Lions Club Service Award Goes to Ramachandran
The Rye City Lions Club will honor Staci Ramachandran with the James A. and Marian M. Shea Community Service Award on Tuesday, November 15 at Whitby Castle. The Award was established in 2003 to recognize individuals who live or work in the Rye community and has contributed to enhancing the lives of its citizens by volunteering services of an outstanding nature.
All proceeds from the event support the Rye City Lions Club’s mission to help meet the ever-increasing needs of our society, with a special focus on those who are blind or visually impaired.
Ramachandran has been a Rye resident for 19 years, and has shared her talents to support the Rye City Schools, Wainwright House, the Rye YMCA, Family Services of Westchester Junior Board, The Sharing Shelf and many others. Staci has been an active volunteer at Osborn Elementary School where she chaired the Osborn Scare Fair for almost 10 years and served on the Osborn PTO Executive Board. Staci has been the Rye Middle School/Rye High School Social Chair for over 6 years, successfully raising thousands of dollars to support the Rye schools.
Staci is also Vice President of the Wainwright House, where she has been serving since 2018, and is serving her second term on the Rye YMCA Board of Directors. On the Y Board, Staci chairs the Financial Development Committee, helping to raise funds to support the Y’s mission and ensure the Y is diverse, inclusive and open to all.
As friend Carmelita Chavez shared “I admire Staci’s dedication to service and her leadership. When she is chairing an event, she is 100% committed to making it a success. Her attention is always on how do we make it better.” Ramachandran’s friend Ellen Saya remarked that “Staci is a role model of what people should aspire to be. She is always volunteering in some way to so many causes, not just in Rye but throughout the metro area”. And friend and fellow Rye YMCA Board Member Carrie Donahue noted “She is always seeking out ways to jump in and help. Her service is inspirational”.
Staci’s dedication to helping others also includes participating in the Westchester County Pancreatic Cancer Walk Committee with her mother, a 14-year pancreatic cancer survivor, and volunteering for Hailey’s Hope Foundation. Staci, herself, attributes her work ethic to the strong women in her life, her mother Barbara and her maternal grandmother, both of whom have been a source of inspiration throughout her life.
History of the James A. and Marian M. Shea Community Service Award
The award was originally named the James A. Shea Community Service Award of the Rye City Lions Club in honor of James A. Shea, a past Club President and outstanding community citizen who served as President of the Board of Trustees of the Rye Free Reading Room. With unanimous approval of the Rye Lions Club members, the name was changed after the death of Club member Marian Shea, wife of the late James Shea. Marian was a tireless volunteer in the City of Rye and a past recipient of the award. She was known for her work with the Rye Senior Advocacy Group and “SPRYE” (Staying Put in Rye and Its Environs), a group helping seniors to age in place. The award is now known as the James A. and Marian M. Shea Community Service Award.
Tickets
Tickets to the event are $130 per person. If interested in attending, please contact Brian Jackson, Rye City Lions Club President [email protected] by November 7. You may Venmo @RyeCityLions or mail a check, made payable to the Rye City Lions Club, to: Rye City Lions Club, P.O. Box 354, Rye, NY 10580. The Rye City Lions Club is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
