The Start of Something Wonderful

Save a Young Life Foundation (SYLF) was established as a 501 (c)(3) charity in September of 2010. However even long before SYLF came to life, the founding members and long-time friends, Lena Tagliavia, Nick Pavlou, Spiro Levis, Eleni Tsamblakos, and Eleni Pappas had already been actively contributing their time and energy across multiple charitable events for a number of years. One evening over dinner, while exchanging dates for a multitude of charitable events that each were involved in; 5k runs, charity auctions, golf outings etc., they realized that by combining their efforts as a team, they would be able to utilize their resources and create a stronger unified force that would help families and organizations that desperately needed aid. And so the idea of working together for one purpose began to brew.

A few months later together with Lena’s leadership, what was once an idea to collectively contribute more time and energy to their community as one unified force, finally became a reality and as such Save a Young Life Foundation was born. Since inception, we have raised close to half a million dollars  of funds and have assisted many individual families and organizations along the way such as, Ronald McDonald of New York, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, NYC Policeman’s Benevolent Association Widow’s & Children’s Fund, Sharing & Careing Breast Cancer Support Services, Cooley’s Anemia, HelpHopeLive For Spinal Cord Injury recipient Lauren Schevchek, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients, National Down’s Syndrome, Ronald McDonald of Long Island and many more.

Today,we are proud that our SYLF family has grown to include many more dynamic individuals who volunteer their time unselfishly to make a difference in someone’s life and to bring hope and love to patients and families in need.

Lena Tagliavia

Nick Pavlou

Eleni Tsamblakos

Helen (Eleni) Pappas

 

Penny Gallis

Service

Respect

Integrity

We treat all people with dignity and respect. We consider and appreciate other's ideas, experiences and perspectives.

We serve and work to strengthen people, organizations and communities for today and into the future. 

We approach our work with humility and strive to listen, learn and respond to community needs.