FCA Holds Fall Harvest Celebration to Support Essential Services

Family & Children’s Association (FCA), one of Long Island’s oldest and largest nonprofit health and human services organizations, recently hosted its Fall Harvest Celebration at the Heritage Club at Bethpage. Elisa DiStefano, Senior Lifestyle Host at Newsday Media Group, emceed the event, which honored three distinguished Long Islanders for their contributions to FCA’s mission and celebrated the agency’s 140th anniversary. As FCA’s largest annual fundraiser, the Fall Harvest Celebration generates essential funds to support programs and services benefiting over 35,000 Long Islanders each year.

Charles ‘Charlie’ Manning, P.E., Executive Vice President at LiRo-Hill Engineers, a subsidiary of Global Infrastructure Solutions Inc., was this year’s main honoree. His 50-year career has involved him in civil infrastructure projects including transportation, water, wastewater, solid and hazardous waste, resource recovery, and power. Charlie is actively involved in numerous industry organizations and is dedicated to the Long Island community. Charlie and his wife, Ellen, live in Garden City.

The James J. Harnett Humanitarian Award was given to Thomas “Tommy” Shevlin, President of the Nassau County PBA. Tommy held the audience in rapt attention as he spoke frankly of the personal and professional struggles he faced over the course of his police work, and how he found stability and healing through support services, like those found at FCA.

Committed to helping his fellow officers and breaking the stigma of mental health issues, Tommy requested to be assigned to the Nassau County PD Employee Assistance Office (EAO), where he served as a counselor. He co-founded the peer-led, clinician-assisted program New York Law Enforcement Assistance Program (NYLEAP) to address the suicide rate among first responders and the lack of appropriate mental health programs.

Kim Cottage, co-founder of the Philanthropy Network of NY, received the Carol Wessel Humanitarian Award. A trailblazer in the recruitment industry, Kim’s unique and thoughtful approach to service includes helping to align her corporate clients with their philanthropic goals, which sets her apart from her industry peers.

“Our Fall Harvest kicks off the season of giving during a time when the need is greater than ever,” said Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, FCA President & CEO. “In addition to the welcome holiday support our Adopt-a-Family program receives, our mental health, behavioral health and senior programs all experience a significant uptick in service requests and inquiries at this time of the year and are deserving of support.

“It’s also a time to express deep gratitude to our donors, advocates and volunteers and salute our clients for their strength and determination to persevere through tremendous challenges and build better lives for themselves and their families, Reynolds continued. “We work together to produce successful outcomes that benefit all Long Islanders,”

Attendees of the Fall Harvest included local government and business leaders, donors, beneficiaries, and friends. All proceeds from the event directly help Long Island’s most vulnerable children, families, seniors, and communities. For more information or to make a donation, please contact Chief Development Officer & Vice President of Strategic Advancement Paige O’Brien at POBrien@fcali.org.