News

We received a surprise, one-time gift of $20,000 from the General Mills Foundation in honor of General Mills’ 150th Anniversary. The company invited employees worldwide to nominate nonprofits in their local communities for the one-time gift. BBBSEC’s relationship with General Mills has grown over the last several years to include both support from the company’s foundation for BBBSEC’s Site Based Mentoring Program and increased employee engagement. Throughout the year, employees from General Mills have volunteered time with BBBSEC’s Site Based Mentoring Program and Future Littles Waiting List Program to provide fun, hands on activities related to healthy living and engineering. A BIG thanks General Mills for all of the ways they support us!!!

What an incredible night celebrating six outstanding Women Who Move the City and raising funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County’s mentoring programs!  Congrats to our honorees: Liz Callahan, Shannon Sommer, Maggie Shea, Susan O’Sullivan, Carmaletta Zandi and Sister Mary Augusta Kaiser!  Thank you to our emcee, Janet Snyder of Kiss 98.5 and to our awards presenters, WWMTC event co-chairs and representatives from event Diamond Sponsors, Phillips Lytle and Ingram Micro.  We hope our honorees will proudly display their unique Women Who Move the City awards that were designed and created locally by our generous sponsor, Steel Crazy Iron Art. A BIG thank you to all of our Event Sponsors– we could not provide such a great event without your generous support!  Our…

BBBS of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 & Janet Snyder are excited to celebrate Sister Mary Augusta Kaiser as today’s Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Sister Mary Augusta Kaiser founded the Teaching and Restoring Youth (TRY) Program, a home for homeless young women ages 16 to 21. These young women have suffered victimization, violence and are at risk for prostitution. TRY provides case management, counseling, health and wellness programs and classes in independent living skills. Each client is provided an individual bedroom and help from staff to return to school or to work on obtaining a GED. Since 1997, over 290 young women have been served and have begun to heal from the scars of abuse they have suffered. As shared in the nomination for Sister Mary…

BBBS of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 & Janet Snyder are excited to celebrate Carmaletta Zandi as today’s Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Carmaletta has dedicated over fourteen years to the community as the Founder of the Morlock Foundation, Inc. The foundation’s mission is to improve quality of life, specifically focusing on those suffering from traumatic experiences. Services provided by the office located in Buffalo include a food pantry, work with foster children who have aged out of the system, support for foster parents and lastly, Save the Family, a program that offers support to families that suffer from the traumas that come with disease or disability. The foundation, which was started with Carmaletta’s funds, is a completely volunteer and donation-based organization. While she is in…

BBBS of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 & Janet Snyder are excited to celebrate Susan O’Sullivan as today’s Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Susan’s kindness, selflessness and philanthropic nature have inspired the entire Ingram Micro community, as well as Erie County as a whole. The Vice President for the Cisco Business Unit at Ingram Micro and the Ingram Micro Buffalo Campus Champion, Susan encouraged a volunteer program where employees can become involved in countless community organizations including Mikey’s Way at Roswell Park, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County and Summit Educational Resources. Susan is the type of person who will raise her hand first to volunteer for a new initiative, welcomes new charities with the utmost enthusiasm and overall, works to…

BBBS of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 & Janet Snyder are excited to celebrate Maggie Shea as today’s Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Maggie is an integral part of the Buffalo community and volunteers her free time to causes close to her heart. She serves on the Amherst Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Business Leaders (EBL) Board of Directors, as Technology Chair for the Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance Board of Directors, and as Treasurer for both the Parkside Community Association and Buffalo Niagara Human Resources Association Board of Directors. Maggie is also an Ambassador for Child & Family Services, member of the WNY HR Young Professionals and serves on the Saturn Club Membership Committee. Maggie graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 & Janet Snyder are excited to celebrate Shannon Sommer as today’s Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Shannon demonstrates a strong passion for helping others, especially children. Shannon is a volunteer Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County (BBBSEC). Shannon has been matched with her Little Sister, Christina, since May of 2014. She spends a lot of time with her Little Sister doing fun new activities, while providing support and general guidance on life. They enjoy cooking, swimming and doing crafts. Shannon also is instilling in Christina the importance of giving back. This past summer they participated in “Walk Off Hunger” to benefit the Food Bank of WNY. Shannon loves being…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 are excited to celebrate Liz Callahan as our first 2016 Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Liz currently serves on the Board of Directors for Journey’s End Refugee Services and WNY STEM Hub. She is on the communications committee for the WNY Women’s Foundation and the event committee for the South Buffalo Community Table’s annual fundraiser and for Startup Grind. Liz also volunteers as a teacher for Junior Achievement of WNY. Previously, Liz was the chair of B Team Buffalo and also served as sponsorship coordinator for TEDx Buffalo from 2012-2015. She was awarded the 2014-2015 Brenda McDuffie Award of Excellence for the Buffalo Urban League Young Professionals and the 2014/2015 Rising Stars award from the…

We are excited to share that after carefully reviewing 65 nominations, our Women Who Move the City Committee has selected the 2016 Honorees. Congratulations to Elizabeth Callahan, Sister Mary Augusta Kaiser, Susan O’Sullivan, Maggie Shea, Shannon Sommer and Carmaletta Zandi. Beginning March 9th, through April 13th, each Wednesday will be Women Who Move the City Wednesday. Listen to our Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5  to hear  Janet Snyder’s weekly spots celebrating one of our honorees.  Our website and our Facebook page will share a bio & photo of that week’s honoree so that you can learn more about the fantastic things they are doing in our community. You can Join the Celebration!  Women Who Move the City will take place on Wednesday, April 20th from 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm at Buffalo RiverWorks.  Attendees will…

We are excited to announce that the video submitted by Big Sister, Emily Felmet, that was a finalist in First Niagara’s 2016 Mentoring Matters Grant Giveaway Contest. won the top prize of  $10,000! Thank you to all who voted and shared the contest with friends, family and colleagues through Facebook and to First Niagara for this wonderful opportunity.  A BIG thank you to Big Sister Emily & Little Sister Quinn who shared their 5+ year friendship with the community to make this all possible. To view the final results click here.  To view the video, created by Odessa Pictures, click here.