Break out the tux and ball gown!
The Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club will celebrate its fifth birthday with a lavish knees-up at the Dyker Beach Golf Club on Nov. 3 to honor folk who have gone above and beyond. The selfless bunch was chosen for its efforts to improve local communities and advance the commitments of the Rotary charities that have been a presence in Brooklyn for more than 100 years, said the chapter’s president.
“This year’s honorees have exemplified Rotary’s motto: Service above self,” said Lizzette Muniz.
Chief among the awardees are Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Mary Avanzino, who will be recognized as Woman of the Year.
Scotto, owner of Scotto’s Funeral Home, formed the Carroll Gardens Association in 1979 and launched several projects to clean up the icky Gowanus Canal and retain below-market-rate housing for older generations who built up the neighborhood but feared being booted by developers.
Avanzino — the mother of noted power couple and borough attorneys John Avanzino and Angelicque Moreno who will turn 90 years young this year — has touched the lives of hundreds of her neighbors.
The other honorees are: Milagros Day Worldwide founder Dawn Diaz, who started the annual Brooklyn Bridge Mother’s Day Walk in 2012 to benefit victims of domestic abuse; Guyanese-American Terrence Lyght, who was recently named publisher of the Brooklyn Phoenix newspaper, a weekly publication geared to the West Indian and Caribbean population in Brooklyn; Rick Miranda, president and chief executive officer of the Brooklyn Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and owner of a recording and filming studio for 30 years; and Elizabeth Yeampierre, an internationally recognized attorney and executive director of Uprose, Brooklyn’s oldest Puerto Rican social-justice organization.
Scotto, 88, greeted news of his impending accolade with his trademark wit.
“I’m very impressed with me!” he quipped. “It keeps me going and knowing that I still have something to contribute.”
Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club Fifth Birthday Gala at the Dyker Beach Golf Club (1036 86th St. between Seventh and 10th avenues in Dyker Heights). Nov. 3, 6:30–10 pm. Tickets available on www.eventbrite.com and are $125 each.
