Michele Kirschbaum
Brooklyn Heights

Michele Kirschbaum is the Director of Programs of the New York Peace Institute (formerly known as Safe Horizon Mediation), a not-for-profit that provides free mediation services in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  The New York Peace Institute’s mediation program has helped numerous families and neighbors work through their underlying conflicts, which had escalated to criminal actions.   

Michele is also an experienced mediator and prior to her current position, she was the Coordinator of Special Education Mediation for over 10 years.  During that period she mediated hundreds of cases that assisted parents of children with disabilities and the NYC school system resolve disagreements about students’ special needs.  In recognition of her work, Michele received the Lawrence Cooke Peace Innovator Award from the New York State Dispute Resolution Association.   

Outside of her work, Michele is a champion of Safe Horizon, a not-for-profit agency that helps victims of crime and abuse.  In particular, Michele has personally supported the Safe Horizon Counseling Center, a mental health clinic that assists families traumatized by violence and abuse, and the Brooklyn Community Program, a center that counsels individuals impacted by crime. 

Lillie Marshall
Red Hook 

Lillie Marshall came to Red Hook in 1966, and has served as an activist there since 1967, sponsoring block parties for the children and sitting tenant patrol.  In those early years she chaired the NYCHA – sponsored awards dinners.  She also joined the Tenants Association Board, where she served as Treasurer.  In 1995, Lillie served as Secretary and later as President of Red Hook West Housing, a position she holds to this day.  She has also served as the Secretary of the International Corp of Presidents (ICOP) Board for Brooklyn South in Coney Island.

Over the years Lillie has sponsored many programs for Red Hook’s residents: computer courses, ESL (English as a Second Language), security guard classes, literacy programs and family days. Under her leadership, Red Hook is on the rise.

02

Rebecca Seigel, MD
Ditmas Park

Rebecca Seigel, M.D, is a Family Medicine physician at Downstate Long Island College Hospital.  Dr. Seigel is a graduate of Weill Cornell University Medical College and Barnard College.  She has dedicated her career to bringing medical care to a diverse array of patients, with a special focus on women's health and underserved patient populations.  For nearly 14 years, Dr. Seigel has served as the primary care
practitioner for the residents of the Park Slope Women’s Shelter, a shelter for homeless women with psychiatric and substance abuse issues. Earlier in her career, she worked with the Indian Health Service in New Mexico, providing primary, acute and prenatal care to Native Americans. In Brooklyn, Dr. Seigel has worked in primary-care clinics in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Fort Greene.  Fluent in Spanish, she now serves a socially, culturally, and economically diverse population at Downstate LICH's Family Medicine center.  In addition, Dr. Seigel very much enjoys teaching and has taught and mentored many medical students and residents throughout her career.  As a mom to three young children, Dr. Seigel loves living in Brooklyn and is proud to treat many wonderful Brooklyn families.

03

Trisha Ocona Francis
 East Flatbush

Trisha has an intense dedication and commitment to her community, which has her often looked at as the trusted and respected go to person, for when many are in need of real estate and housing questions and honest free direction. She often organizes, hosts, and/or speaks at community and professional events.  Trisha’s tireless efforts for the 2008 Housing Forum for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition resulted in over 600 financial struggling homeowners, many who were helped out of foreclosure on the spot. Trisha is an alumnus of the We Are All Brooklyn Fellowship.   At the mere age of 25 she was not only the youngest CB 17 member but also unanimously nominated and elected as the East 58th United Block Association president. 

Born and raised in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn Trisha began her career in real estate in 1999 when she managed a city hall real estate law firm and property management company. Realizing real estate was her divine calling; she left her position there to commit to further utilizing and developing her expertise and discovered passion. Trisha is an appointed board member of the New York State Department of State’s Real Estate Board; where she and her fellow board members share regulatory duties with The Division of Licensing Services and has the power to set the rules and regulations of New York State Real Estate, and help create and enforce the NYS real estate laws.  In addition, she is the real estate instructor at Medgar Evers College. Trisha is a Real Estate Blogger for the Huffington Post’s Business Section. She has also written for other numerous real estate news columns and has been a guest and featured on numerous radio and news publications, including Hot 97’s Street Soldiers with Lisa Evers. She has also organized and hosted an event for CCIM to introduce over 1000 people to commercial real estate.

