A century of service to friends and neighbors in Woodbury

On Saturday, Oct. 5, under a blanket of brisk, early fall skies, Woodbury Community Association (WCA) members, friends, and family gathered at the Palaia Winery in Highland Mills to celebrate the group’s 100th anniversary.

In grand style, the day’s festivities included entertainment, a pig-roast and barbecue, as well as commemorative speeches and official proclamations by both Woodbury’s State Senator James Skoufis and Assemblyman Colin Schmitt.

In the early spring of 2018, the WCA formed its 100th Year Committee to plan the details of the weekend observance and begin the preparation of its fund raising, business-sponsored commemorative booklet.

Members of that committee included Dan Lux (chairman), Paul Atlas, Colin Campbell, Vic Ferrarelli, John Fitzgerald (WCA president), Andrew Giacomazza, Joe Gianzero, Tom Hood, John Kelemen, Pete McGoldrick, Ben Meyers, Rob Prosperi and Rick Walls.

“As a group, we join together to enrich our community by the things we do," Fitzgerald said. "The tradition goes back to the organization’s inception, and, as more men in our community step forward to join, the tradition will continue.”

A litany of services

What follows are just some of the many historical and on-going activities of the WCA on behalf of the citizens and community of Woodbury, New York. The WCA:

• Has conferred approximately 50 scholarships to students graduating from Monroe Woodbury high school.

• Donates to the local food pantry annually for more than 10 years.

• Has donated to the Woodbury Fire Company, Woodbury PBA and the Woodbury Ambulance Corps for more than a decade.

• Participates in Toys-for-Tots every year.

• Has facilitated 24 successful golf outings, the group’s main means of fundraising – next year’s event will be the silver-anniversary event.

• Cooks/barbecues for hundreds of local events, such as Monroe-Woodbury Elementary School class barbecues, St. Patrick’s Church’s annual barbecue, Woodbury Community Day, the firecracker festival, the Firemen’s parade and the Memorial Day parade, among others.

• Helps to maintain and improve local parks, such as the Brickley Field and its dugout.

• Financially assists local boy scout groups and individual scouts working towards Eagle Scout certification.

• Participates in blood drives, bone marrow drives, as well as raising $34,000 this far for the American Heart Association through its annual WCA Heart Dance.

• In August 2011, WCA helped numerous neighbors affected by Hurricane Irene, which damaged more 24 local homes; they raised over $20,000 help those affected by the storm. (In fact, this writer was a beneficiary of the WCA’s assistance at that time, as four feet of floodwater inundated our basement. WCA members selflessly helped clear the resulting debris. My family and I are eternally grateful.)

Thank yous

As part of the official presentations, WCA officers expressed their appreciation to Jan and Joe Palaggi for making their winery venue available for the historic event. Also of great help for the celebration were members of the Woodbury Fire Company, who volunteered to direct parking, provide security, and cook for the event for the entire day.

During the day’s celebration, many Woodbury residents, friends of the WCA and a number of local and state dignitaries attended and shared in the festivities. On his brief visit to the event, former Woodbury Town Justice David Levinson represented the sentiments of many attendees:

“Great tribute to WCA for its 100 years of devotion to Woodbury! Here’s to a hundred years more.”