“Legends of the Village” Honored

“Legends of the Village” Honored

Ours is a unique community – a place that holds dear the values of diversity, creativity and open-mindedness.

These few square miles of “Village” within the greater Manhattan neighborhood have drawn together people – conformists and non-conformists alike – who have been driven to “make a difference.”

Writing in The Villager last month, Ed Koch commented, “The character of the Village will never change, because it is the people living here that give it its unique energy and character.”

Villager readers no doubt saw the supplement about Village Care of New York, the not-for-profit care organization where I work. Village Care, with its iconic Village Nursing Home, is celebrating its 30^th anniversary. Our organization was founded by the kind of people to which Ed Koch was referring – people who created a valued community resource, and who went on from there to respond to the AIDS epidemic as it swept through their community.

Those who moved Village Care forward to serve persons living with HIV/AIDS and to expand care for seniors have been, for the most part, everyday people with an intense desire to improve and serve their community.

Over the past decade, we at Village Care have sought to honor the wide range of individuals – both the famous and the not-so-well-known – who have made so many contributions to the Village community, and to broader society as well.

We have done this through our Legends of the Village Calendar, which we make available each year as a collectible item to donors and friends of the organization. In the 2008 calendar, which is now available, we feature individuals such as Dr. Charles P. Vialotti, a real “village” doctor who had a family practice here for 65 years until he retired last year...at 97! And others, ranging from Anna Deavere Smith, actor and NYU professor, to cabaret star Joanne Beretta to humorist Paul Krassner.

On Monday, November 12, at NYU’s Kimmel Center, Village Care hosted our Legends of the Village dinner and awards ceremony. This year we honored Charles B. Persell, a long-time board member who served as our chairman for the past ten years, with The Lenore Zola Award. Charlie moved to Greenwich Village in the ‘60s and has been engaged in civic and community work throughout his career. He played a prominent role in our organization for the past 25 years.

We will also be presented the William F. Passannante Award to Daphne Rubin-Vega, who first lit up Broadway with her debut as Mimi in the original cast of Rent, which earned her a Theater World Award and a Tony nomination.

Tony award-winner LaChanze performed for the guests.

Through Legends of the Village, we have the opportunity to recognize those whose life and work embody the unselfish and embracing spirit of Greenwich Village, and at the same time help raise needed funds for worthy programs for older adults.