Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
BRINGING CHANGE
Funds raised will help the Crime Victims’ Center services
UWCHLAN >> Partnering to support various causes, several organizations worked together to “bring change.”
TD Bank recently hosted a community event supporting The Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County (CVC), an organization providing free and confidential services to local crime victims and their families. TD Bank branches asked the community and customers for help raising funds in an effort to “Bring Change.” The $2,500 funds raised go directly to helping CVC continue their efforts to assist the community.
“We enjoy giving back to the community for a good cause,” TD Bank Lionville Store Manager Rainna Bajorek said.
The event also supported efforts by AVOID (Advocates for Victims of Impaired Driving).
Maggie Hannagan asked TD Bank employees if they could assist with a fundraising event to raise awareness of the impacts of drinking and driving impaired. Maggie and her husband Paul support AVOID.
Paul and Maggie Hannagan traveled to their Uwchlan home on Feb. 14, 2015 with their two children and two relatives when they were hit by a 25-year-old man of Delaware County, who has since been convicted as a drunken driver. Charlotte, 16, and Miles, 19, died instantly in the crash.
A photo of the Hannagan siblings was displayed at the bank event.
Maggie Hannagan thanked
“We were able to share surprising facts related to DUI in Pennsylvania and our customers were interested in the CVC cause.” — TD Bank Lionville Store Manager Rainna Bajorek
the representatives from each organization for their time, efforts and generosity to work toward the causes. She also thanked the TD Bank customers who donated money toward their causes.
Bajorek said the main goal of TD Bank’s “Bring Change” mission is to raise money to spread awareness of DUI prevention.
“We were able to share surprising facts related to
DUI in Pennsylvania and our customers were interested in the CVC cause,” Bajorek said.
Peggy Gusz, CVC executive director, said it was a nice event with the opportunity to educate the public. She said there were displays at the bank with shoes that indicated how many people were killed by drunken drivers in various areas. The CVC hosts DUI victim impact speeches to DUI offenders, a time where the family describes their loss in an effort to prevent the offenders from becoming repeat offenders.
Katie Holton works with the CVC and AVOID. She said CVC partners with AVOID in a few capacities by helping to raise awareness through the local victim perspective.
“We assist with presenting the Impaired Driving Curriculum to high school students along with local law enforcement,” Holton said.
They assist with coordinating the Positive Prom Message which is written by students, host awareness prevention campaigns such as the Shoe Drive, the West Chester Halloween parade
and window displays in community sites.
“The CVC focus is to bring awareness to the impact that impaired driving has on victims, their families and the communities that we serve in Chester County,” Holton said.
She noted that AVOID recently placed a dinner scene display addressing the consequences of impaired driving during the holidays. The window display is in the office of state Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-19, of West Whiteland, at 1 N. Church St. in West Chester.
2016 STEM Academy graduate Fantasia Whaley created the slogan, “There won’t be a superhero to save you from a crash.” She was among the three Downingtown Area School District students who won the positive prom message contest. Her slogan was displayed at Dinniman’s office and on posters at the Halloween parade with signs that state “be your own hero.” Whaley was friends with Charlotte Hannagan.
Maggie and Paul Hannagan also work with PA Parents Against Impaired Drivers (PA PAID). The group supported Senate Bill 290, which was passed into law in May, requires ignition interlocks for at least a year for first-time offenders convicted of driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.10 percent or greater. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill into law around the time that Miles would have turned 21.