SURE: Celebrating 32 Successful Years
The Beginnings
SURE had its beginnings in 1989 as one of President George H. W. Bush’s Thousand Points of Light Program. The idea of a retiree volunteer organization came from a retiree group formed in Minneapolis supported by the 3M Company. With their help and with the strong endorsement of Westinghouse executives George Dorman and John Marous, a kickoff luncheon meeting to establish a similar organization for Westinghouse retirees was held on July 19, 1989. At a second meeting, the mission statement was established: “To identify, focus and mobilize the expertise and interests of Westinghouse Retirees for their personal fulfillment in volunteer services for the benefit of the community.” In recent years, our mission has evolved and expanded to include an increased focus on offering services that also benefit our SURE members.
You Can Be SURE
In 1991, the name of the organization was changed to Westinghouse SURE (Service Uniting Retired Employees). From its earliest days, SURE actively searched for volunteer programs its members would be comfortable coordinating. Agnes Sink selected a program to provide volunteers at the VA Hospital – it then blossomed into a Hospital Volunteers Program serving many hospitals. As SURE grew, other projects were added, and that number has become an everchanging fountain of good works for those in need within our communities.
In addition to promoting volunteerism, SURE recognized it could benefit the membership by providing information on topics of vital interest. This started in October 1991 with a program on health insurance, followed the next year with programs on pre-Medicare and post-Medicare insurance programs which were held at the Westinghouse Recreation Center in Forest Hills. An additional program to bring SURE members together has been “Trips and Tours”, varying from one-day local tours to multi-day out-of-town trips.
SURE's first annual meeting was held on June 1992. Until 1998, SURE received an annual stipend from the Westinghouse Electric Corporation to support its operations. When that ended, SURE began asking members for a small annual dues payment, and the membership overwhelmingly responded. Westinghouse, and later CBS, provided SURE with free office and meeting space up until 2012.
SURE's continuing success has been enhanced by the outstanding contributions of many ex-Westinghouse retirees. Listed below are past SURE Presidents. These are the people have helped to expand SURE and increase its scope, but credit must also go to those who have accepted the responsibility of other offices, served on the Board of Directors, served as a Project Coordinator and member of the Advisory Council, or who have contributed their volunteer time to one or more of the volunteer projects.
SURE’s Past Chairmen/Presidents
1989 -1992 Bob Lawrence
1992 -1995 Bob Crouse
1995 -1997 Tom Dunn
1997 -2000 Maury Fey
2000 -2003 Parvin Lippincott
2003 -2006 Maury Fey
2006 -2009 Howard Finney
2009 -2010 John Senko
2010 -2016 Maury Fey
2016 Ed Kilpela
2016 – 2020 Lucio Facchini
2020 – present Ron Weisser
In 1996, SURE instituted awards and recognition of our outstanding volunteers. The first series of awards were the Spotlight Awards. These awards recognize outstanding volunteers and help to publicize the projects that they work on. A second series of annual awards was instituted to recognize outstanding volunteer service to be presented at the SURE annual meeting. These awards include the Charlie Ruch Lifetime Achievement Award, the Bob Lawrence Special Service Award, the Maury Fey President's Award, the Couple of the Year Award, and the Recruiter of the Year Award. The Charlie Ruch Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes service to SURE or volunteering over a long period of time. This award was initiated in 1999 and awarded posthumously to Charlie Ruch, the longtime and much beloved Westinghouse Historian. Award recipients of this award are listed (right).
The Bob Lawrence Special Service Award, named for SURE’s founding President, and the Maury Fey President's Award, named for a longtime SURE president, are intended to recognize outstanding service to the SURE organization. The Couple of the Year Award recognizes couples who work together to volunteer. The Recruiter of the Year Award recognizes project coordinators or others who put forth effort to recruit new volunteers or to recruit new SURE members. At the annual meeting recognition is also given to SURE members who have more than 500 volunteer hours during the past calendar year.
SURE members have also received awards from the organizations where they volunteer and some have been recognized by the local community. Twelve of our members have received the Jefferson Award (see below). The SURE Organization was also recognized in 2002 as a finalist for the state-wide Silver and Gold Award. SURE was honored for “Innovation in Serving Pennsylvanians.”
Jefferson Award Winners – The Jefferson Award is the nation’s highest award for Volunteering. It honors the achievements and contributions of everyday people who are inspired to help their less fortunate neighbors either directly or by working in volunteer organizations dedicated to various facets of community service. Since 1972, this national award has been honoring those Americans who have demonstrated outstanding volunteer services. And every year, 25 individuals from Western Pennsylvania are selected in each category to be the recipient of this coveted Award. Since 1999, twelve (12) Westinghouse SURE members have been selected by the American Institute for Public Service to receive this coveted award. The SURE members who have received this honor have spent countless hours over many years serving others during their retirement years and have received their Jefferson Awards for decades of volunteer activity. Awardees are honored at an elegant reception and are presented bronze Jefferson Award medallions recognizing their remarkable volunteer service to those less fortunate within their communities. The following list includes the names and a summary of the volunteer work of the twelve (12) SURE members who have achieved this distinction. Their tremendous accomplishments coupled with this national recognition sets SURE apart from similar volunteer organizations in Western Pennsylvania, and perhaps the nation as a whole.
Westinghouse SURE’s Jefferson Award Winners and their outstanding activities are as follows:
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Mary Bach |
1999 |
Statewide Consumer Advocacy |
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Fred Kraft |
2004 |
Court Appointed Special Advocate for afflicted children |
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George Muhlberg |
2006 |
Service Corps of Retired Executives |
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John Komar |
2007 |
Lifelong Service to the Boy Scouts of America |
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John Senko |
2007 |
Computer Education for Seniors in Latrobe |
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John Mellor |
2009 |
Service to numerous Plum Service Organizations |
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Fritz Ottenheimer |
2011 |
PACE School for Troubled Children in Churchill |
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Agnes Sink |
2012 |
Organization of SURE’s multitude of Hospital Volunteers |
|
Harry McCracken |
2013 |
Lifelong Fire and Rescue Service in Westmoreland County |
|
Maury Fey |
2013 |
Long term Westinghouse SURE Leadership |
|
Frank Kravitz |
2013 |
American Ex-Prisoners of War Advocacy |
|
Stuart Simpson |
2016 |
Service to Homeless Veterans and Ministry in Prisons |
In 2018, the Jefferson Awards Foundation announced the inaugural Kate Dewey Award for Lifetime Achievement in Public Service. SURE member Renny Clark was honored as a finalist in the new category.