Apr 29, 2021 2 min read

Members of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) from the former Wheeling-Pitt sites in Allenport and Monessen made a $250 gift to Monongahela Valley Hospital in appreciation of the hospital’s vaccination effort to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. The gift was presented during the group’s monthly meeting attended by Louis J. Panza, president and CEO, Melissa Marion, director of the Monongahela Valley Hospital Foundation and Lauren Kifer, community relations coordinator.

In early January, Richard Senko of Monessen, acting president of the local SOAR, reached out to Kifer for information on how to help get the group’s members vaccinated. Kifer was able to schedule them for appointments in mid-February. About 50 members of the group went to the Monongahela Fire Hall for their vaccinations.

Richard Senko expressed gratitude toward MVH for its work to vaccinate the community.

“I called Lauren about six or seven months ago before the shots were even available,” he said. “We’re all older and high risk and it’s important for people our age to get it. When she called and said, ‘Rich, I have good news.’ Can you imagine how it was for the members?

“Some were signed up on so many wait lists and couldn’t get shots anywhere or got calls for places far away. How many lives has the hospital saved? Thank you is only two words, but what else can you say? It doesn’t seem like enough so I just keep repeating it.”