04

Pastor Roberta Moore has been in ministry for over 30 years.  She is the founder of Victory Christian Tabernacle Inc., and its Director for over 20 years.  She is also a full-time employee for Citigroup. 

Pastor Moore believes that God led her to the Brownsville community to open up a church. She says “we are here to turn a distressed community into a blessed community.”

05

Johanna E. Willins
East New York

Johanna Willins has involved herself in the community of East New York where she has lived for over 30 years.  When she retired in 1998 she joined the Concerned Citizens of ENY.  She became active in local politics and elections volunteering. Her next project was the parent library of P.S. 13, teaching arts and crafts to the parents of P.S. 13.

Turning her attention to gardening, she founded and became President of Herbal Garden of ENY 1998. The first year Herbal Garden of ENY produced vast amounts of quality vegetables and herbs which led to the co-founding of ENY Farmers Market and ENY Farmers Market Youth Internship with the assistance of Pratt and Cornell University.

In 2002 Johanna became a Certified Master Composter, a volunteer at Brooklyn Botanical Garden and co-founder/ treasurer of the Olympus Garden Club. Using her skills, the first project was to beautify the New Lots Library garden. Her second project was Ruby Weston Manor Nursing Home garden in ENY. And her third project was the Quaker School Garden located in Downtown Brooklyn in honor of September 11th.

Since 1998 Johanna has lent her skills to beautify and enhance the lives of her neighbors in the community of ENY. She instructed youth in after school projects and she taught arts and crafts, crochet, and knitting and computer instructions free of charge at the New Lots library. She has worked to help others create their own programs in their neighborhoods.

06

Shannon Hummel
Red Hook 

Shannon Hummel has been a choreographer and arts educator for over 20 years. She is the founding artistic director of Cora Dance, a professional dance company and education organization, and is  committed to bringing her work to the widest possible audience, with particular focus on communities lacking performing arts experiences due to limited resources or other isolating factors. Passionate about making high-quality performing arts experiences accessible to all, Hummel's work has been embraced as much by renowned critics and seasoned dance audiences across the country as by school children, church congregations and passersby in public parks. Since 2002, she has presented dance performances and education initiatives in isolated or under-served communities in VA, WV, KY, NJ, NY and VT, working with over 6,000 participants over the last 10 years. In 2009, Hummel established The Cora Studio in the socio-economically divided neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn, to bring together her passions for choreography and education. The studio provides 10-20 evenings of live performances annually, 7 days a week of professional dance classes for adults and kids (many including afterschool pick up, free snack and dance-wear, and additional childcare for families); and gathering space to the entire community, ALL on a pay-what-you-can basis.  Through the Cora Studio's pay-what-you-can initiatives, Cora has worked with over 1500 people since 2009 from all parts of the community.

Shannon has served on faculties of numerous schools and studios including James Madison University (where she holds a BS in Dance) and Queensborough Colllege.  She curates, adjudicates and has been a guest speaker at American Dance Festival - NY; American College Dance Festival; Dance Theatre Workshop; and at many universities, often speaking to audiences about how to build bridges to the arts for communities lacking access. She is proud mother to a lively 5 year old boy named Henry and wife to actor, Greg McFadden.

Wai Yee Chan
Midwood 

Wai-Yee Chan has served the Asian American community for almost 30 years.  As part of the Chinese American Planning Council, one of the oldest Asian social services organizations in New York City, she has dedicated her life to the teaching and development of young minority children at various levels.  She was a program director of CPC’s day care center and after school program.  At Public School 153 in Brooklyn, she runs a year round out of school program that caters to children in public school.  She organizes and develops special events for the community, such as health fairs, senior citizens’ cooking contests, and children’s drawing contests.  Wai-Yee oversees all of the Brooklyn CPC after school programs and summer day camps.  She is a very passionate and caring individual who put others interests over her own and whose contribution to the Brooklyn Asian community is monumental.

