Leadership Award to be Presented to Former Robeson County Resident

Former Red Springs resident Gaitley Stevenson-Mathews will receive the Leadership Award at an upcoming event sponsored by Long Island’s North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. This honor is one of many recognizing his outstanding service to the community.

“Even as a young man it was obvious that he was destined to do great things and to give back to his community,” said Stevenson-Mathews’ high school choir teacher, Penny McDonald. “It has been a joy to watch him move from strength to strength in his career and as someone committed to making a difference in the lives of others.”

Stevenson-Mathews will be presented with the Leadership Award on July 18, 2024, at the Sea Cliff Yacht Club in Sea Cliff, NY. The event, part of the chamber’s Latin Fiesta Business Expo, will include music, entertainment, dancing, raffles, and vendor tables featuring area businesses.

A freelance communications professional and speech coach, Stevenson-Mathews has worked for many years in arts administration and is a former Glen Cove City Councilman. “Gaitley’s dedication to public service and leadership within the community embodies the values we strive to recognize with this award,” stated Connie Pinilla, Esq., Chair of the North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Maxine Mayreis, President of the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce, remarked, “Gaitley not only has a vast array of talents, but he often uses those talents in making a difference in people’s lives.” The Glen Cove Chamber, also based on Long Island, recognized Stevenson-Mathews with a Community Service Award in 2023. Other honors include an award from VFW Post 347 for his meritorious and distinguished service to the post in 2021, the Community Leader of the Year Award from Comité Cívico Argentino in 2019, and the Leadership and Fellowship Award from Calvary African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2018.

In addition to his professional endeavors, Stevenson-Mathews is the founder of three non-profit organizations, including the Flora Macdonald Legacy Foundation in his hometown of Red Springs, NC, and, most recently, the Tribute and Honor Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Glen Cove that pays tribute to and supports veterans and veteran causes across Long Island.

“Thanks to Gaitley’s vision, the hard work of the board, and the gracious support of the community, in less than three years the Tribute and Honor Foundation has honored more than 20 Long Island heroes, raised close to $50,000 to help with the rebuild of VFW Post 347 after a devastating fire, and supports other initiatives such as the Glen Cove Library’s VetNOW program and the recently initiated Ben Farnan Scholarships presented to graduating seniors entering the military or a military academy,” stated Tribute and Honor Foundation 2nd Vice President Harold Bollaci. “It is thanks to Gaitley’s vision, his hard work, and his uncanny ability to bring people together that the Tribute and Honor Foundation has achieved such success.”

In addition to his founding efforts, Stevenson-Mathews has served the NS Hispanic Chamber as both a Founding Board Member and 2nd Vice President. He is also actively involved with several other organizations, serving on the boards of the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce, SAGE Foundation (the fundraising arm of the Glen Cove Senior Center), Glen Cove EOC (Economic Opportunity Commission), and as a Trustee of Loggia Glen Cove #1016 Sons and Daughters of Italy in America. He is on the Advisory Boards of the Morgan Park Summer Music Festival and Age-Friendly Glen Cove, an Ambassador to Comité Cívico Argentino, a Lifetime Member of the North Shore Historical Museum, an Elder at the Presbyterian Church, an Associate Member of Calvary AME Church where he sings in the choir, a Founding Member of NOSH Delivers, where he has been weekly delivering meals to food-insecure families since the organization’s inception in 2020, and was recently invited to become a Community Ambassador for the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County.

"We were delighted to invite Gaitley to become one of our Community Ambassadors, and we were pleased, though not surprised, to learn of the Community Leadership Award he will be receiving from the North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce," said Jolanta Zamecka, Vice Chair of the Board of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center (HMTC). "I have personally witnessed Gaitley’s creativity and leadership in a recent collaborative project with HMTC, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and the Long Island Concert Orchestra. I greatly appreciated the talent and outstanding support he brought to our initiative, and I find his deep engagement with various communities across Long Island both impressive and inspirational. He leads with the respect he has earned from the many communities he serves.”

Christine Rice, Executive Director of the Glen Cove Senior Center and Chair of NOSH Delivers, commented, “As a SAGE Foundation Board Member, a volunteer and Founding Member of NOSH Delivers, and a tireless organizer and supporter of many charitable endeavors, Gaitley brings creativity, compassion, and leadership to every aspect of his service to the community. I was delighted to hear that Gaitley is being honored with the Leadership Award. It is well-deserved.”

Stevenson-Mathews credits his parents and his grandmothers for giving him a sense of the importance of serving the community. “It’s just what we did,” states Stevenson-Mathews. “We really didn’t think about it. It was part of what it meant to be part of the community and part of the responsibility to one’s neighbor regardless of their race, background, creed, or station in life. It was not more complicated than that.”

Former Red Springs Mayor John McNeil commented, “As the expression goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Like Gaitley, his parents, Jean and Jim Mathews, were very active in the community and their church and made a point to help others in need. We are very proud of Gaitley and pleased to hear about this honor.”

The current Flora Macdonald Legacy Foundation President was reached at her home in Winston Salem, NC, and shared, “I was so pleased to hear of Gaitley being honored. He was the force in creating and initially pulling together our foundation and I am sure that same force is at work as he serves the people of Glen Cove and Long Island.”

Prior to his work as an arts administrator, voice and speech coach, and his service as an elected official, Stevenson-Mathews worked as a professional actor for close to twenty years, starting in the '80s. A proud union member, during this period Stevenson-Mathews was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Guild of Musical Artists, and continues as a member of Actors' Equity Association. He is pleased to have received two Leon Rabin Awards (Dallas’ version of the Tony Awards) for Best Actor in a Musical, was a featured performer in “Barney and Friends” playing Monty the Mountie opposite the big purple dinosaur, and performed a broad spectrum of roles in stage plays, Shakespeare, musical theatre, and opera.

Stevenson-Mathews holds an AA in Business from Louisburg College (NC), a BA in English from Berea College (KY), and an MFA in Theatre from Southern Methodist University (TX). He is the son of the late Jim and Jean Mathews of Red Springs, and the grandson of the late Annie Culbreth Gaitley of Red Springs and Martha Catherine Rigan Mathews of Townsville, NC.

For more information about the event, including opportunities to purchase tickets, secure a vendor table, or become a sponsor, visit the chamber’s official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/nshchamberny, call 516-521-8274, or email cpinilla@nshchamber.org.

To purchase tickets through Eventbrite, click HERE.