MDA is a cause that never gets old
By: Jason R. Vallee, staff
08/31/2008



Dave Zajac / Record-Journal

WALLINGFORD - When businessman Jim Zandri began working with the Muscular Dystrophy Association 12 years ago, he said his only goal was to provide a Connecticut location for the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon and raise money from the community.

For Zandri and many of the 300 people on hand Sunday evening at Zandri's Stillwood Inn, 1074 S. Colony Road, the event has grown into much more than a simple fundraiser. It has become a way of honoring friends who have died of muscular dystrophy as well as a means of helping those still alive.

"The event wasn't one that was created because of any particular personal connection, but the cause has come to touch many of us in recent years," Zandri said. "We have so many people who come every year now and it really has become an event that the whole community becomes involved in."

For the second straight year, Zandri and John Sullivan, an online radio personality who helps co-host the silent auction portion of the event, said the party was missing a man who helped champion the cause from day one, the late Al Draghi, a former Stillwood Inn bartender.

Zandri stood before the audience Sunday and spoke of Draghi's commitment to helping the MDA - from being the first to signup to work the event for free to starting a tradition that has held for 11 years where bartenders donate all their tips to the MDA as well.

When Draghi, a lifelong employee of Zandri's, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 2005 - one of 40 neuromuscular diseases covered by the MDA - his struggle convinced event organizers to work that much harder to make a difference.

"He was a man with a big heart and a great soul," said bartender Paula McGovern, who worked with Draghi before he was diagnosed. "This was something that he had dedicated himself towards, even before he had the disease, so for many of us, it's just a special event."

McGovern and Zandri each said Draghi was one of the reasons the event has had the success it has and said his spirit was one of the motivating factors for event organizers as they attempted to raise more than $30,000 for the third straight year.

The annual party raised $31,788 in 2006 and $33,182 in 2007, according to Zandri and Jennifer Shaffery, MDA program coordinator.

Shaffery said she was happy to see the crowd this year and added that the only goal she had was to improve upon last year's results. With $30,000 from this event alone, she said, the money will go a long way toward helping a large number of people suffering with forms of muscular dystrophy.

"The money goes to so many things," she said. "It provides clinical visits, it helps us in initial diagnoses, it helps fund a summer camp for 30 children in Hebron each summer and, of course, it benefits us by helping in MD research."

Area residents Marissa Adinolfi of North Haven, who was honored Sunday with the 2008 Robert Ross Personal Achievement Award, and radio personality Tom Dacey of Wallingford said the MDA played an important role in their lives and this is a way to give back.

Adinolfi, who volunteers two days a week for the organization, said the association has taught her how to live with MD and said their support is what has allowed her to remain strong and become a role model for others.

Dacey has his own personal story as well. After losing two friends to the disease earlier in his life, he said he has remained active in not only the MDA, but working with all organizations that support those who have mental or physical conditions and said he was happy to donate to the cause this year.

Dacey presented the MDA with a check for $1,108 during the party, money raised during his third-annual Wallypalooza celebration in July.

In addition to his support, Zandri and the MDA were also given checks for $1,000 by Wal-Mart and $3,100 by the Wallingford Fire Department, one of the largest amounts raised by firefighters during their annual summer boot drives, according to Fire Inspector John Andrews.

With all this support, Zandri said, he is confident that the totals will exceed those of last year. Sullivan said none of this would have been possible without the help of Zandri, however.

"Look at what this has become. Jim (Zandri) is the Jerry Lewis of Connecticut," Sullivan said. "With all the money he has donated over the years and all the support he has found, it just makes you smile to see how generous a community can be."

jvallee@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225

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