Local Man To Be Celebrated With Helen W. Prince Award

SOUTHOLD, NY — Another community member will be honored soon for his work to champion civil and human rights, and for promoting diversity, unity and fairness in Southold Town.

The Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force will award Brian Mealy with the 2018 Helen W. Prince Award; the award was created in 2015 to call the attention to and honor a community member in Southold who espouses those values.

A ceremony will be held on Thursday, Oct. 4 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Peconic Landing in Greenport; the event will also include a display of art from students across Southold Town, as well as guest speaker Georgette Grier-Key.

Mealy serves as a trustee on the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District's board of education, is a library clerk at Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport, a board member at Eastern Suffolk BOCES, and sits on the board at Peconic Green Growth, among other community efforts.

"His leadership and commitment to our community is known to many. Mr. Mealy is someone who in his many roles, he actively participate in creating and affirming and inclusive environment for all," according to the Southold ABTF.

In 2017, Dr. Anne W. Smith was chosen by the Southold Anti-Bias Task Force to receive the award, spotlighting civil and human rights and an ongoing mission to celebrate diversity.

Smith, former superintendent of the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District, was honored for "her leadership and commitment to ensuring that all the students, staff and faculty in her schools actively participate in creating and affirming and inclusive learning environment for all."

And in 2016, voices filled with emotion and tears of gratitude, family, friends, and the many colleagues whose lives she's touched came together to honor longtime community servant Merle Levine, 92,who was presented with the second annual 2016 Helen Wright Prince Award.

At that event, Southold ABTF member Leroy Heyliger kicked off the night by explaining that the Helen Wright Prince Award, created in memory of a woman who created the migrant labor camp school in Cutchogue, is meant to honor those who dedicate lives to "promoting diversity, unity, and fairness in our towns."

Patch file photo.