(Stony Brook, NY) The village of Stony Brook, John C. Tsunis, Chairman of the New York State Hospitality and Tourism Association and owner of the Holiday Inn Express Stony Brook joined with the community, business leaders and elected officials to celebrate as they honored Walter Hazlitt on Wednesday April 13, 2015 at 5:30 PM at the Holiday Inn Express located at 3131 Neconsett Highway, Setaucket New York. Mr. Hazlitt received this year’s Brookhaven Community Leadership Award.
Hazlitt, 90 was an appointee of former Gov. George Pataki and has spent sixteen years on the board of Suffolk County Community College. Hazlitt, of Stony Brook, was a Suffolk legislator in 1970 and later became a prominent figure in Suffolk County and Stony Brook.
I sat down with Director of Sales Lenore Paprocky who explained the purpose of the event and the importance of the Brookhaven Community Leadership Award.
Cognac: Welcome back darlings. I am Cognac Wellerlane and we are here at the Holiday Inn Express for a very special event. It’s all about an award presentation. I am here with the Director of Sales and she is going to introduce herself and explain about this event this evening.
Lenore: Hi, my name is Lenore Paprocky, Director of Sales here at the Holiday Express Inn at Stony Brook and this event is one of the semi-annual events that we do in honoring local community leaders and people that are community-involved. We like to honor the people who have done some wonderful work in the community.
Here on Long Island?
Lenore: Right here in our backyard, absolutely. Actually the name of the award is the Brookhaven Community Leadership Award. So we like to stay in our backyard and we pick people who are disserving of it. People who not only have done some work in Brookhaven Community but also the people that have done volunteer work hoping to better our community. That is what we are looking for.
Hoping to better our community. Now tell my audience how many years you have been doing this–presenting this very special award?
Lenore: This is our third year doing it. We have had other recipients, really outstanding community leaders such as Edna Gerard who actually just passed last year.
Oh, I am sorry to hear that.
Lenore: But in the meantime we were lucky to have, I feel, honored her before she passed. Her husband, Gene–we did the two of them together.
Oh that is wonderful.
Lenore Paprocky, Director of Sales, with Cognac.
Lenore: It was a terrific event. They were instrumental in making the town of Brookhaven a wonderful and better place to live. That is what we are looking to do.
Stony Brook is a beautiful, historical town and it’s been around for so many centuries.
Lenore: Definitely historical. I don’t know how long. Old Stony Brook Village is gorgeous and the Stony Brook community itself is absolutely stunning with so many things to do. People don’t know about all the great things there are to do.
That’s why I am here. I am here to inform everyone that Long Island is a beautiful place to live. It’s rich with culture, history and art. There is so much to do, see and read about. You can always come to Longisland.com and our events calendar has a whole list of wonderful events that people should participate in. Long Island is a beautiful place from Lido Beach to the Hamptons to Montauk. It’s a gorgeous place, don’t you agree?
Lenore: Absolutely, from shore to shore you have the beautiful beaches on the south shore and on the north shore you have the nice bay…it’s beautiful.
Tell my audience why you chose Mr. Hazlitt for this award. What was the reason for that?
Lenore: Mr. Hazlitt has been, as we know, around for quite a while. He has not only been a part of the community as a whole but he also has been in a political realm. He has done some wonderful work in that regard and he has also been instrumental in our fire department. The fire department does so many wonderful out reaches. That was one of the things that made us look harder at him becoming a recipient of this award. I think that he has first-handedly taken on to help raise money like Stony Brook Hospital… So he has been involved in a lot of different things. That is why we chose him tonight. There will be a lot of people speaking about his different accomplishments.
I want you to tell my audience where we can go to learn more information. What is the website?
Lenore: The best bet is to go to our website. The website is StonyBrookNY.hiexpress.com.
Later I spoke to Honoree Walter Hazlitt about the importance of receiving the Brookhaven Community Leadership Award.
Honoree Walter Hazlitt and Cognac.
Cognac: Tell my audience what this award means to you.
Walter: It is a chance for me to acknowledge the lifestyle and all the positive things about living in Stony Brook. I have been here for eighty-five years as a summer resident and finally moved here permanently. I have enjoyed the quality of life seeing my children and grand children grow-up.
