Northland Communications, a Central New York-based telecommunications provider, celebrated its inaugural ‘Good Neighbor Day’ on June 28^th at NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse.

‘Good Neighbor Day’ was the culmination of three months of fundraising for twenty-eight local nonprofits. All throughout the campaign and during the Syracuse Mets game, with nearly 6,000 in attendance, organizations were able to build greater awareness of their missions. In the end, a combined total of $241,675 was raised.

Northland Communications, owned by the McCarthy family, its team led by Ken Curcio, and the McCarthy Family Foundation donated an additional $26,700 in prizes before the Syracuse Mets took the field.

Nonprofits awarded prizes by Northland Communications and the McCarthy Family Foundation include:

• Symphoria, for raising the most funds. They were able to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
• The House of the Good Shepherd, for their second-place fundraising finish.
• Meals on Wheels of Syracuse, for the most creative fundraising campaign.
• Ronald McDonald House Charities of CNY, for their incredible efforts from a smaller team.
• The Crouse Health Foundation, for selling the most tickets to the game, presented by a family-friend of the McCarthy’s, Kemper Matt.
• Hugs of Hope, for being the honored underdog of the campaign, presented by Purchasing Manager Ken Curcio, on behalf of the rest of the Northland team.

The participating nonprofit ‘Good Neighbors’ were raising money for their organizations both through tickets sales to the game (the Mets donated $4 per each ticket sold) and various fundraising campaigns; however, the overall goal was for these local organizations to gain awareness for their missions within the Central New York community.

In addition to a lot of media coverage and buzz surrounding the event, the Syracuse Mets saw more than a 20% increase in their attendance compared to a regular Wednesday night game, and the concourse was packed all evening with community members and nonprofit partners making quality connections fostered by Northland Communications.

“Our father and Northland Communications pioneer, Jerry McCarthy, strongly believed in being a ‘good neighbor’ and that is the spirit that Northland Communications was built upon,” said McCarthy Tracy, vice president, community + connections, Northland Communications. “We strive every day to create quality connections for our customers and our communities, including local nonprofits who trust us with their mission-critical telecommunication needs to stay connected to their patrons. We are thrilled with the awareness we were able to help raise for their amazing missions throughout our Central New York community that we call home.”

Participating Nonprofits included: Food Bank of CNY, AccessCNY, Symphoria, Upstate Caring Partners, Meals on Wheels, Crouse Health Foundation, Leadership Greater Syracuse, Upstate Foundation, The Cool Head Project, The Salvation Army, Rescue Mission, ACR Health, HumaneCNY, McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center, On Point for College, WCNY, The House of Good Shepherd, David’s Refuge, Leatherstocking Council, BSA, The Landmark Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Partners in Learning, Friends of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Ronald McDonald House Charities of CNY, Nascentia Health Charitable Foundation, the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Hugs for Hope, and the MOST.

To learn more about Northland and the company’s ‘Good Neighbor’ philosophy, visit: https://www.northland.net.