Metropolitan Region Interfaith Breakfast - DeWitt Clinton Award

“… I know that education and the rational use of the mind are the keys to facing the problems of humanity;

… I know that charity is the distinguishing human virtue, and that personal community service is the best demonstration of one’s commitment to humanity;

… I know that leadership is best demonstrated by commitment to serving others;”

At this year’s Metropolitan Region Interfaith Breakfast, we will honor a man and an organization that both exemplify all of these important characteristics from our Masonic Compact. We will present our DeWitt Clinton Award to Mr. Angelo Catalano, the President of the Francis X. Pendl Nassau County Firefighters’ Museum and Education Center.

The Firefighters’ Museum and Education Center had been a dream of the late Frank Pendl, a longtime volunteer firefighter, ex-fire chief and fire safety educator, for decades. Frank envisioned a place that combined the history of over 100 years of dedication by the volunteers of the Nassau County fire service with a state-of-the-art education facility that could be used to teach the vital lessons of fire prevention and life safety to both children and adults.

Frank’s friend and fellow volunteer firefighter Angelo Catalano worked with Frank for years on the project and as Frank’s health began to fail him, Angelo promised his friend and brother firefighter that he would see his dream through to fruition.

This past June, after months of hard work by Catalano and a cadre of volunteer firefighters, the Museum and Education Center opened its doors to the public. In its first seven months of operation, the Center has provided vital, lifesaving information on fire safety and injury prevention to over 15,000 people, most of whom were young children - one of the two most vulnerable populations for fire deaths and injuries.

In addition to this work in recent years on behalf of the Center, Mr. Catalano has been a volunteer firefighter for 47 years and an elected volunteer Commissioner of his local fire district for over three decades. He is also a retired career firefighter with the Fire Department of the City of New York.

So please join us on Sunday morning, March 11th, 2007 at Leonard’s of Great Neck for this year’s Interfaith Breakfast and the presentation of this very special DeWitt Clinton Award.