Quinnipiac University presents $1,000 check to Hamden Community Services

The Hamden Senior Holiday Gift Run keeps on giving.

Officials from Quinnipiac University's WQUN AM 1220 presented a $1,000 check to Darlene Butler, director of Community Services for the town of Hamden, on Jan. 23. The money was raised through the fourth annual Hamden Senior Holiday Gift Run.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Steve Savino, assistant general manager of the radio station. “There’s nothing like giving back to the community. I wish we could do more.”

Butler said the money will be used to provide meals and to help defray the costs of heating for the needy.

“We are certainly appreciative,” she said.

The fourth annual Hamden Senior Holiday Gift Run was held Dec. 18 at the Miller Senior Center, 2901 Dixwell Ave. The event was a collaboration between WQUN, Arden House, Lifetime Care at Home, Quinnipiac Bank & Trust, the senior center and VNA Community Healthcare.

Monetary donations as well as non-perishable food and new items such as gloves, hats, scarfs, blankets, gift cards and toiletries were collected at various Hamden locations and given to senior citizens at the Dec. 18 holiday luncheon.

Savino, one of the main organizers of the gift run, said $1,500 was left over after the event. Radio station officials recently presented $500 to Hamden’s Elderly Services Department before giving the $1,000 check to Butler and Mayor Scott Jackson on Jan. 23.

“This is a great community partnership that goes to a worthwhile cause,” Jackson said. “We have collaborated once again on a project that really means something to our community.”

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,400 full-time undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges issue. The 2013 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 377 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.