Arcuri a crusader for Children’s Miracle Network
Also honored for leadership at Rome lab

By STEPHEN CLARK
Observer-Dispatch

HOLLAND PATENT — A 5-year-old’s curiosity put Ricky Arcuri in the hospital four years ago and sent his mother — 2004 Accent on Excellence winner Renee F. Arcuri — on a crusade for the Children’s Miracle Network.

Arcuri, chief of the Information Technology and Sensors Contracting Branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, was nominated for the award by Lab Director Raymond Urtz because of “her commitment to work, community and family.”

“Renee goes above and beyond her normal responsibilities to ensure the mission of the Contracting Division is successfully executed,” Urtz said, but her devotion to her family also stands out in his mind.

Four summers ago, her son ran up to where his father, Richard, was mowing their lawn and skidded under the mower deck. His left foot and lower leg were mangled by the spinning blade.

They sped him to Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare St. Luke’s Campus, where he spent weeks recuperating from the surgery performed by Dr. Charles B. Hobaica.

During Ricky’s long stay, she intimately got to know the Miracle Children’s Network.

Arcuri said her son spent most of his time between medical and therapy demands in the children’s playroom on the Nintendo and Play Station video games. His mind was so focused on the activities, she said, “He didn’t know how bad he was hurt.

“He (first) walked the day before he started kindergarten,” his mother said.

Since then, Arcuri said, “Whenever they need me, I help out.”
Urtz said she coordinated a walk-a-thon at her children’s school in Holland Patent and started speaking about the network to local organizations.

In 2002, Ricky Arcuri was selected as New York State’s Miracle Child by the Foresters Champions Across America program, Urtz said, and the Arcuri family traveled to Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla., to share the story of Children’s Miracle Network and the work done at Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare.
Urtz said her family commitment has not slowed her down on the job either.

He said she has been recognized for supporting more than $800 million in lab contracts and has been a volunteer recruiter for the lab’s Copper Cap program for contracting interns, which encourages local students to pursue jobs at the lab. Under her direction, the program recruited five new employees who relocated to the area, Urtz said.

“Mrs. Arcuri is actively involved in enhancing and improving the Mohawk Valley and we are better off because of her efforts,” he said.

He said Arcuri managed the Information Directorate’s Small Business Innovative Research program that awarded numerous contracts to Mohawk Valley small businesses and won the Secretary of the Air Force Small Business Acquisition Team Award for her accomplishments.

Arcuri also won the directorate’s Heritage Day Robert V. Decker Award for acquisition support to more than 370 contracts and the first Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Outstanding Contribution to the Small Business Program by a Contracting Team Award.

Arcuri and her husband live in Holland Patent with their son and daughter, Danneile, 6.