Three Residents To Be Recognized at Annual Rye Y Benefit
(PHOTO: The Rye YMCA at 21 Locust Avenue. Credit: Will McCullough.)
Three local residents will be recognized for their service to the Rye YMCA and the community with Gold Spirit and Community Service Awards at the Y’s annual benefit. The celebration, named Dancing Through the Decades, will be on Friday, February 28 at the Harrison Meadows Country Club.
Two The Gold Spirit Awards
The Gold Spirit Award is the Rye Y’s highest award for its volunteers. Recipients are selected by former Gold Spirit winners for their leadership and service on behalf of the Y. This year’s awardees are Kevin Kavanagh and Jon Elsen.
Kevin Kavanagh
After moving to Rye in 2007, Kavanagh and his wife Amanda made the Rye Y their family place. Kevin trained for triathlons by swimming laps in the pool. His daughters Elizabeth and Claire swam on the WaveRyeders swim team. In 2012, Kevin was elected to the Y’s board of directors. During his six-year tenure, Kavanagh served on the Investment, Centennial, and Y Studios Capital Campaign Committees. He co-chaired the Annual Campaign Committee, raising significant support for the Y Cares Financial Assistance Program.
A graduate of Princeton University and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Kavanagh has spent his career in finance, working for Lehman Brothers and Taconic Capital. This year, he founded and serves as Chief Investment Officer of 7 Main Capital. In his spare time, he co-founded and serves as a trustee for PlaySmart, Inc., a non-profit organization that helps underserved 5th through 8th grade students realize their academic and life potential through sports. He has coached Rye Youth Soccer, volunteered as a trustee for Regis High School and serves on the Investment Committee for Sacred Heart school–all while parenting his four daughters: Julia, 20; Elizabeth, 18; Claire, 17; and Kaitlin, 14 with his wife, Amanda.
“For me, the Rye Y represents the spirit of the Rye community”, Kavanagh said. “Among the many great organizations that serve the area, the Rye Y stands out due to the broad array of programs it offers and the myriad ways it makes a positive impact on people from all walks and stages of life.”
Jon Elsen
A Rye Y member since 2001, Jon Elsen was elected to the Y’s Board of Directors in 2018. Over the next five years, he would provide key leadership during a time of big changes and challenges, including the pandemic, the Hurricane Ida flood, the retirement of longtime Executive Director Gregg Howells, the opening of the Y Studios, and the search for, and subsequent hiring of a new CEO. Elsen served on the CEO Search Committee and the Program and Membership Committee. He chaired the Strategic Plan Committee and served as president from 2022-2023. He stepped down from the board after purchasing, with a partner, The Rye Record and becoming its editor and publisher.
Elsen previously worked as an associate editor at The New York Times, a business editor at The New York Post and as a communications consultant. He lives in Rye with his wife Ellen. Together, they have three children: Maggie, age 24; Ben, 22; and Becca, 19.
“I have been honored to be part of an organization that does so much for so many: the elderly, those battling cancer and other diseases, children and families who need daycare and summer camp, and teens who gain so much from being camp counselors and lifeguards,” said Elsen. “The Rye Y provides these services and opportunities, and significant financial aid to those who need it.”
Community Service Award – to Sam Dimon
Dimon’s volunteer interests, like his career, have been wide-ranging. From 1994-2003, he was the founding board chair of the Washington, DC based International Justice Mission, an anti-trafficking, anti-oppression organization. He founded the affordable housing organization Grove Park Renewal in Atlanta, GA and has served on its board from 2019 through present day. For A House on Beekman, an early childhood education and afterschool program in the Bronx, he served on the board from 2013-2021. He also volunteered as a board member for Sanctuary for Families, a New York City organization that fights domestic violence and human trafficking.
Closer to home, Dimon was an active member of Rye Presbyterian Church for 18 years, serving on the Vestry and on the Mission and Outreach Committee. He is the current board chair of Meals on Main Street in Port Chester, working to eliminate hunger and food insecurity.
“It has always been my privilege to serve,” Dimon told the Rye Y.
After graduating from Harvard College in 1975, Dimon worked at Emmaus House, an Episcopal community center in South Atlanta. By the time he entered the University of Michigan Law School in 1985, Dimon had also worked as a preschool teacher and in construction. He retired as a partner in the law firm Davis Polk in 2012.
Dimon lives in Rye with his wife Cheryl. They have three adult children, Alison, Stephen and Anna.
February 28th Event
The Dancing Through the Decades benefit (ticket information) will celebrate the 70s, 80s and 90s with the versatile, high-energy band ETA Music. The event, which will be held at Harrison Meadows Country Club, will also feature a live auction. All proceeds will support the Y Cares Financial Assistance Program, which provides membership, child care, summer camp and program scholarships for those facing economic hardship.
