PRESS RELEASES

Release Date: July 15, 2003
CONTACT: Lenore Neier, CSSNY, 212/614-5425

Community Service Society's Centenarian Volunteer
Still Serving After 12 Years

New York, NY, July 15, 2003 – Fannie Carannante started working at the age of 12 when her mother, who felt it was time for her to go to work, took her out of PS 21. You would think now, at 101 years old, might want to stop serving others and relax in her golden years.

Not Fannie. Since 1967, She has served over 25,000 hours or the equivalent of 12 years of 40-hour workweeks volunteering for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) of the Community Service Society (CSS). Mrs. Carannante likes to refer to herself as a “recycled teenager.” And Mrs. Carannante proves it. She volunteers at her local CYO one day a week assisting with mailings, in the craft room, and taking care of the plants. Mrs. Carannante does everything with a smile. “I enjoy doing what I do. I have a smile for everybody.”

Monica Cunningham, Assistant Director of the CYO Senior Center of Staten Island, said, “ at her age, makes us feel young and gives us something to look forward to. On days when Fannie comes to volunteer at the CYO, she reminds all of us that you are never too old to enjoy life.”

The CYO Senior Center is not the only place that Mrs. Carannante has lent her time. Since 1967, many RSVP sites have benefited from Mrs. Carannante’s service. Some of the sites include: Willowbrook State School/SIDC, Doctor’s Hospital, Bayley Seton Hospital, and Staten Island YMCA.

Alina Molina, RSVP Director of Voluntary Initiatives at the Community Service Society, said, ’s commitment to volunteering started long before joining CSS’s RSVP in 1967. She has a passion and life-long commitment for helping others. She is the perfect RSVP Volunteer. We are lucky to have someone like Mrs. Carannante as a RSVP volunteer.”

Established 37 years ago, Retired & Senior Volunteer Program’s 9,000 volunteers contribute more than two million hours of service annually to 600 organizations in New York City. RSVP is part of the Community Service Society of New York, a nonprofit organization which advocates on behalf of the poor in the areas of education, affordable housing, health care and income maintenance. RSVP receives funding from CSS, the Corporation for National and Community Service, other government agencies, foundations, individuals and the Friends of RSVP, Inc. For more information on CSS’s Retired & Senior Volunteer Program, please call 212-254-8900 or visit the Community Service Society’s website at www.cssny.org.

For over 150 years, CSS has pursued a mission that is aimed at the poor but which benefits all: to identify and eradicate the problems creating and perpetuating poverty in New York City. CSS is an independent, nonprofit organization that assists those in need to defeat the problems of poverty and more fully participate in productive community life.

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