Coalition gets the lead out

By Daily Record Staff
Posted: 5:31 pm Wed, September 22, 2010

The Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning was honored Wednesday for its work to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in Monroe County over the past 10 years.

At a special awards luncheon, the Rochester Area Community Foundation presented the coalition with its Ames-Amzalak Award for Nonprofit Excellence.

“We could not be more pleased and honored,” Program Manager Elizabeth McDade said. “It was really something we were not expecting. … The work that the Community Foundation does is of paramount importance within our area and we are honored to be a part of what they do.”

McDade said the rates of children reported with elevated lead levels has decreased through the last 10 years by 84 percent, which she called a testament to the collaborative efforts of the coalition and its community partners, including several community groups, government agencies, housing organizations, schools, health care providers and regional researchers.

McDade said that of 13,697 children tested in 2000, 1,293 showed elevated lead blood levels; in 2009, 283 of 13,778 children showed elevated lead levels.

“It does not mean our work is done,” she said. “We are not getting all of the children tested. We have not identified all of the homes that are potential lead hazards.”

According to its website (http://leadsafeby2010.org), 300 children were poisoned with lead last year in Monroe County, which also maintains statistics (www.monroecounty.gov) and offers information on how to prevent lead poisoning, which damages children’s brains and bones for life.

The Ames Amzalak Memorial Trust was established by brothers Henry Ames, Dan Amzalak, and Semon Amzalak, who ran clothing and real estate businesses in Rochester, to improve the quality of life in the Greater Rochester area.

Close to 500 people turned out for Wednesday’s 2010 Philanthropy Awards and Annual Report to the Community luncheon at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center, where T.C. Lewis of Perinton also received the foundation’s highest honor — the Joe U. Posner Founders Award.

Lewis, a retired banker, was recognized for his ties to with the Community Foundation, which include service as treasurer and later as a member of the board of directors.

Philanthropy award recipients included:

• Mark and Kathy Cleary, of Rochester. She is a former foundation board member who now serves on the boards of Writers & Books, the Memorial Art Gallery and Building Minds of the Sudan. Mark, who owns City Blue Imaging, is vice president of The Little Theatre Film Society and a member of the St. Anne’s Foundation board and the East Avenue Business Association.
• Mark and Bobbie Hargrave, of Pittsford, for championing the rights of the hard of hearing and especially installation of audio loop, FM and infrared technologies at several entertainment venues throughout the area. She has served on the boards of Hillside Family of Agencies, The Friendly Home, Linden Knolls, Hearing Loss Association of America’s Rochester chapter and the Womens’ Councils of Rochester Institute of Technology and the Rochester Museum & Science Center. He helped to form Self Help for the Hard of Hearing, now called HLAA, and served on the boards of the Rochester Hearing and Speech Center and the Boy Scouts.
• Nannette Nocon, of Rochester, an Ameriprise financial planner, for involvement in many arts- and education-related organizations. A former Community Foundation board member, she now serves on the board of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and previously served on the boards of Geva Theatre Center and The Little.