Kim Helps Raise Money for WSUL's HEART-A-THON

​MONTICELLO NY: It was five years ago that Joanna M. Gass suffered a heart attack. Three weeks later, she lost her husband to one of his own.

​Arthur Gass was 53 years old.

“No one should have to hear a doctor say they’re sorry, but there was nothing they could do,” Gass says.

Gass, an Activities Aid at the Skilled Nursing Unit at Catskill Regional Hospital—and a noted singer—has turned her sorrow into action.

Every year since her husband’s death, Gass—now 53 herself—has been a tireless advocate for WSUL’s Heart-A-Thon, which benefits her hospital’s Cardio Pulmonary Department.

To raise money, Gass got in touch with Carmela Foglia, owner of De Filippis Bakery on Broadway in Monticello, and Kim M. Simons, a local artist and part of the winning team on Food Network’s HOLIDAY WARS.

The plan? Have Simons teach people how to decorate cookies baked by De Filippis on the premises.

“All the money stays here in Sullivan County,” Gass notes. “It can help a couple celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. It can help and grandchild open Christmas presents with their grandmother. It can help a father walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.”

For Foglia, hosting the event at her bakery on January 26 was a no-brainer.

“I love the sense of community here,” Foglia—who runs an open mic for local musicians on Sunday mornings—relates. “When Joanna asked, well, of course!”

Both Foglia and Simons donated products and time.

“It’s an important cause,” Simons says. “I’m always willing to help out with something like this.”

A crew of folks aged five to more than fifty participated, decorating heart-shaped sugar cookies in a variety of creative ways.

According to Simons, it was a “sweet way to raise money for something really worthy.”

Donations to the Cardiopulmonary Department at Catskill Regional Hospital are still being accepted. Visit boldgoldnewyork.com/heartathon or call 845-794-9898 for more information.