The Rye YMCA has announced the winners of its 2024 Gold Spirit and Community Service Awards. The awards will be presented at the organization’s Dancing Through the Decades Benefit this Friday, March 1, 2024.
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 Caroline Scully and Lew Nash. The Community Service Award will be presented to Callie Erickson.
Gold Spirit Award: Caroline Scully
A graduate of Wellesley College and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, Scully’s career spanned the finance, marketing and telecommunications industries before she retired to raise her four children in Rye. Her volunteer experience includes The Junior League, The Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs, Chair of the fundraising committee for the Alabama Ballet, The Twig, various roles in Rye public school parent organizations and the Rye Free Reading Room Auxiliary Board. As a member of the Rye YMCA Board of Directors from 2015-2022, Scully was a member of the Finance, Executive, and Financial Development Committee and served as treasurer for three years. She chaired the Growing Stronger Together Capital Campaign, which raised over $1.5M for the Studios at the Rye YMCA. Scully currently serves as the co-president of the Rye High School Parent Organization and is a member of Impact 100 Westchester.
Gold Spirit Award: Lew Nash
Lew Nash joined the Rye Y soon after moving to Rye in 1999. In 2016, he was elected to the Y’s Board of Directors, where he made his mark as board vice president, and on committees focused on auditing and finance, board development and strategic planning. Lew also served on the search committee that hired Sabrina Murphy, the Rye Y’s first ever female CEO. During his six-year tenure, the Rye Y faced challenges from the pandemic and a major flood. However, during that time, Nash and his board colleagues were able to open the Y Studios; expand programming, including child care; and lay the groundwork for a more sustainable facility. Nash has also served on the board of the Port Chester Carver Center.
Community Service Award: Callie Erickson
The Community Service Award will be presented to Callie Erickson, whose involvement in several local organizations has made a significant impact on the lives of others. A member of the Rye City Board of Education since 2018, Erickson has also used her background in economics, business and finance as the treasurer of the Rye Free Reading Room Auxiliary Committee, Osborn Elementary School Executive Board, and the Rye Middle School Squash Club. From 2013-2017, she was the Board Chair for Rye Presbyterian Nursery School Auxiliary. She has served as the secretary of the Rye City Finance Committee and has coached Rye Youth Soccer since 2015. Erickson lives in Rye with her husband Stuart and three children.
“My most rewarding volunteer experience was with the Rye Presbyterian Nursery School,” said Erickson. “During my tenure, I initiated the formation of the New Families Welcoming Committee and oversaw the hiring and integration of the current co-directors. This experience helped me further develop my leadership skills and made me realize how much I enjoy the field of education and supporting our kids and our community.”
The Dancing Through the Decades Benefit will celebrate the 70s, 80s and 90s with the versatile, high-energy band ETA Music and will also feature a live auction. The event, which will be held at Harrison Meadows Country Club, raises funds for the Rye Y’s Y Cares Financial Assistance Program, ensuring the Y remains inclusive, diverse and open to all. Support will send kids to camp, provide working parents with affordable child care, subsidize senior memberships, support cancer survivors and more. There is still time to purchase your tickets.
