The Kiwanis Club of Riverhead honored six people as “stars of the community” yesterday at its 17th Annual Breakfast of Stars.
The individuals were recognized for their contributions to the Riverhead community during a program at Vineyard Caterers in Aquebogue.
Riverhead Kiwanis Club president Woody Ohrenstein was honored as Kiwanian of the Year. Past president Harry Wilkinson, who is assuming the role of acting president as Ohrenstein takes a leave of absence from the post for personal reasons, grew emotional as he presented the award to his successor.
“This club was a failing club and he saved it,” Wilkinson said.
The club yesterday also inducted four new members: Frank Petrignani of Aquebogue, Keith Bossey of Riverhead, and Dhonna and Bobby Goodale, of Flanders. They were sworn in by Kiwanis Suffolk East Lt. Gov. Roy Feldman.
“Congratulations, you have now doubled our club membership,” quipped Wilkinson, who served as master of ceremonies of yesterday’s program.
Riverhead Town Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith and Mark Woolley, district director for Congressman Lee Zeldin, were on hand to present the honorees with certificates and proclamations. Wilkinson presented each with a proclamation from Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski, a plaque from the Riverhead Kiwanis Club and a certificate and map from the International Star Registry, where the club purchases a star registration for each of its honorees, “naming” the star in their honor.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine came to pay tribute to honoree Riverhead Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, whom he said he has known and worked with for many years through her business as a permit expediter in the Town of Brookhaven. He presented Giglio with a proclamation declaring April 21, 2018 as Jodi Giglio Day in the Town of Brookhaven.
The Rev. Charles Coverdale, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Riverhead, introduced his longtime assistant pastor, the Rev. Cynthia Liggon, listing her many academic, professional and personal accomplishments that make her a true star in the Riverhead community.
“She is a Riverhead person through and through,” Coverdale said. “We should all be very proud of her.”
Coverdale, who was named a Kiwanis star 15 years ago, said “I hope her star is near my star so we can make the sky light brighter.”
Liggon, a gifted preacher and orator, spoke passionately about the formation of stars — made from the turbulence of dust and debris in the darkness of space — and how “the turbulence of this thing called life” gives birth to stars among us on earth.
“We are called to find and nurture the star of every individual,” Liggon said.
“Let us go out and make some stars,” she implored. “Amen?”
“Amen!” shouted the audience.
Honoree Leslie Corwin of Baiting Hollow, who has been raising puppies for the Guide Dog Foundation for more than 20 years was introduced by Riverhead Free Library patron services coordinator Elizabeth Stokes, who praised her work in “giving a lifeline to so many people.” The guide dogs, Stokes said, “change lives and give the blind their freedom.”
Corwin said raising the dogs — 17 of them, beginning in 1995 — has enriched her own life as she walks the dogs throughout the community, interacting with strangers as she undertakes the important task of socializing the dogs.
Also honored were: William Jackson of the Mastic Moriches Kiwanis Club, who has been a member of Kiwanis for nearly 30 years and has been of tremendous assistance to the Riverhead club, Wilkinson said; Fr. Luigi Hargain, a member of the Ecumenical Missionary Fathers, a religious order under the American Catholic Church. Hargain was the founder of the office of cultural diversity at Southampton Hospital; and Denise Civiletti, founder, publisher and editor of RiverheadLOCAL.
One of the club’s newest members, Dhonna Goodale, led members of RBS singers in performing two musical selections. The second, a rendition of the 1970s disco hit “Love Train,” prompted some members of the audience to get up and dance a conga line around the room.
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