Thursday, March 3, 2011

Executive Service Corps to close local office

The Daily Star reported that the Executive Service Corps of Otsego-Delaware Inc. will close its office in Oneonta at the end of this month as its volunteers consider options for reorganizing.

Rich McCaffery, chairman of the board of directors, said the decision to suspend operations and close the office is a financial issue. With the pending merger of Wilber Corp. with Community Bank System Inc., ESC is losing significant revenue from the Mystery Shopping Project with Wilber National Bank, he said Wednesday.

ESC has a roster of about 75 volunteers who work with area companies and nonprofits providing advice about managing and developing their organizations.

ESC has an annual budget of $40,000, which pays for an office manager, a position that has been terminated, plus telephone, postage and other office costs, McCaffery said.

The ESC board met Monday, according to a letter to volunteers. About one-third of the volunteers responded to a survey about ESC and its future, and board member Joan Moyer has volunteered to coordinate efforts to reinvent the organization "to better fit the current economic climate and needs of both small business and nonprofits."

The local ESC was founded by Joann Rasmussen and Erna Morgan McReynolds.

Since its establishment in 1991, ESC has provided thousands of hours of consulting services to more than 500 small businesses and nonprofit agencies.

The local ESC office is located at 31 Maple St. in Oneonta.

McReynolds said the benefits of the program are twofold. Seasoned retirees offer insights from long experience, she said, and the work provides meaning to many retirees.

"The combination of retired or still-working volunteers to help nonprofits, small business and even municipalities worked well in this area as it had in more metropolitan areas," McReynolds said in an e-mail Wednesday. "In difficult economic times, the need is even greater."

Original Article by Denise Richardson for The Daily Star.

No comments: