MEET GINA
GINA ARENA
Public Service. Family Values.
Gina Arena was born and raised in a working-class Westchester family, and grew up in Bedford, then Pound Ridge and Vista. Being a working mother with eight children (ages 15 to 32), Gina always understood the need to balance work and family while volunteering in the community.
Public service was an important value taught by her father, Ray Andretta. Her husband Jim is a volunteer firefighter and her daughter Victoria was an Army Sergeant who served in Afghanistan, so it clearly runs in the family.
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Gina’s own community activism started early with Girl Scouts, and continued throughout her life.
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When Gina’s autistic daughter Jesse wasn’t getting the education she needed, Gina researched cutting edge educational programs and developed a program for her. As a direct result, Gina helped create the Foundation for Educating Children with Autism and the Devereux Millwood Learning Center.
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Turning a Family Tragedy into a Force for Good
When her son Jimmy died from brain cancer at age 6, Gina and her husband established the Just Imagine Making Miracles Yours (JIMMY) Foundation in his memory. This organization helps children suffering from life-threatening diseases and/or injuries with financial assistance.
All her life, Gina Arena served the community. Now she’s running for a seat in the NY State Senate to do even more. Gina wants her own children and grandchildren — and those of her friends, neighbors and colleagues — to be able to live, work, and raise families of their own here in Westchester and Putnam.
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As our district’s tax burden continues to rise, it’s more and more difficult for everyone — young people, seniors, working couples — to stay in Westchester and Putnam.
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A Leader in the Spirit of Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower
Gina is an old fashioned Roosevelt-Eisenhower Republican, and wants our government to be responsible, compassionate, and efficient.
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That forces us to make some tough decisions about county spending. Westchester and Putnam county governments cannot do everything for everyone, but what it does must be done well.
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Which means trimming county political patronage jobs regardless of which political party is in power, and being responsible with public funds.
