As I write this I am, once again, incredibly humbled to think that some of my colleagues felt moved enough to nominate me for the Michael A. Maffetone Community Service Award on behalf of the Stony Brook Stitchers.  The Maffetone Award recognizes an employee of Stony Brook University Hospital, the Health Sciences School or the Long Island State Veterans Home for outstanding community services in education, healthcare, human services, arts & culture, diversity, safety or injury prevention.  Stony Brook Stitchers was started over ten years ago.  The Stony Brook Stitchers mission statement stresses the importance of providing comfort to those in need on several levels – physical, emotional or spiritual.  This is what we do with great love.  Over the years, we have provided thousands of hand-made items because of the generosity of our volunteers.

We are made up of young students who are learning needle crafting from their moms, grandmas or, perhaps, in a scout troop; we are medical students, dental students or other students who are studying here at SBU; we are members of local area churches, senior centers, nursing homes, community groups and office co-workers from throughout Long Island; we are the wife and mother whose family is stationed in Fr. Riley, KS; we are faculty & staff of Stony Brook University and University Hospital; mothers, aunts, nieces who are related to employees throughout the greater Stony Brook University family.  Over the past several years, Jan Tassie, Co-Director of the Stony Brook Stitchers SBU – West Campus program, has been so instrumental in bringing beautiful fresh and wonderful ideas to the group.  Her skills and contacts allowed us to redesign our website and host it on the SBU Brookology platform – a major coup for us!  Her exuberance is quite contagious to all who interact with her.

It takes many caring and devoted hands to run this group and create the many beautiful items that get donated.  It is from the bottom of my heart that I want to say, “Thank You” – winning the Michael A. Maffetone Community Service Award is OUR greatest achievement!

***The ceremony & reception for the Michael A. Maffetone Community Service Awards will be Wednesday, May 2, 2018. ****