(Photo left to right) Brookhaven Clerk LaValle, Ann Pellegrino, Legislator Caracappa, Grace Ioannidis, Legislator Kennedy, Twila Silverman (Credit – Matt Meduri)
Pursuant to Suffolk County Resolution 786-2002, each County Legislator has an opportunity to recognize a “Woman of Distinction” within their district to honor her for contributions and impact on her community during the month of March.
While March had venerable nominees from all eighteen legislative districts, one woman of distinction stood out and was honored as the countywide Woman of Distinction of 2024.
Ann Pellegrino, of Centereach, was nominated by Legislator Nick Caracappa (C-Selden) of the Fourth Legislative District. Pellegrino has earned perennial recognition for her management and preservation of Bethel Hobbs Farm. The farm was started in the early 1900s, when James Hobbs and his family moved from Georgia to Long Island, settling in northern Centereach. Hobbs worked on the land near today’s Oxhead Road that he eventually purchased for himself.
The last descendant of the Hobbs family, Alfred Hobbs, passed up numerous opportunities to sell the property, always hoping that it would remain a farm. When Hobbs passed away in 1996, the farm was left to Bethel AME Church in Setauket, with Hobbs’ last wish intact, that the farm remain a farm. However, with no personnel and equipment to run the farm, the property soon fell into disrepair and stagnation.
However, Pellegrino, having lived down the road from the farm for years, had long had an idea of transforming it into a community farm. As a single mother of three, Pellegrino understood the struggle of supporting a family and supplying nutritional meals on a tight budget. Once she had remarried and become more settled, Pellegrino applied her experience in raising a family to the vision she had for the long-blighted farm.
Bethel AME Church allowed her to maintain a fifty-by-one-hundred-foot parcel of the farm, which she began to clear weeds and clean out the old barn with the help of volunteers.
Her vision: create a community farm that would supply local food pantries across Long Island.
In 2009, Hobbs Farm applied for and received its own independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
Despite having never grown a vegetable in her life, Pellegrino researched farming techniques over several years, and by 2010, with more volunteers and a steady supply of crops, she needed more capital to help grow the farm. She and her volunteers then created Heartbeat Farms, about an acre of land dedicated to three missions: growing organic produce, focusing on creating farming and health education classes, and donating back to Hobbs Farm.
“Most of it was trial and error and faith,” Pellegrino told The Messenger. “Cornell tested the soil and said it was so depleted it wasn’t arable. We just did it in faith and crops actually grew. There were a couple farmers out east who took me under their wing, and even to this day, if I get stumped, I can ask them to help me out.”
Pellegrino said that with rotation planting, she could give a wider variety of crops to the community, as she felt that she couldn’t just feed them “one thing.”
Pellegrino also says that the volunteers are the most valuable assets the farm has, and without them, the farm’s mission today would not be possible. Pellegrino specifically mentioned Elaine Gavegila, 82, and Peter Castorano, 84, whose volunteerism has helped the farm in its roughest moments, as well as its day-to-day operations.
“I can’t take credit for it all, the volunteers really help the farm run,” said Pellegrino. “Elaine and Peter are both in their eighties and they’re there every single day.”
Pellegrino told the story of how in 2010, she put an ad in a County paper looking for help. Peter Castorano responded, and he’s been there every day since then.
“He taught me so many things, especially how to use hand tools, but he wasn’t a farmer either, he was a deli man,” said Pellegrino.
Pellegrino says that the same year Elaine Gavegila found the farm was the same year her son was in an accident.
“Elaine came in 2011 and said that God was calling her to the farm,” said Pellegrino. “That was the year my son got into an accident. When I was Upstate with my son Monday through Friday every week, Elaine took care of the farm while I was gone.”
Bethel Hobbs Farm provides an assortment of crops, including, but not limited to, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, arugula, spinach, Asian greens, celery, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, watermelons, tomatoes, winter squash, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and onions.
Bethel Hobbs Community Farm now sits on eleven acres on Oxhead Road and is the last operational farm in Centereach.
The farm donates 75,000 to 100,000 pounds of fresh, organically grown produce to local food pantries and soup kitchens every year.
Pellegrino was honored ahead of the May 7 general meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature.
“If you look at Hobbs Farm now, you wouldn’t believe that it started as a small plot,” said Legislator Caracappa. “It is outstanding what Ann Pellegrino does for the needy and for families who need nutritional meals. The hard work she does is from the heart. It’s a labor love that serves a purpose, not only to our community, but it has extended far beyond that.”
“I had the opportunity to meet Ann Pellegrino more than a decade ago,” said Brookhaven Town Clerk Kevin LaValle (R-Selden). “What she has done at Hobbs Farm is remarkable. This area that I grew up right down the road from had turned into a dumping ground after Mr. Hobbs passed away. It was one of the hugest blights in our community. For Ann to come in and do what she has done is absolutely amazing. I do want to recognize all the women who were recognized today, but there is no person more deserving of this award than Ann.”
Grace Ioannidis, Director of the Suffolk County Department of Women’s Services, delivered remarks in honor of Pellegrino.
“This is a very proud moment because among the eighteen nominees, you stood up,” said Ioannidis. “This is a very symbolic day for women in Suffolk County.”
Twila Silverman, Chair of the Women’s Advisory Commission, also recognized Pellegrino in front of the Legislature.
“It’s our honor to select the countywide Woman of Distinction,” said Silverman. “All nominees were incredible this year, but one really stood out. Our honoree brought back life to Bethel Hobbs Farm and the legacy of Mr. Alfred Hobbs, who utilized the farm to feed the military and its community. She continues to plant these seeds of hope.”
The Messenger congratulates Ann Pellegrino on her well-deserved recognition and thanks her for the invaluable contributions she has made to her community.
Bethel Hobbs Community Farm is located at 178 Oxhead Road in Centereach.