Matilde Pedrero
Sunset Park

Matilde Pedrero, born in Mexico and raised in Brooklyn, is a role model for the younger residents of Sunset Park.  She has a strong sense of community, advocating and working to enhance her neighborhood.  She has a keen interest in local issues, the needs of her neighborhood and the importance of being part of programs and events.

While in Brooklyn College studying towards a dual Bachelor of Arts degree, she was on the Dean’s List four consecutive semesters.  As an outstanding student majoring in Psychology and Puerto Rican and Latino Studies (PRLS), she received the PRLS department’s Latino Award.  In 2010, she completed her Master of Arts studies in Mental Health Counseling.  She has always been committed to working in her neighborhood and with the Latino immigrant population at large.

Matilde began volunteering with different organizations during her junior year, using her Spanish proficiency and guided by a concern for our immigrant population.  At Tepeyac Association of New York, she volunteered as a GED program coordinator and counseled Latino immigrants on higher education initiatives to help them integrate into their new country.  Volunteering at the Sunset Terrace Mental Health Center, she worked with patients with severe mental illnesses, creating a more productive interaction with local clients.  As a Research Assistant at NYU’s Child Study Center, she worked on a study of parenting, acculturation and child functioning in Mexican and Dominican families of preschoolers.  In her second year of her Master’s program she became a psychiatry extern at Bellevue Hospital, working in Bellevue’s Bilingual Treatment Program, a program established to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services to the Latino population.

Using her knowledge and experiences gained through working at the Sunset Park BID and her various volunteer positions, Matilde, has also worked with other young people of Sunset Park in her block association to plan, organize, and fund educational events and has also shown concern for the safety of our residents which drives her to work hard to institute programs such as the Safe Stops.

Frances Brown
Red Hook

Frances Brown is a vibrant woman with a bright, bubbly personality. She is caring, compassionate, and always available to provide help individuals or to her community at large. She works as a school crossing guard on very busy Hamilton Avenue, where she knows and cares about each and every child. She likes to say that all the kids in Red Hook belong to her. A deeply spiritual person, Frances is a tireless worker and fundraiser. She is a missionary and also acts as an evangelist at Greater Saint Paul (A.M.E.), where she attends church. Frances is Treasurer of the Red Hook East Tenants Association. She is also the PSA-1 Council Vice President for Brooklyn South.  Frances also serves as Chair of Mothers Against Gangs, a community-based organization that helps in the prevention and redirection of at risk-youth.  Frances Brown is an Extraordinary Woman who deeply cares about, God, family and her fellow man.

Shereice Hunter
Bedford Stuyvesant

Sheriece Hunter takes pride in community involvement by volunteering and attending various meetings with community-based organizations (Voices of Woman Organizing Group, Riverwatch Inc., James E. Davis Foundation, and the United States OPM/Blacks in Government).  She devotes her time to help in the areas of domestic violence, feeding the homeless, visiting the sick and shut-in and bringing cheer, prayer and smiles to many faces of the elderly at the New York Congregational Nursing Center.

Sheriece is someone who always has the will to help others and volunteers her time and energy to her neighborhood.

Rukhshana Liaqat
Coney Island 

Rukhsana Liaqat is co-founder of American Council of Minority Women (ACMW), established in July 2005 by the women of Minority Community of the USA for the empowerment, development, protection and promotion of human rights of women in the USA, and particularly in the state of New York. Working for the organization gave Rukhsana incentive to help minorities, especially women.  Rukhsana became aware of psychological and social issues that these women were facing. Most of these women are illiterate and want to go to school to make their children’s lives better. She has encouraged them to bring a change in their lives with the light of education.

Her work with ACMS has led to the establishment of the Adult Literacy Center in Brooklyn, which has enabled 35 women to read and write.  English language and computer skills are also taught.  Rukhasana believes that education is the biggest tool for women to succeed in their personal and social lives.

