Two Shoreline Residents Received United Way Civic Leadership Award

United Way of Greater New Haven is proud to honor Andy Eder, a Guilford resident and president of Eder Bros., and Charlie Andriole, a Branford resident and Senior and Managing Partner of the Andriole Group of Merrill Lynch.  A celebration in honor of these two distinguishedcommunity leaders took place on Thursday, November 4^th at the Pine Orchard Country Club in Branford where they received the 2010 Alexis de Tocqueville Society Herbert H. Pearce Award.

The society fosters, promotes and recognizes the vital importance of voluntary community service and personal giving at an exceptional level. The annual award is presented to an individual or couple who embodies the American spirit of giving and volunteerism witnessed by Alexis de Tocqueville as he traveled the United States in the 1800’s.  In 2009, United Way of Greater New Haven renamed the award the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Herbert H. Pearce Award to honor Mr. Pearce’s contributions to our community.

            "United Way is grateful for the contributions Andy Eder and Charlie Andriole have made to our community and for the examples they have given us as philanthropists, community leaders and advocates,” said Jack Healy, president and ceo, United Way of Greater New Haven.  “Just by virtue of who they are, they model what it is to be a caring neighbor and involved citizen.”

            Andy Eder was the visionary behind creating Neighbor-to-Neighbor LifeLine – a joint effort of United Way of Greater New Haven and The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven to meet emergency food and housing needs and provide relief funds for people throughout Greater New Haven which raised $1.3 million a community effort to help meet emergency needs in Greater New Haven.  Andy credits his family, particularly his father and uncle, for showing him “the way” and how to get involved in the community.  His children have followed in his footsteps and are involved in the community as well at a young age. “It’s about trying to leave this community a little bit better than we found it for no other reason than for our children’s sake and our grandchildren’s sake,” said Eder. “That’s what it’s really all about.  I get back so much more than I’ve ever given - in both my time, effort, energy and money.” he continued.

            Charlie Andriole, is the Chairman of the Board of Managers for the Soundview Family YMCA.  As the Chairman of their Capital Campaign, Charlie lead the effort to raise over $9 million in funds to ensure the opening of the Soundview Family YMCA’s new state of the art 38,000 square foot facility in June of 2010.  Andriole credits his mother for teaching him “to do the right thing”.  “We are all products of our life experiences. As a young boy, I observed first hand my mother's unbridled passion and commitment to community service. Whenever a need arose, my mom was there, while raising three children, primarily alone,” said Andriole.

            Visit uwgnh.org to learn how you can become a leader in your community or contact Kathleen Norwood Crisafi  (203) 691-4213 or knorwood@uwgnh.org

About United Way:

United Way brings together the caring power of people to create change in our region and to improve lives by focuses on improving the building blocks of a good life -- Education, Income, and Health – and by providing ways that people can give, advocate, and volunteer in their community.  Learn more at www.uwgnh.org.