Family Counseling Center

Honors Three Local Leaders

The Family Counseling Center celebrated its Third Annual Friends of the Family Recognition Award dinner April 28, at Three Oaks at Capellaro’s Grove in Bethel. This year family, friends, and colleagues joined with board members and staff of the center in honoring three service-minded Newtown residents — Donna Ramey, Elaine McClure, and Dr Z. Michael Taweh — who have made a difference in the lives of many in the Newtown community.

Donna Ramey, executive vice president and chief lending officer of the Savings Bank of Danbury, was cited for her many years of service with the United Way of Northern Fairfield County including chairman of its board of directors and as former president of the board of Regional Hospice of Western Connecticut. Presently, she is an advisory board member of the Catholic Family Services Ways to Work Family Loan Program.

“Donna is a great person with a very big heart,” said Harold Wibling, president of Savings Bank of Danbury. “As a banker she has helped thousands of people over the years buy a home, start a business, provide financial advice, and act as a mentor. Her commitment to the community is equally impressive with the United Way, the Regional Hospice, and Danbury Hospital. Donna just doesn’t join; she leads these organizations to bigger and better things giving of her time and talent to improve the lives of many people.”

Dr Z. Michael Taweh was honored by the Family Counseling Center for his inspiring work as founder and director of Kevin’s Community Center, a free clinic in Newtown for the uninsured and underinsured. Dr Taweh, his family, and friends turned a tragedy into positive action when they opened the center following the accidental death of his son, Kevin, for whom the facility is named. There are currently 55 specialists in the greater Danbury area who have joined Dr Taweh in providing care to clients who make more than 400 patients visits a year to Kevin’s Community Center.

As his friend and Kevin’s Community Center board member, attorney Michael Ronan said in his remarks, “Dr Taweh is here tonight because the Family Counseling Center has chosen to honor him. But I guarantee, he did not come here to receive any honor for himself; he is too humble a man to think otherwise. He is here reluctantly for himself but he is here gladly on behalf of Kevin’s Community Center and its volunteers and its patients.”

Elaine McClure, the chairman of the Newtown Board of Education, was singled out for her service on numerous elected and volunteer boards and committees both in Newtown and internationally. She has chaired the Board of Education since 1999. Ms McClure also serves on the board of directors of the Children’s Hope Fund Board, is a past president of the Newtown PTA Council, and was elected to the Newtown Legislative Council for three terms. She has served on the board of directors of the International School of Geneva and continues to serve as a trustee of its Ecolint American Foundation. She is a former member of The Family Counseling Center’s board of directors having served on its Strategic Planning and Finance Committees.

In her remarks honoring Elaine McClure, school board Vice Chairman Lisa Schwartz said, “It may be true that a longtime public servant eventually comes to understand the culture of a town, but one has to also care deeply about its people to arrive at this understanding. Elaine has an innate perspicacity; couple that with a big heart, genuine compassion and tireless optimism, and Newtown has been blessed with an exceptional gift.”

Family Counseling Center President Laura Miller Kurtz spoke of the “common thread” linking the honorees with her own family in securing direct and indirect help with medical and education needs for their foster daughter. “None of our honorees are aware how each of you shaped her life, but your involvement in this community now reaches all the way to a small island in the South Pacific.”

In summing up the evening, Joe Humeston, chairman of the Family Counseling Center’s board of directors, thanked the honorees and guests “for joining us to honor these people who mean so much to all of us. On behalf of the board and staff, thank you for continuing to champion the mission of the Family Counseling Center to help individuals and families to reach their highest potential regardless of their ability to pay.”

All the recipients were presented with the center’s distinctive Friends of the Family engraved pewter bowl and received framed citations from Connecticut Governor M. Jody Rell.