Given the convergence of Rukhsana’s personal and professional interests, she is currently pursuing a M.S. degree in Accountancy and Taxation (CPA qualifying). Her basic concern is to help minorities as much as she can, because people have many tax related and other fiscal problems and there are not enough bilingual accountants to help them. Rukhasana sees herself working to support the young and old those and those that are underrepresented and disadvantaged. Rukhsana hopes to provide people, and women in particular, with all the things they need to become independent and make their lives better.  Rukhsana knows the best way to do this is to continue her studies to fulfill her goals in order to help her community.

Marlena Ortiz
Marine Park

Marlena Ortiz is a second generation Puerto Rican, born in New York, and raised in Marine Park, Brooklyn. As early as the age of 25, she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer after being misdiagnosed over the course of a few years. She felt betrayed that no one made her aware that breast cancer could exist in women as young as she, and became understandably upset that her life would now have to be put on hold as a result. Through her battle with cancer, Marlena made a promise to spread awareness and prove to other young women that life should still be lived. As a result, the non-profit Beating Cancer In Heels was formed, dedicated to the empowerment of young women with cancer. It is their aim to raise awareness and encourage women to embrace who they are through Life Coaching, Beauty & Style workshops and recreational activities.

Sarah Sander
Williamsburg

Cynthia Greenberg
Flatbush

Cynthia Greenberg serves as President of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives: Building a Progressive Jewish Community in Brooklyn.  She is a much sought-after consultant to a wide range of public sector- and social change-focused organizations. Cynthia organized the recent conference on the 20^th anniversary of Anita Hill’s testimony on the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas, and her clients include groups like the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which in 2010 helped win passage in NY of the landmark Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, and Picture the Homeless, which just weeks ago released a ground-breaking report on the 5,900 vacant buildings and lots in NYC that could be developed into sustainable housing.

Kim Henry
Dyker Heights

Kim Henry became involved with Relay for Life of Sunset Park with the American Cancer Society in 2006.  She started off as a team captain and raised money for cancer research for free cancer screenings as well as many programs within the Brooklyn area.  The following year she chaired the event, which she has been doing since 2007, in memory of her sister Maureen Henry, and in 2010 founded The Maureen Henry Walk of Hope.   Kim lost her sister Maureen to cancer in 2006 and that event changed her life forever. In her absence, Kim was left with overwhelming grief and hurt, all she could focus on was on how to keep her sister close now that she was gone?  How could she honor her life and memory with a positive, meaningful message and make a difference? Relay For Life was just what Kim needed. Relay for Life gave a voice to tell people how important her sister was to the family.  Kim refused to let her sister’s fight with cancer go unnoticed.  Kim’s goal was to be a small part of the amazing journey in finding a cure. Kim has been fundraising for 7 years now and does not see herself stopping any time soon. 

Pastor Debbie Santiago
Coney Island

For 20 years, Debbe led a lifestyle of drugs, violence and crime. She eventually turned to alcohol and lived under the Coney Island Boardwalk.  Homeless, and trying unsuccessfully to vent her rage, she would get into physical fights on a daily basis.  It was at this point in her life Debbie believes God called her to start the Salt and Sea Mission. She got a job with a man she had befriended, and the money made it easier for her to bring food, supplies and the Gospel to other homeless people.

What began as feeding people with compassion from the back of a shopping cart has become serving 33,000 meals from the emergency food distribution program, a youth development program, a domestic violence program, an HIV program, furniture and clothing distribution programs, and social service advocacy and case management.

Pastor Debbe Santiago was ordained in 1998 and went to college to become a Licensed Christian Counselor.  She has served on the 60^th Precinct Community Council for several years, and has been a member of Community Board 13 for 21 years.

Denise Cosom
Brownsville

Throughout Denise Cosum’s career as a social worker she has encountered all kinds of problems concerning families, including poverty, hunger and homelessness. She noticed the stories about the fathers of these children were often the same.  They were incarcerated, or nowhere to be found.

