Awards / Honors / Recognition

Top Honors
Kudos to the Paumanok Chapter for receiving a Project Excellence Award in recognition of its Grow Education initiative. And a round of applause goes to the V/F/T TelecomPioneers for being the only group to be honored with a Project Excellence Award, which was presented for the Dictionary Project.

Congratulations, Patchogue LMC Members!
Four members of the Patchogue Life Member Club, Paumanok Chapter, received the President’s Volunteer Service award. This award recognizes dedicated volunteers who have served their community and country with distinction. The four honorees were pinned by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program that sponsors the soup kitchen where these individuals have been serving every Tuesday for the last 15 years.Every Tuesday, Ina May Krauer, Phyllis Ahrens, and Harriet and Charlie Coll cook, serve, and visit with more than 50 homeless people who visit the Bethany Hospitality Soup Kitchen in Central Islip, New York. All four volunteers received a letter and a certificate from the President of the United States, and the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation.

The Life Member Spotlight is on… Gene McCoy!
By: Eddie Williamson
The Nova 5 chapter never forgets those special leaders who have moved on to other ventures or sometimes a different chapter. Such is the case with Gene McCoy. This gentleman started with the N.Y. Telephone company in 1955 as a splicer’s helper. Seventeen years later, as was required in order to be eligible, he joined the Pioneers and was immediately appointed to the Queens Council as the Historical Co-Chair. In 1983, he was named Chapter President of what was formally called the Carl Whitmore Chapter. Gene, however, will always be remembered as the founder and curator of the Queens Museum, which is still maintained today by the Queens Council. The Museum is located at 8808 164th Street, Basement-Pioneer Room, Jamaica, Queens, New York. Gene is still very much an active and valued life member with Nova 5’s sister, Paumanok Chapter, in Nassau County.