Picente To Kick off 2014 Oneida County Children Care Initiative

2013 Utilized 833 Youth Volunteers and 3700 Hours of Service.

Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. today announced that in 2013, 833 Oneida County youth gave back an incredible 3,070 volunteer hours to the community through the Oneida County Children Care Initiative, an Oneida County Youth Bureau initiative that began in 2009.

“As Oneida County supports our youth through programs and activities at some of our grassroots agencies, we want the young people of our community to know that it is just as important to give back to the community as it is to do anything else,” Picente said. “The Oneida County Children Care Initiative helps youth understand the benefits of community and volunteer service so that as they mature, they strengthen their community roots and their commitment to service.”

Oneida County Youth Bureau Director Bob Roth said youth volunteers from The Boys and Girls Club of the Mohawk Valley, The Center for Family Life and Recovery, Cornell Cooperative Extension, The Neighborhood Center, Thea Bowman House, Upstate Cerebral Palsy, Utica Safe Schools/Underground Café and the YMCA of the Greater Tri-Valley performed community service that included assisting in a bicycle giveaway for Utica children, making Christmas cards to send to veterans and service members, soliciting donations, collecting money and walking in Utica’s version of America’s Greatest Heart Run and Walk, the Walk to end Alzheimer’s and Rome’s Relay for Life, cleaning senior citizen’s yards, preparing food and serving meals at local food pantries, folding and stuffing envelopes at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other community activities.

“The Oneida County Children Care Initiative began in 2009 with the goal of teaching our children the benefits of being involved, community conscious citizens,” Youth Bureau Director Bob Roth said. Roth added, “This initiative is testimony to the hard work our youth serving agencies do on a daily basis and to the youth of Oneida County, who really do care!”