Simon's Cares Blog

On Saturday, October 14^th, Simon’s Agency volunteers gathered at the Samaritan Center on Syracuse’s North Side near downtown.  The early crew helped Samaritan volunteers Marc and Maryanne prepare a meal of stew, biscuits and salad that we were to serve for lunch.  We also bagged grapes and split up pastry donations into servable portions, some of which were served that day or divided out for bagged lunches and meals for the following week.  Simon’s owner, Phil Bova, contributed the funds required to pay for this meal and blessed us with his encouragement and full support of this initiative.  Every volunteer was excited to represent Simon’s and reflect the generosity shining from the very top of our organization.

For several years Simon’s Agency, Inc. has sponsored Christopher Fleming and the Chris Fleming Racing (CFR) team. For the 2017 season Simon's is once again the title sponsor of the #10 car.  Simon's catches up with Chris on the ups and downs of the 2017 race season.

Simon’s Agency will be hosting its first ever volunteer day on Saturday, October 14^th at the Samaritan Center located at 215 North State Street (formerly St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church).  Leading up to this we will be collecting items to give to the Samaritan Center and will drop them when we go. 

Simon’s Agency employees recently collected books at the call center to donate them to the Believe in Syracuse Summer Youth Literacy drive which will be held on July 5th through their Community and Caring initiative.  This program aims to create purposeful philanthropic opportunities for Syracuse to support the community's essential needs.  

Simon’s Agency employee, David Capria is a lifelong resident of Central New York and is an active member of many organizations throughout the area.  He loves his hometown sports teams and his enthusiasm is seen in more than just an orange jacket, Crunchman t-shirt and locomotive ballcap.  According to Dave, “Syracuse is the best sized city in America! It is large enough to do many fun activities while still being small enough not to have problems many big cities have.”

On Saturday, April 1^st, employees from Simon’s Agency participated in the Syracuse Heart Walk benefitting the American Heart Association (AHA).  Together, with over 3,000 people from all over the region, the volunteers raised over $500,000 which will help the AHA “fund cardiovascular research and education, advocate for health, and save lives,” according to their website.  Their goals include improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans and reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20%, by the year 2020.

Simon’s Agency sponsored Chris “Showtime” Fleming pulled out all the stops in 2016 culminating in a repeat championship of the Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux RUSH Late Models at Fulton Speedway (NY). It was a tight point battle right through the final race on Saturday, September 3rd which Chris narrowly won in the 20-lap feature having taken the lead on lap 6 and battling repeated challenges from the field as well as a final lap “slide job” by rival Jason Parkurst which Fleming countered by pulling even on turn four as Parkurst struggled to contain his momentum, and drag racing to a photo finish. Fleming clinched his second championship, winning the race by the slimmest of 0.114 second margins. In only his second season of racing Chris has his fifth win of the season and second track championship overall.

For several years Simon’s Agency, Inc. has sponsored Christopher Fleming and the Chris Fleming Racing (CFR), and for the 2016 season became the lead sponsor of Chris’s car.  It was a chance meeting that brought Simon’s and Chris together. Phil Bova, CEO of Simon’s, was introduced to Chris by his friend, Carmen, at Tile & Carpet Town.  Phil “thought right away that he was a good kid and a talented driver” based on his first impression and the research he conducted on Chris and his team.

Ironically, Simon’s had been looking for ways to engage the local community and help people who were trying to excel in their dreams – be it sports or arts or education – and Chris fit the bill! 

On Friday, July 22nd, the NAVAC Golf Tournament sponsored by Simon's Agency began with a hot and humid shotgun start at the Pompey Club overlooking Downtown Syracuse with the Syracuse University Carrier Dome ever present near the horizon.  Simon's is very proud to have been the official naming sponsor for this year's event which has been put on annually by the  North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps for fourteen years.  The event concluded in good fashion with an awards luncheon featuring barbeque chicken with all the fixings that was enjoyed by all who attended.

Simon's is very proud to be the official name sponsor for this year's North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps Annual Golf Tournament!  This event will be held on July 22nd at the Pompey Club.  There will be a breakfast held at 8am followed by a shotgun start for Captain & Crew.  The event concludes with an awards luncheon following the tournament.  Pre-registration is required.  Please call 315-458-7514 to register now or learn how to become a sponsor.