The annual Operation Sunshine Holiday Campaign hit its fundraising goal of $65,000 thanks to a big final push from Bill Keeler and his Keeler in the Morning radio show on WIBX 950 AM in Utica.
“This has been such an unprecedented year and to see it end the way it did today is very apropos,” Keeler said shortly after his show Wednesday. “Everyone has so much to worry about right now. I was really surprised how this thing just blew up today. A lot of people all really came together for this.”
Keller admitted he was initially afraid that morning’s show wouldn’t even happen, as he was home in isolation broadcasting from his basement studio while recovering from COVID.
Facing a Christmas that will now be a brighter one thanks to the loving outreach of Operation Sunshine and the Salvation Army of Rome, single mom Joya said she feels the world would be a much better place if everyone felt the same love for others.
“If we all loved our neighbors like they do, it would get rid of all of the hate,” she said, her rosy outlook living up to her name. “It’s the holidays so let’s all smile a little bit more.”
Joya said she has been helped by her local Salvation Army of Rome an Operation Sunshine agency partner to provide a happy holiday for her two fourth-grade sons Jordan and Kaleb. They are “Irish twins,” she quipped … brothers who were born within a year of each other.
Hunger Coalition aids Operation Sunshine, local food pantries
Times Telegram
Times Telegram
The Herkimer County Hunger Coalition has been working to make sure local families have food on their tables, clothing for children and presents under their Christmas tree.
The Hunger Coalition is donating $2,000 to Operation Sunshine (Herkimer County) in honor of Kathy Orts at Herkimer Elementary School. For years, Orts has coordinated a program with Operation Sunshine, guaranteeing deserving students a meaningful Christmas.
“We’re grateful to our many and generous donors for providing the capital enabling us to support this most worthy cause,” said coalition founder Ray Lenarcic. He said the coalition has also made $1,000 donations to the Food Bank of Central New York accounts of food pantries in Richfield Springs, West Winfield and Old Forge. Similar donations were made earlier to the accounts of food pantries in Little Falls, Kuyahoora Valley, Frankfort-Ilion, Herkimer, Dolgevil
The Connected Community Elves are making the holiday season a bit brighter for some Rome area children, thanks to a partnership between Operation Sunshine and Connected Community Schools in Rome.
Connected Community Schools is dedicated to uniting a child’s most important influences of school, family and community to nurture them into productive citizens. Their model is spearheaded by Community Alliance, formerly known as Rome Alliance for Education, which is one of the many agencies involved in Operation Sunshine to deliver holiday gifts to needy families throughout the area.
When families register through the online form, they are assigned to organizations based on their location. Operations manager Miranda Majewicz explained Connected Community Schools comes in at the end of registration, picking families as well as taking on those many families who miss the deadline. They then assist the gift giving outreach right up until Christmas Eve.
Bill Keeler
Bill Keeler is a radio talk show host and television producer in Utica, NY. He began his radio career during his junior year in high school in 1981, as a disc jockey and play-by-play announcer for the Little Falls Mets radio broadcasts, a now dissolved Single A farm team of the New York Mets franchise. From 1989 until 2012, his controversial brand of ‘shock jock’ radio entertained audiences in Utica, Syracuse, Albany and Providence, Rhode Island with FM Talk. Since 2002, he has produced and appeared in several television programs including the stunt driven program, “The Keeler Show,” and a cooking program called, “Plate Night.” In 2009, he launched an online newspaper in the Utica area, Utica Daily News, which operated until 2012. In 2013, he made the transition into News/Talk radio as the morning show host on WIBX 950 AM in Utica, which is also simulcast each morning over WFXV Fox 33 TV. Keeler also owns a television production company, which produces sev