Compeer Volunteers make a difference in communities all over Erie County! Read their stories below...
The Szczesny Family: Read their story in the West Seneca Bee Lifestyle Article
Andy Hvisdak: Read his story in Block Club Magazine and the Orchard Park Bee Lifestyle Article
Jessica Hall: Read her story in the Ken-Ton Bee Lifestyle Article
Miracle of Friendship Fundraiser 2008 date and speaker announced!
Compeer's 2008 Miracle of Friendship Fundraiser took place Friday, October 10, 2008 at the Buffalo Convention Center and featured keynote speaker and NHL Legend, Scotty Bowman.
Compeer of Greater Buffalo launches its new website in March 2008!
Thanks for visiting! Come back again soon for more updates.
Dan Lukasik, Compeer Board Member and Volunteer, is a lawyer with depression making a difference...
Friends of Compeer make the difference in our community every day! Read Dan's story by clicking here.
Miracle of Friendship Fundraiser 2007 keynoted by Buffalo Sabres goalie, Ryan Miller
An all-star lineup supports Compeer of Greater Buffalo at our 2007 annual "Miracle of Friendship" fundraiser. "Compeer has a very unique outlook on mental health, and I think we have a unique outlook (referring to his organization, The Steadfast Foundation)...so it makes sense that these two groups work together," Compeer's "goal is very similar in that they're trying to bring support to people who don't have role models, people that need to have somebody help them through in their lives, " said Ryan Miller. (courtesy of Buffalo News; published 10/17/2007)
Compeer's Senior Program Director Receives Humanitarian of the Year Award
The WNY Network in Aging honored Sarah Stimm, Director of Senior Services as the 2006 Humanitarian of the Year.
Collaborating to help children's mental health
(Megan Laney's Compeer friend, Joelle, is so proud of her accomplishments.)
By JAY TOKASZ
News Staff Reporter
5/9/2006
Megan Laney plans to study psychology at New York University after graduating from the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. Not long ago, however, the 16-year-old junior was just trying to get healthy enough to leave the hospital.
Megan suffers from bipolar disorder, a mental illness that destroyed her confidence. But a new collaborative model in Erie County for assisting children with mental illnesses has directed Megan toward a brighter and more stable future.
"Without all these supports, I don't think I would have made it this far or been out of the hospital this long," she said.
Area mental health care providers, government officials and Family Court justices gathered Monday morning to celebrate success stories like Megan's as part of the first "National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day."
About 75 people participated in the event inside the Emerson School of Hospitality on Chippewa Street. "We want to shine a light on the issues of children's mental health. It affects just about every family," said Marie Morlius-Black, project director of the Family Voices Network of Erie County.
The network was created in 2004 to promote self-sufficiency among children with serious emotional disturbances and their families. The network employs a "wraparound" approach that reduces the need for residential treatment and uses a "care coordinator" who involves families in the planning of treatment and helps families become better connected with their communities.
e-mail: jtokasz@buffnews.com
Olympic hockey player Jim Craig rallies crowd at Compeer fund-raiser
By ANTHONY CARDINALE
News Staff Reporter
10/18/2005
Hockey legend Jim Craig stepped down from the podium at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo on Monday evening and mingled with the crowd of 550 as he relived the greatest game of his career. Craig was the goaltender for the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team^s "Miracle on Ice" at Lake Placid, where the Americans upset the heavily favored Soviet team and went on to win the gold medal by defeating Finland. The keynote speaker at Compeer's annual fund-raising dinner relived the game through his experience with "Miracle," the 2004 Walt Disney movie starring Kurt Russell as coach Herb Brooks and Eddie Cahill - "with a full head of hair" - as the goaltender. "I was a consultant to Walt Disney," Craig said. "I flew down to Vancouver where they were filming. I go up to Eddie Cahill - and he's nervous. I asked him why. He said: "Most of the time we play guys in the movies, they're dead. " Wading deeper among the tables, Craig told what happened when he attended the movie with his wife and teenage son and daughter. After assuring himself that the film recorded all 39 of his goalie saves against the Soviets, Craig got back into the car to drive his family home. From the back seat came this comment from his daughter's friend: "Mr. Craig, the guy who played you in the movie? He was really hot!" A few days later, at a hockey rink in Boston, Craig ran into a hockey dad "who was actually alive when it happened." When the man's son came off the ice, he was given an opportunity to meet the great Jim Craig, whom he has seen in "Miracle." "There he is," said the father. "There he is." "No it isn't," the boy replied. Now Craig turned his attention to the young members of the Buffalo Shamrocks hockey team. "I wanted nothing more than to win a hockey scholarship," he said. "But when I was 17, I was only 5-foot-3 and weighed 135 pounds. No one thought I was good enough to be an athlete. But in one summer I grew 7 inches. So Boston University gave me a full scholarship." Then Craig began challenging the adults in the dining room. Compeer's executive director, Michele Brown, had just described the agency's 20 years of matching volunteer mentors with children, adults and seniors striving for good mental health. During his senior year in 1979, Craig recalled, he toured Europe as the backup goalie on Herb Brooks' rag-tag team of hockey greenhorns. After losing the first two games, Brooks turned to Craig. "I had to play the Czechs," Craig recalled. "We were going to get killed. But I had gone over as a passenger, and when we'd lost it wasn't my fault. Now I had to be a player." The Americans tied the Czechs, 2-2, and Craig had 60 saves. "How many passengers are here tonight?" Craig demanded. "How many of you are here because it's a good thing to do, or there's a business reason to be here? Do you want to play or do you want to be a passenger? "Get out of your passenger seat," he urged them. "Do something special for some kids or for some elderly folks."
Former Buffalo Sabre Pat LaFontaine was presented the Spirit of Compeer Award for his charity work.
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