can do something like that. We all built that relationship with [Golisano], and I think that he values that relationship. And I think it goes back to our community and how we build relationships, and how we build trust within each other, that he knew that those funds that were given yesterday were going to be used properly and used in the right way.”
Jewett told News 8 that $1 million donation will be distributed across four years. For a full list of donation recipients, click here.
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