buzz You’re such a boldface name in real estate around town and you have your eyes on the ground. Tell us a bit about choosing our local EMS to support. I had a local mom whose house I was selling, and I remember being surprised when she opened the door to greet me, clad in an EMS uniform. I learned that even though she had four kids, she still made the time to volunteer for a shift every Friday as an EMT to serve our community. When I started asking questions, I distinctly remember her saying, “Judy, this is not New York City. Our EMS is almost all volunteers and we need to fundraise to stay current with the latest equipment.” She helped bring awareness to me of how important our local EMS was and inspired me to get involved.
What are some of the events you have activated to raise awareness for the EMS? Our most recent event was a fun Band-Aid music event in September. It featured the popular DJ Mo, Teacup Sallie band, and Vintage Band, two favorite groups in the community. It was held at the beautiful Cedar Point Yacht Club, truly one of Westport’s hidden gems. I have also organized several restaurant opening events with all proceeds benefitting the EMS. For example, in August 2023, I organized an opening for the Mexican restaurant Tacombi, which raised over $10,000. It is also a way to say thank you to the EMT volunteers, who we always invite to join for free.
4
JUDY MICHAELIS Westport Volnteer EMS FOUNDED
1979 mission of organization:
J U DY
MICHAELIS
How did you come to get involved and how long have you been? I like to help where I am most needed. Once I learned that Westport Volunteer EMS did not have a fundraising
To save lives. department or even a staff person in charge of fundraising, I knew I could use my skills as a marketer to benefit them. I have been organizing fundraising events for the past five years that raise awareness and
bring the community together. One of the things I am most proud of is that when you donate to the EMS, 100% of the money goes directly to EMS, and not to a staff person in charge of distributing it.
You work closely with EMS President James Bairaktaris. What are your goals for 2025? We are organizing another Band-Aid music event for 2025. We also plan to host more fabulous pre-opening restaurant parties like the fundraising event we did at Tacombi. I also hope to do a Kitchen Crawl for EMS in the next few years, like I had done for other nonprofits before the pandemic. Local chefs were stationed at gorgeous homes in Westport and it was a party with over 400 people moving from house to house! The bottom line is nothing is more important in our town than the EMS and we must always be fundraising and recruiting volunteers.
PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED
The bottom line is nothing is more important in our town than the EMS and we must always be fundraising and recruiting volunteers.
What is the shortfall in what the town supports and operating costs? The shortfall is twofold. First, since EMS is solely funded on donations, we need more money for vehicles and state-of-the artequipment. We rely on fundraising to equip our community with the best vehicles and equipment and give the highest caliber training to our volunteers. Our ambulances are getting older, and the price of a new one is more than $400,000. Additionally, with the increase in the town’s population, we also need more trained EMS volunteers, as our current volunteers are overwhelmed.
westportmag.com
24
16_33_WPT_FOB_BUZZ_Nov_Dec_2024.indd 24
10/16/24 9:31 AM