A single mother of two sons, Denise witnessed and understood the struggles of raising children, especially males, in an underserved community.  One day while at work, two of Denise’s colleagues inquired as to how she raised her two sons in the projects of East New York while preventing them from being involved with the criminal justice system.  They told her she would be great working with young men.  This is when she realized her life purpose was to help young men reach their full potential and become contributing members of society.

One day while accompanying her son to a Brooklyn hospital, she observed a young man being demeaned by people in the hospital’s waiting area.  She learned that he had just aged out of the juvenile justice system.  Denise began to mentor this young man and, as she witnessed his daily struggles, she noticed the system neither adequately monitored his education nor made it possible for him to develop independent life skills.  She began to understand the harsh realities of young men of color who are forced to make their own way with little to no support system.

Chavie Glustein
Midwood

Chavie Glustein founded BINA Stroke and Brain Injury Assistance in 2003 as a result of her personal experiences following the devastating stroke of a close family member at a very young age. After five years of accompanying her relative to intensive rehabilitation, Chavie well understood the bewildering maze that families are forced to navigate when confronted with the unfamiliar world of stroke and brain injury. She was determined to share the hard-won knowledge she had gained with others facing a similar journey while traveling on the long road to rehabilitation. Starting from a desk in her apartment and five clients, BINA has expanded to a beautiful suite of offices in Midwood with a staff of nine and has to date assisted  over  1,000 survivors of stroke and brain injury and their families, the majority of whom reside within the Jewish communities of Brooklyn.

BINA’s pioneering and comprehensive approach includes a unique and detail oriented system based on in-depth research which addresses the individual needs of each client. Services include referrals, advocacy, case management, crisis intervention, vocational services, support and education. Leading brain injury specialists have lauded Chavie’s work at BINA as critical and trailblazing. Chavie has visited over 100 rehabilitation facilities, meets with specialists and therapists regularly, and travels around the country to attend medical conferences. She speaks directly and at length to clients to assess and address their particular needs, and her warm and engaging personality has made her a beloved figure to one and all.

Lisa Davie
Mill Basin

Lisa Davie started volunteer work at St. Edmund’s School with the Home School Association in 1992. St. Edmund’s is a small school with approximately 300 students.  Lisa was elected Home School President in 1994 and served through 2002. She raised in excess of $500,000 for the school through various fundraisers as president; this was done through the Christmas Fair, carnivals, casino night and many other school functions.  Lisa spent 10 years there working very closely with the administration and gave her heart and soul to the school and the community.

Due to her boys passion for the game of ice hockey, Lisa was drawn to the Greater NYC Ice Hockey League which has been serving the community since 1967.  Her goal was to help create a better environment for all the boys and girls who participate in the league.  She was elected to the board of directors in 2004.  Lisa now serves as the Treasurer on the board of directors and heads up all of the fundraising for the organization, as well as the bookkeeping and all of the administrative functions. 

Mary Salogub
Canarsie 

Mary Salogub is an 86 year old woman who will not stop helping others.  Mary served as secretary of the 69^th Pct. Community Council; she helped organize the NYPD Cop of the month celebration.  Mary had knee surgery early 2011, but she did not miss any days helping others.  From her hospital bed she helped to organize the Cop of the Month celebration “Crime Night Out” street fair. 

Co-chair of the 69^th Pct baseball league for years, she registers the children, raises funds to offset the costs to the children.  Co-chair of the Canarsie Memorial Day Parade for 3 years.  This parade brings together children in a marching steel band from the Berean Baptist Church on Bergen Street to Canarsie with children from Canarsie’s Bayview Housing choral group.  The children receive community service certificates suitable for college requirements.

Ilene Sacco
Bay Ridge

Ilene Sacco was born and raised in Queens but fell in love with Brooklyn, especially Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights in the early 90’s when she started working for the Kings County DA’s Office as Director of Special Projects.   

Ilene earned her law degree from New York Law School in 1994 and both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from John Jay College. She is an attorney and currently works for the NYS Office of People with Developmental Disabilities. 

Ilene has always been extremely involved in community based activities both in Queens where she grew up and in her Brooklyn community.  She is currently the President of the 68^th Precinct Community Council and is very proud of the accomplishments the current board has achieved, especially their comprehensive community email notification system which provides residents of the community information on important crime and local topics.   

