August 27, 2010
Making a difference for others has always been important to Erin
Calamari. Even before she arrived at St. John’s University, she
believed in making the most of every opportunity to help
others. It’s just the way she is.
Initially planning to be an elementary school teacher, Erin earned
her B.S. in Childhood Education from Iona College and began work in
two elementary school districts on Long Island. Right from the
start, she began reaching out to those in need.
“Prior to working at St. John’s I worked with fifth
graders in Lynbrook and Rockville Centre,” she said, “and many of
the students had special needs. Some had Asperger’s Syndrome, one
was bipolar and our goal was to do everything that we could to keep
these students within a regular educational setting. I’d work with
them individually and in small groups, always making sure to
address their needs every step of the way.”
Although she greatly enjoyed helping these special children, Erin
came to realize that she wanted to take her career in another
direction. Always one to volunteer to work on her schools’
development initiatives, she decided that she “…really wanted to
get into fundraising and event planning. I started to look for a
position that had anything to do with fundraising, and being hired
at St. John’s was a great opportunity for me. Coming here really
let me move my career in the direction I wanted it to go.”
She came to the University as Assistant Director in the Office of
Annual Campaigns in August, 2006, where her responsibilities
included reaching out to donors and encouraging them to support St.
John’s with an annual gift. This past June she assumed her current
position, in which one of her most important tasks is encouraging
alumni and their families to return to campus for the annual Alumni
Reunion Celebrations.
“There are so many alumni who really love St. John’s,” she said.
“They want to be a part of their University in any way they can,
and I’m really glad that I can help to bring them back for Reunion
and other great St. John’s events.”
Her reunion duties include the creation of special yearbooks for
alumni celebrating the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of their
graduation from the University. She solicits information from the
alumni celebrating these milestone years and compiles it into a
book that is distributed to members of those specific classes. “The
alumni love reading the responses of their classmates,” she said.
“It brings back great memories of the people they were friends with
during their student days.”
Erin is also responsible for the coordination of “solicitivations”,
a special form of communication that combines invitations to events
with a solicitation for a gift to support either the event itself
or a specific St. John’s scholarship or program. “I really feel
that the University’s mission is fantastic,” she remarked, “and I’m
happy to help solicit funding to keep that mission alive and
strong. Raising money for our students, especially the 40 or more
percent who come from families classified as being in very High
Financial Need is important to me, because I feel that I’m doing
something to help make their future dreams a reality.”
She has always been impressed by the sense of family that seems to
be a part of everything that happens at St. John’s, noting that
there’s a special feeling throughout the University that isn’t
found anywhere else. “I love the atmosphere at St. John’s.
Everybody here always goes out of their way to help each other, and
that carries over to how we reach out to our alumni. We take our
work very seriously, but don’t take ourselves too seriously.
There’s laughter, there’s friendship, and we all feel that we’re a
part of the St. John’s family. For me, this is a very beautiful
place.”