---

News Release

July 2007

Patti Anne Vassia Honored

HARTFORD—Patti Anne Vassia, founding CEO and President of the Middlesex County Community Foundation, has been named recipient of the 2007 Martha S. Newman Award by the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy.

The Newman Award is presented to someone who serves on the staff of a grantmaking organization and who has demonstrated sustained and exemplary service to the organization and the philanthropic sector in Connecticut.

Before coming to the Community Foundation, Vassia had a long career, first with the Northern Middlesex YMCA, then with Middlesex United Way and had already demonstrated her understanding of the basic and aspirational needs of the community in which she lives.

She was the first CEO and president of the Community Foundation. To get the Foundation up and running, she led fund raising efforts to maximize Liberty Bank and Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust challenge grants, built a board of community leaders and attracted a group of committed volunteers to help get the job done.

In her 10 years with the Foundation, Vassia built a successful Women’s and Girl’s Fund and won national awards for the Foundation’s first-rate publications, which were created with mostly donated services. She also participated at both the state and national levels to bring valuable “lessons learned” home to Middlesex and also to bring to her peers the lessons she has learned in her own work.

“Perhaps more important, she’s never too busy to share her knowledge and experience,” says Nancy Roberts, president of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy, “and no one is immune from Patti’s quest for community involvement.”

Vassia is a Corporator of Middlesex Hospital and Liberty Bank, and is also a Member of NAACP - Middlesex County Chapter Life Member; Girl Scouts Life Member, Middletown Rotary Club, and the Healing Racism Coalition. She has also served on the boards of the National Theatre of the Deaf, YMCA of Connecticut, and United Way of Connecticut, among other organizations.

The Award was established this year by the Council to honor the life and work of Martha S. Newman, who before her death in 2005 served as a staff member for several grantmaking organizations. Her combination of firmness and gentleness, her work ethic, integrity and dedication, and her knowledge of community needs made her an invaluable staff member, mentor and friend. Martha Newman set the standard for an exemplary staff member.

The Connecticut Council for Philanthropy is a nonprofit membership association of grantmakers committed to promoting and supporting effective philanthropy for the public good in Connecticut. The award was presented to Ms Vassia at the Council’s annual meeting May 24 at the AquaTurf.