Ilene is the former President of the Bay Ridge Community Council.  She was Vice President of the Bay Ridge Lions.  She is also a board member of Ragamuffin, the Dyker Heights Civic Association and has been involved in many community organizations, having worked on many community projects through the years.  She has been named “Woman of the Year” from both Advocates for Services for the Blind and Multi-handicapped and by the Dyker Heights Civic Association and named Lion of the Year in 2000.  Ilene has received awards of merit from many organizations including Community School District 20 Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program, the Fifth Avenue Board of Trade, the Merchants of Third Avenue, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and by both the 62^nd and the 68^th Police Precincts.  Ilene has also received numerous commendations and citations from many elected officials, including Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki, Congressman Vito Fossella, State Senator Martin Golden and City Councilmember Vincent Gentile. 

Ilene currently resides in Bay Ridge with her husband John Walsh, an accountant, and they are in the process of trying to adopt their first child.

Helen Wilson
Bedford Stuyvesant 

Helen is a member of a nonprofit fraternal charity organization known as the Order of the Eastern Star.  She is a leader in her chapter and has raised $15,000 for cancer research and over $5,000 for other charities over the last five years.  Very active in her church she was elected as the 1^st and 2^nd Vice President of the Ladies Usher Board as well as the Supervisor of the Junior Usher Board for three years.  As a member of the Hospitality Committee, she provides care packages for senior citizens and community residents in need.  Helen helps feed the people in the community during the holidays and participates in the Walk for Breast Cancer.  She also volunteers on the Competitive Edge Planning Committee, a group of public and private partners working together to increase its roster of qualified disadvantaged minority and women-owned businesses and qualified firms.  She works with developers to create jobs through community hiring on large construction projects.  For all of her tireless efforts in her community, Helen Wilson is truly one of Brooklyn’s Extraordinary Women.

Donna Maxil / Melissa Anceravige
Park Slope

Donna Maxil and Melissa Anceravige were born, raised and still live in Park Slope BROOKLYN!  Proud to be true Old School Brooklynites -- They sit on their stoop and drink coffee every beautiful summer evening. P.S.124 has been a part of their family for over 65 years.  Donna volunteered at the school for many years serving on the PTA, and eventually started working there as a Paraprofessional.  Donna currently works as the Parent Coordinator at P.S. 124.  Attending the 72 precinct Community Council for many years, at first attending meetings and voicing concerns about the community, and now serves as the President of the 72^nd Precinct Council.

Tammy Aguilera Moore
Windsor Terrace 

Tammy A. Moore has been serving her community for over 30 years.  She visits hospitals, teaches Sunday school and works tirelessly with homeless and troubled women and children for the purpose of introducing people to her church and to presenting them with the Gospel. 

Thirty years ago, as a single mother, she received Jesus Christ as her Savior, and believes the result of that was God pouring blessings upon herlife.  It not only changed her, but changed the life of her children.  Her oldest child, Luci Sadlowski turned to religion, was able to go to Christian College in Indiana, even though Tammy didn't know how she would be able to pay her tuition.  Her daughter met a Christian young man and married, and 25 years and eight children later, she is serving in a church with her husband.  Her oldest son, Leon Aguilera, is now the Pastor of Lefferts Park Baptist Church in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, where one of his ministries is to the homeless of Brooklyn. Her youngest son, Robert Moore, is a New York firefighter in Dyker Heights and faithful to the church. 

“God has been abundantly good to me and my children, and I pray that my life will bring Him honor and glory for without Him I could do nothing.  I only pray that at the end of my life when I come before Him He will say, "Well done my good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of the Lord."

