Bronx RAC'S "Wall of Flame"

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: KARIEF, WILLIAM, and JOHANN

Aaron Rents, Binghamton, NY

Store manager Tim Gierszewski and fellow employees selling torch icons at Aaron Rents store F479 in Binghamton.

Genesee Region heats up NYSRDA icon sales

Rent-A-Center associate Robert Greene (left), Special Olympics Athlete and Global Messenger Erin O’Conner (2nd from right), and local buyers of Special Olympics “torch icons” at a fundraising event outside Walmarts on Mountain View Road in Geneseo.

Rent-a-Center, Newburgh, NY

Here’s a photo from my NYSRDA store visits last Friday! Our Athlete, Ricky Miller (3^rd from right in photo), joined me during the visits. The employees in all the stores I visited just loved meeting Ricky (brought smiles to the employees faces) and they all thanked me for taking the time to visit.

Out of all the stores, the one in Newsburgh was the store that was doing the best. Manager Rob Tajildeen (5^TH from right in photo), was very enthusiastic and has been selling icons for days. He said that he would do everything in his nature to continue selling these icons (and his employees all concurred). Ricky's presence, I think, showed all employees why they are selling the icons and gave them the motivation to continue selling them. They just loved him.

It really was a rewarding experience for me, Ricky and the RAC employees. The cookies we gave them were a big hit also (Ricky loved to give these to them and the employees loved it and thanked him for it). On the top of the cookies I put a label that said "Thank you from Special Olympics NY" with logo so that anyone who ate a cookie would know we appreciate all their efforts.

Teresa Gilli
Special Olympics NY - Hudson Valley Region