Child Care Council Recognizes Achievers; Memorializes Two Lifelong Advocates
By Jon Craig
The Child Care Council of Westchester honored eight community leaders and professional care providers Friday during its annual awards breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Tarrytown.
Keith F. Safian, president and chief executive officer of Phelps Memorial Hospital, the county’s seventh-largest employer with 1,700 workers, was recognized for his commitment to childcare for hospital workers and the public at “The Robin’s Nest.” Established in 1988, Phelps offered childcare to its 800 employees. The hospital recently announced a $1.4 million expansion of its early care facility to serve another 40 children.
Safian was named a 2014 Champion for Children along with Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and TD Bank, whose award was accepted by Adam Kintish, retail marketing manager for the Westchester region.
Five others were given 27th annual “Joey Awards,” named after the late Joseph D. Ungaro, former vice president at Gannett Westchester Rockland Newspapers, and publisher of the Journal News.
“Joey Award” winners included: County Board of Legislators Chairman Michael Kaplowitz, who received a warm welcome from the more than 400 childcare providers in attendance. Kaplowitz was recognized for his role in restoring $900,000 in early childcare money to the annual county budget. But the chairman, a Democrat from Yorktown, called it his pleasure to advocate for children and cited the persistence of Child Care Council Executive Director Kathleen Halas and others who lobbied for the subsidy. “We’re all on the same team,” he said. “In this case, childcare. It was an easy choice. We’re going to continue to make the right choice. We’re trying to do even better next year.”
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who introduced Kaplowitz, said, “We are very lucky he places children above all else.”
Other “2014 Joey Award” honorees were Susan Matos, owner of the Imagination Family Day Care in Tarrytown; Basia Kinglake, coordinator of Children’s Mental Health Services at the county Department of Mental Health; Anna Villacres, lead youth educator at the Port Chester Carver Center; and Mary Ann Becker, lead teacher at the Mamaroneck Community Nursery School.
Halas said that during the past year, the Child Care Council continued its focus on early literacy and child nutrition by distributing more than $1.4 million in healthy snack and meal reimbursements. She said the Council awarded more than $200,000 in childcare scholarships.
Memorialized in a tribute at the start of the awards breakfast were the late Inez M. Singletary of Pleasantville, the Child Care Council’s first executive director, from 1969 to 1981; and the late Patricia Lanza, who created the Lanza Investment in Kids’ Early Education (LIKE) Program, awarding child care scholarships to hundreds of families.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.