Seeing Needs and Empowering Communities with Solutions

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Rose Cappa Rotunno. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light. 

Rose Cappa Rotunno has spent her life as a powerhouse of service, dedicating her talents and time to advancing a wide range of charitable causes. With a track record that spans decades and over 175 organizations, her efforts have helped raise millions of dollars and drive awareness for issues including domestic violence prevention, healthcare and senior care. Whether organizing high-impact events or guiding nonprofits through critical challenges, Rose approaches her work with a rare blend of passion, strategy and heart. 

Currently, Rose serves on the Board of Directors at TRA Group, Inc., where she leads marketing and fundraising efforts to support life-saving transportation for older adults and individuals with disabilities. Her role involves developing campaigns, crafting communications and working with fellow board members to shape policies and programs. The goal: ensure vulnerable populations can access essential services safely and reliably. 

Rose’s impact continues in her founding of the Westchester Women’s Summit, a premier area conference created to uplift, empower and connect women leaders. Now in its fifth year, the event attracts hundreds of attendees and features workshops, keynote speakers and meaningful networking opportunities.  

In addition to her leadership at TRA and the Summit, Rose volunteers with Suboumi’s Children, an organization dedicated to advocating for young people in schools and communities. She helps guide programming and supports initiatives that help children to become engaged, productive citizens. Through every project she touches, Rose remains grounded in her belief that sustainable change is driven by informed, inspired individuals.

Tell us about your volunteer role. 

There are a few. My passion project is the Westchester Women’s Summit. That’s an all-day conference to uplift, inspire and empower women. We’re going into our sixth year. It’s a complete grassroots movement, so it’s not affiliated with any particular organization. It was me and a couple of women deciding we needed a space like this. It takes a whole year to put together and we’ve had as many as 500 people attend. It’s been an amazing experience. 

Additionally, TRA is free medical rides service for seniors and people who need transportation to procedures and doctors’ appointments. It collaborates well with what I do for my day job. I work at an adult community that provides continuum of care – everything from independent living to rehab to adult day care to assisted living to memory care. Volunteering with TRA was a nice way to find some continuity. It also takes things to the next step, because TRA has an advocacy and education arm, so people can call for directions and information, just to make their lives easier, age in place with dignity and health. 

I’m also on another board for Suboumi’s Children, which was started by a woman from Nigeria originally. She uses African fables to tell stories to kids to help them to feel empowered and learn lessons. It’s a really interesting way to build individuality and self confidence amongst kids by embracing a culture that’s very different but that they can relate to. It’s just amazing how these things can transfer into empowerment. And that’s the theme in just about everything I’m involved with: it’s about allowing people to take back their power. 

Why is this issue so important to you?  

Regarding the women’s summit, I really felt like there needed to be a place where women could come together in a judgement-free zone to fill their own cups. We’re so used to constantly nurturing or giving and there’s not often a space that we can go to that doesn’t come with strings of some kind – a fundraiser, or networking. This is completely about focusing on women’s health, mental and physical health, financial health, community health, career health. We include speakers and workshops and vendors and activities that people could come in and enjoy, take for themselves. It’s really about encouraging women to just take some time to think about themselves. Many people resonated a lot with it and wanted it to happen again, so the success of that event proved to me that it was really needed.  

It’s costly to do, and it has a lot of stress in the eleventh hour, but it always comes together. It’s so important that there’s a space for people to come together, and now especially, it’s crucial that we’re informed about our rights and our autonomy. It’s important for us to create a place where truth can be shared. 

For TRA, Westchester is a huge place. Not everyone has access to public transportation. Things are spread out. Not everyone has Uber money. A lot of people end up losing their freedom and their autonomy. They end up isolated and alone, and TRA offers a great opportunity for them to get out, get to their appointments, stay healthy. 

What inspired you to get started with this initiative? 

About 10 or 12 years ago, I saw that there was a conference that Maria Shriver put together in California called “WE” (women’s empowerment.) It was a seven-day conference and what I liked about it was that it wasn’t just one topic. It wasn’t just financial wellness or women’s health. It was everything. “I’m 50 and I lost my job, what do I do now?” And also, “My closet in the 80’s, how do I bring it into the 2000’s?” I thought it was an interesting concept I’d never seen done before. I told everyone, “We should do something like this.” And they all said, “When you do it, let me know!”  

And so about six years ago, I put on a reception called “Wine, Women and Chocolate.” I invited all the women I admired or wanted to meet, and 90 people came. By the time they all left, 60 people were signed up to help me put on a women’s summit. It grew from there. Now, it’s a lot easier to get sponsorship. People are coming to me, and they understand what it is now. It’s not a nonprofit; it’s a movement, just a place to bring people together. I love seeing how the community has embraced it. Our first year was during COVID, and we made it a virtual event. All 500 people registered, as well as every speaker and sponsor, came with us. We didn’t lose anyone when we went virtual. That was a sign to me that it needed to happen. 

Once upon a time, I had my own event planning and development company, and TRA was one of my clients. The executive director there reached out to me after our contract and said, “Since you’re no longer working for us, maybe you could come be on the board.” And that’s how I started working with them, specifically on marketing, thinking outside the box and finding creative ways to fundraise. We created a webpage where you can build a car with your donation. It gamified the donation process altogether – the bigger your donation, the bigger the car gets. We have another interactive opportunity called “TRA Tunes” where people can make a donation to make a playlist that’s played while people are driven around for their rides! 

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization? 

I’d love to make the women’s summit bigger, actually hold it in different counties across New York and maybe even expand it across the country one day. There are lots of places where women don’t feel heard or supported, and it’s awesome to be able to bring this forum to them. Short term, I’d like to just be able to do it next year! 

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work? 

I’m a connector. I like to be the one who makes things happen. I get a thrill when I see a resource and a need that meet each other. There’s a personal satisfaction in that, seeing something making a difference. It’s why I got involved in nonprofit. I studied international business, and started working for March of Dimes Walk America. I was shocked that I could actually help somebody instead of give more money to a stockholder. And I’ve been in the nonprofit world for the last 30 years. 

What have you learned through your experiences volunteering? 

One thing I’m thrilled to have learned is that people will rise to the occasion; they’ll rise to your expectation. The minute before we went live for the women’s summit, I thought, “Oh my god, what have I done? If this doesn’t go well, I’m done for the rest of my life!” But it turned into a place that people wanted to be a part of. They wanted to help. I’ve found if you put the positive out there and dwell on that, people will rise up to that expectation when given the opportunity. 

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about? 

It personalizes the issue. It makes you more aware of the actual people that are affected by the issues, rather than just hearing about the statistics. It also helps in your understanding of the need and your own impact on it. Boots on the ground is firsthand experience. Platitudes and donations are nice, but unless you actually volunteer or are face-to-face with the issue, I’m not sure you can actually fully understand it. 

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering? 

I think that you have to give yourself grace. You don’t have to be the president or a top volunteer at the time you first start with a cause. Start small. My kids will tell you that they’ve been “volun-told” to do a lot of things. It’s part of our family culture; we volunteer. It helps everyone understand that there’s a bigger world out there. It expands your borders a little bit. You don’t have to necessarily go to places that make you uncomfortable. There are organizations that help you find the right organization and the right role for you. 

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Rose? Find local volunteer opportunities.