Meet a TwinBridger: Christine Harvey
By Richard Landers
There’s an old saying, “Want something done? Ask a busy person.” This fits Christine Harvey to a “T.” But anyone who knows her would say she’s a fun person, too.
Christine has a very busy career which includes personal meetings with clients all over 10 counties of northeastern New York. Throw in bunches of phone calls with other clients and that’s a busy. Yet she still has time to be active in Twin Bridges (currently on the Board of Directors), Toastmasters and her church (member of the Parish Council).
“Twin Bridges is like a family,” she says, “especially for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of family and none locally. Several members have helped me through tough times such as when my father died. It’s a special comfort knowing that I really needed something, I know I could get help.”
For the past several years Christine has worked for Nationwide insurance which has a contract with New York State regarding deferred compensation program for government employees and not just state workers but employees of local towns, counties, sewer districts etc. In this role she travels her wide area and spends considerable time on the phone to help employees understand their options and, basically, that their pension and Social Security may not be enough for retirement. “I try to explain that expenses will still happen and I don’t mean extravagant vacations, I’m talking about a new roof or a new furnace.”
Christine is pleased that she is able to help people who are living paycheck to paycheck and probably could not find a financial adviser willing to help them. She is very familiar with the financial services industry as a former financial adviser. “I didn’t really care for the sales aspect of that work and I’m glad now that I’m an employee and not on commission.”
Despite her unease with sales, Christine is known in Rotary circles for her unique approach to selling 50/50 raffle tickets at Twin Bridges events. I won’t describe her approach here; you’ll have to go to a Twin Bridges event to see it (and you’ll probably end up buying one or more raffle tickets).
Christine, raised by a single mother in Catskill, came to the Rotary world early by joining an Interact club in ninth grade. Interact is a club for teenagers that provides the opportunity to develop leadership skills while carrying out service projects. Thanks to Mr. Horowitz, her social studies teacher, she participated in several projects involving raising money for the less fortunate. As a sophomore, she became the first Rotary exchange student in the Canary islands.
Christine started in college at Marist College, transferred to the University at Albany and completed a master’s degree in France.
While her career keep her busy, Christine does find time for several other activities in addition to Twin Bridges and her church. She has helped cook at local Romanian and Greek Orthodox festivals, is teaching herself Romanian but says she’s not good at it yet. She joined the Toastmaster’s Club in 2010 and is a third degree back belt in Tai QuanDo but had to step away from that due to work commitments.
“I like to keep moving.” And so she does.