Long Island volunteers getting Hall of Fame nod
Inductees to the 2011 Long Island Volunteer Hall of Fame will be honored at a Feb. 5 ceremony at Carlyle on the Green in Bethpage State Park. The 10th annual event is held by the Long Island Volunteer Center.
Inductees will be honored in nine categories, plus five awards will be given in categories such as inspirational service and lifetime achievement.
The inductees are:
Children and Youth Services: Patricia D’Accolti, founder of Children’s Sport Connection in Garden City, which provides financial assistance for children in crisis to continue in sports.
Education: Nancy and Rod Zuch, founders of The Morgan Center in Brightwaters, a preschool for children who are fighting cancer.
Emergency Services: Nancy Lynch, founder and president of Pet Safe Coalition in Locust Valley, which aims to keep pets safe during disasters.
Family Support: Glenda White-Hills, founder and president of Millennium Sistahs in Uniondale, which provides services to women.
Health: Nancy Leupold, founder and president of Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer, a Locust Valley resource for information about the diseases.
Homelessness: Larry Hohler, co-president of Hope Children’s Fund, a Port Jefferson nonprofit that aids people in Kenya.
Philanthropy: Dan Connor, president and chief executive of The Gladiator Fund, which raises money for ill children in New Hyde Park.
Seniors: Sister Jeanne Andre Brendel of Harvest Houses, family-style homes for the elderly.
Special Needs: Dr. Deborah Benson, founder and director of Common Ground Alliance, a Plainview nonprofit for people affected by brain injury.
Victoria Ruvolo, the Suffolk County woman who was seriously injured after a teen threw a 20-pound turkey through her windshield in 2004, but who forgave him, will receive the Inspirational Service Award. The Lifetime Achievement Award in Volunteerism will go to Jay Steingold, for his work with the Hempstead nonprofit Education and Assistance Corporation’s Long Island Dispute Resolution Centers.
Three awards for young Long Islanders will be granted: The Next Generation Award for Emergency Services will go to Simeon Melman, the Huntington teen who helped save his friends’ lives when a bear attacked them in Alaska last July; the Next Generation Award for Leadership will go to Benjamin Jake Kornick, 17, of Roslyn Heights, for his work as a member of the Nassau County Executive Youth Council, which acts as a resource to lawmakers when developing laws and who does public speaking; and the Next Generation Award for Visionary Philanthropy will be given to Christopher Yao, 15, of Jericho, who founded Kids Change the World, a nonprofit that works to improve children’s lives around the world through such efforts as raising money for cleft lip surgery.
