University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass Community Salute
Congratulations to all of our 2022-2023 UMass Community Salute recipients! Thanks to the Massachusetts Lottery, we were able to recognize five extremely deserving members of the UMass community throughout the course of the UMass Hockey season.The Massachusetts State Lottery is proud to present the UMass Community Salute program. In Fiscal Year 2022, the Lottery returned $1.1 billion in net profit to the Commonwealth to support all 351 cities and towns. Examples of how these funds are utilized include public safety staffing and equipment, snow removal, local road improvements, programs for seniors, and parks and recreation projects and services.
Here’s a closer look at our 2022-2023 recipients and the contributions they’ve made to our community:
Derek Fanska
Feb. 4, 2023
Derek served as a marine in special forces for 4 years and in 11 countries. He has been employed in mental health services for 17 years at the Hampden county sheriff’s department as a correctional case worker and correctional officer. Since 2019 he has been teaching inmates and staff mindfulness and meditation to assist with stress and addiction.
Giselle Gaines
Feb. 10, 2023
Giselle is a community development manager for Sevita where they offer home and community-based care for people of all ages with any number of needs. She also created 413 community hands, a collaboration among local organizations to bring essential resources, education, and healthcare access to people and communities in need.
Sean Barry
Feb. 11, 2023
Sean is the owner of Four Seasons Wine and Liquor and has been honored by the Amherst Chamber of Commerce for his impressive amount of local community support in the past. He and his family help lead The Neighborhood Food Project which fosters bimonthly food donations to The Amherst Survival Center. Sean is also an avid supporter of fundraising efforts for Fragile X Syndrome, coordinating an annual local wine tasting to raise money for Fragile X research. Sean constantly seeks new ways to help and give back to his community participating in a variety of other fundraisers and is always looking to do more.
Santa's Porch
Feb. 18, 2023
Meg rivett, tracy griffin johnson, laurie dipietropolo reynolds, and leeann dipietropolo are all a part of santa’s porch, which has done tremendous work every holiday season since 2015 to collect toys for donation. They are helped in a big way by their friends and family who help to donate toys and help spread the word. They truly look out for anyone in need during the holiday season.
Carolann Macmaster
Feb. 24, 2023
During the pandemic, she made 63,000 masks for the Navajo, little shell Hopi, and the Chippawa in the mid-west. She also continuously helps to donate teddy bears in Springfield and hopes to one-day break the world record for most teddy bears donated.