Opportunities for Otsego Names 2013 Award Recipients

SUNY Oneonta has been selected to receive Opportunities for Otsego’s esteemed Community Partnership Award for its longstanding and abiding commitment to the poor and disenfranchised families and individuals served by OFO.

The 2013 Youth Award recipient is Katherine Booan, a senior at Cooperstown High School. Most notably, Booan initiated a backpack food program to fight hunger in the Cooperstown School District, in which she independently collaborated with the local food bank, the national backpack program, and school officials so children do not go hungry over the weekends.

The 2013 recipient of the Personal Achievement Award is Poletta Louis, a financial aid counselor at the Utica School of Commerce and a youth coordinator at the Assembly of God Church in Oneonta. Arriving in Oneonta as a teenager from the Virgin Islands, Ms. Louis effectively utilized the small amount of assistance which she received to enable her and her family, to give back to her community and country.

Awards will be presented at Opportunities for Otsego annual fundraising banquet on Saturday, April 27 at The Foothills Performing Arts Center in Oneonta.