Thomas Diana: A Life Committed to Helping Others
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 12, 2014 -- Thomas Diana has been active in charity organizations for his entire adult life and sees no good reason to slow down now, even though he’s 80 years old.
Mr. Diana’s charity involvement began early in his career with the New York City Transit Authority, where he worked as an architect/engineer from 1955 to 1991. Mr. Diana founded and was the chairman of the NYC Transit Authority’s first Employees’ Charity Fund, which distributed employee donations among designated charitable organizations. “Back then, union reps were asked to solicit funds from employees, but nobody knew where the money was going,” recalls Diana. “So we started allowing employees to make payroll deductions to charities that we had evaluated, giving them the choice of donating to one specific charity or a number of organizations. We used to hold a ceremony once a year to present the charities with their check. One time, we had Guy Lombardo leading the Salvation Army band at the War Memorial. It was quite a show.”
In 1960, Mr. Diana’s brother Raymond was born with cerebral palsy, which is what initially led to his role with the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) charity, now known as Queens Centers for Progress (QCP). “Because of my brother Ray, my father got involved with UCP early on in its existence, but he didn’t drive,” says Diana. “So when I would take my father to the meetings, they’d ask me to sit in. I learned a lot listening to what was discussed and watching how the ‘big wigs’ operated. As time went on, I became more involved in all the wonderful work the charity was doing, especially as they expanded to serve people with a wider range of developmental disabilities. So I basically started out as a gopher and worked my way up to serving on the board. And I discovered that it’s not just the ‘big shots’ you learn from, it’s the people underneath, too.”
Mr. Diana has been involved with QCP for over half a century. He has served as Treasurer, Vice President, and President and currently sits on the Board of Directors. Mr. Diana continues to play a key role in the nonprofit’s primary fundraising events including the annual gala, golf outing and Footsteps for Progress charity walk, which has raised nearly $75,000 since 2011.
In recognition of his service, Mr. Diana has received several awards from QCP including Public Service Extraordinaire, the Telethon Award, Humanitarian Service Award and, most recently, a plaque commemorating his 54 years of service to the nonprofit.
“By being involved with various charities, I make contacts with people in different agencies and industries who share the idea that we should all take care of each other, whoever needs help,” says Diana. “These contacts have enabled me to help the charities I’m involved with to better assist the people they serve through fundraising, securing donations and getting volunteers to work on projects or serve on the charity’s board.”
It was one of his contacts that first got Mr. Diana involved with the Municipal Credit Union (MCU), the largest and oldest credit union in New York State with over 340,000 members. “In 1984, MCU was seeking new board members,” says Diana. “While people knew me from my involvement with various charities, I was also known for my management skills, particularly as founder and director of the city’s Managerial Employees Association. One of my contacts was leading the search for MCU and recommended me. I was asked to run for the Board of Directors, got elected and have served on the Board ever since—some 30 years. Except now I’m Director Emeritus, so I’m no longer re-elected. But I stay active with the credit union and get to share my knowledge with the new board members.”
Mr. Diana has been involved and remains active with several local charity and community organizations including the March of Dimes, Salvation Army, Boy Scouts of America, YMCA of Cross Island Queens and the Italian Charities of America.
“I build teams,” Diana continues. “If I don’t, then I can’t do anything. But the biggest team is my family. They have supported me all these years.” Mr. Diana’s family includes his wife of 59 years Patricia and their three children: daughter Mary is a special education teacher; son Richard is a police officer and a trustee of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association of NYC; and his namesake Thomas, like Mr. Diana, is an engineer with the NYC Transit Authority and former president of the Transit Authority Columbia Association for Italian-American employees.
Now 80 years old, Mr. Diana has no plans to slow down and continues to be heavily involved with his charity work. Only now, his son Thomas drives him to the meetings and events, just as Mr. Diana used to drive his father to meetings so long ago. “My father was involved with UCP and then QCP for many years. I’ve served on their board for 54 years. I’d like to keep the tradition going with my son Tom. He did help out at the recent Footsteps for Progress charity walk, so we’ll see.”
“I’ve been retired for 20 years,” he continues, “so it’s a bit easier for me to stay involved as I have more available time. But I plan to keep doing what I’m doing for as long as I can.”
For more information, contact Maryann McAleer at Queens Centers for Progress at (718) 380-3000, ext. 324 or at mmcaleer(at)queenscp(dot)org.
About Queens Center for Progress (QCP)
Queens Centers for Progress exists in order to support children and adults in Queens County who have Cerebral Palsy and other developmental disabilities. The purpose of QCP’s support is to maximize the range and quality of independent life choices available to individuals and their families.
About Municipal Credit Union (MCU)
Established in 1916 and headquartered in New York City, Municipal Credit Union (MCU) is the oldest and largest credit union in New York State. MCU has over $1.8 billion in assets and offers a full range of financial services to over 340,000 members through branches in New York City, Westchester and Long Island. MCU is available to New York City and Yonkers municipal employees; state and federal employees who work in the five boroughs; health care professionals who work in New York State; members of select industry groups; employees of private colleges in New York City and private and public colleges in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester; certain family members and qualifying retirees. For more information, visit http://www.nymcu.org.
Ron Gold, Marketing Works, http://www.marketingworkspr.com, +1 (516) 297-1637, [email protected]
Share this article