Esther Friedman
Borough Park 

Esther Friedman was born on NYC’s Lower East Side. Inspired by the selfless example of her parents, both Holocaust survivors, her lifelong commitment to helping others began at an early age. Together with her grandmother, ten year old Esther would regularly visit the patients in the Jewish Hospital for Chronic Disease (now Kingsbrook Medical Center).  When she moved to Borough Park, Brooklyn in 1970, Esther continued her good work by volunteering at Maimonides Medical Center. She currently makes rounds on Friday with the juice cart, distributing drinks and refreshments to the patients, staff, and visitors, and she provides hand sewn white tablecloths, homemade cholent and fruit salad to the hospital’s many Jewish patients in honor of the Sabbath. Esther is actively involved in the Zichron Shlome Refuah Fund, an organization helping adults and children with cancer, and coordinates not only their annual Chinese Auction fundraiser, but Hatzolah’s, the Jewish volunteer ambulance corps, as well. In addition to her charity work, this busy mother and grandmother works in the hospital’s fertility clinic, teaches sewing to elementary and high school students, and still finds time to chair the PTA. “To give is to get,” she explains. ”There’s nothing that can compare with the feeling you get from making other people happy.”

Sara Reyes
Cypress Hills

Sara Reyes is a 19 year old Latina born and raised in New York City. Growing up in East New York, Brooklyn, Sara quickly realized that her neighborhood was one of the most underserved communities in NYC. As a teen Sara experienced many hardships, but decided to that she would step up and take ownership over her life and her neighborhood. Recognizing that many of her neighbors faced similar challenges, Sara joined the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation 2 ½ years ago and has become a youth leader of Future of Tomorrow.   As a member she has organized her peers and neighbors around educational justice issues, helping to save a community high school and middle school; shined a spotlight on the lack of community school resources; and represented Future of Tomorrow at city and national gatherings.  She has also assisted the organization’s home ownership counselor in running the first-time home buyers program.

Joyce Verderosa
Marine Park

Joyce Vederosa is a 5^th grade teacher and UFT representative at PS 277 in Gerritsen Beach. She is a self – sacrificing woman who has committed her life to helping local children in need and families of children in need. Joyce has always been committed to helping local families who are the victims of tragedies and extraordinary medical expenses. She has established the Jennifer Lundgren award to honor the memory of Jennifer Lundgren who died as a young child when her home burned down on Ryder Street in Marine Park. Joyce held a fundraiser for Nicole Woods, a child in Brooklyn who had a brain tumor and was able to collect over $10,000 to help the family with the medical bills. Joyce recently held several community fundraisers including a carnival at Holy Trinity Church in Marine Park for Megan Russo, a child in the community with eye cancer. None of these fundraisers were for established charities or non- profit organizations, Joyce just saw local families that were suddenly struck with tragedy and she took immediate action to come to their aid in a huge way.

Joyce , along with her friend Margarite Burke , have created a “ Catering Service “ where they cook huge meals and invite families from the neighborhood to come to her home in between wake services and after funeral masses. This act of kindness takes a huge burden off local grieving families and gives them a warm home to comfort each other while going through a difficult time. On holidays, Joyce always opens her door and includes people from her church and the community who don’t have anyone to celebrate with.

Joyce belongs to the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Marine Park where she is heavily involved with volunteer activities. She has been a basketball coach for 20 years in the Holy Trinity Athletic Association. What makes this activity special for Joyce is that she makes sure that every child gets court time and goes out of her way to include autistic children and hearing impaired children. Joyce is also the Chairman of the Church Property Board, serves on the Church Council as a lifetime member and leads the Holy Trinity Youth Group.

Janet Munroe Rousseau
Crown Heights

Janet B. Munroe Rousseau has lived in Brooklyn since 1973.  She worked as a nurse and midwife delivering new Brooklynites from 1973 to 1998 at Kings County Hospital. In her spare time, Janet helped to form the Sesame Flyers Organization. This organization helps children with their homework and to become model Brooklynites. The children learn of their heritage, and some learn how to play the steel drums. These young musicians have done so well that they have won numerous awards. Janet has served on the Sesame Flyers Board of Directors since 1998.

Janet also served as the chairperson of the Social Affairs Committee for 25 years, providing hot meals for the children and teachers of the Saturday program.  Janet coordinates and participates in numerous health fairs, especially the annual health fair at St. Matthew’s RC Church.