Each year, for the month of March, each of the eighteen County Legislators have an opportunity to select one woman from their district in recognition of her contributions to their community. Each eighteen honorees are recognized by their respective Legislators and one honoree is named by the Suffolk County Women’s Advisory Board as the countywide Woman of Distinction.
This year’s countywide Woman of Distinction is Ann Pellegrino of Centereach. Nominated by Legislator Nick Caracappa (C-Selden), Pellegrino was recognized for her role in the transformation of the historic and long-blighted Hobbs Farms on Oxhead Road in Centereach. After the farm’s last descendant passed away in 1996, the farm was left to Bethel AME Church in Setauket, where the last wish of Alfred Hobbs was to have the farm remain a farm.
With no one to tend to it, the farm quickly fell into disrepair and was one of the most notorious blighted properties in the Middle Country area.
However, that changed when Pellegrino took over a small plot on the farm in 2007 with the intention of making it a community farm, the crops from which supply local food pantries and soup kitchens.
Bethel Hobbs Community Farm now donates anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to the community each year. The farm grows a variety of vegetables, including, but not limited to, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, Asian greens, peppers, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes.
Pellegrino’s vision was for a farm that could not supply the needy with food, but with a variety of nutritional meals, something she took from her time as a single mother of two.
All honorees were celebrated at a luncheon at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge after the State of the County Address Tuesday afternoon and before the remainder of the general meeting. In attendance was former Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Sag Harbor), whose daughter Molly Bishop was the Second District’s Woman of Distinction.
In Smithtown, Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) nominated Adrienne Giannadeo for her contributions to Smithtown.
“Adrienne is one of the connoisseurs, a trailblazer,” said Trotta. “She was the first woman installed in 1991 on the Board of Zoning Appeals in the Town of Smithtown. She has served in the Smithtown Historical Society, the St. Catherine’s Advisory Board, the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce, the Smithtown Chamber of Commerce, and she was a teacher for twenty-six years in Kings Park.”
“I spent over sixty years in students’ welfare, and it was a wonderful, wonderful community and I still love being in my district,” said Giannadeo.
Legislator Steve Flotteron (R-Brightwaters) selected Phyllis O’Leary for her work on the local Chamber of Commerce to the Alliance Club. She also organizes the annual Go Fly a Kite galas on Cedar Beach, with last month’s event bringing in an estimated 5,500 attendees.
“I try my best to get my hands as dirty as I can and do whatever is needed of me because it’s not just one thing, it’s everything,” said O’Leary.
Legislator Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) nominated Jennifer Dickson of Centereach for her volunteering at the Centereach Fire Department and her management of Middle Country’s successful street fairs.
Legislator Trish Bergin (R-East Islip) nominated Patricia Blair for her endeavors in ending food insecurity.
“I want to inspire others, including our next generation which includes my beautiful daughter Emily,” said Blair. “We have a new venture, it’s called Summit County Women’s Alliance to End Food Insecurity. We’re three years in the making, and we had our ninth food distribution this past Saturday in honor of Mother’s Day. In our three years, we have donated over 200,000 pounds of food to those who need it.”
2024 Suffolk County Women of Distinction:
District One -Marilyn McLaughlin
District Two – Molly Bishop
District Three – Geraldine Sapanaro
District Four – Ann Pellegrino (Countywide Women of Distinction)
District Five – Margo Arceri
District Six – Janet Godfrey
District Seven – Moonee Rivers
District Eight – Karla Waldron
District Nine – Wandra Ortiz-Rivera
District Ten – Patricia Blair
District Eleven – Phyllis O’Leary
District Twelve – Jennifer Dickson
District Thirteen – Adrienne Giannadeo
District Fourteen – Karen Kunkel
District Fifteen – Marian Hester
District Sixteen – Tina Shek
District Seventeen – Rosaria Luppy
District Eighteen – Linda Guido
