The Manhattan Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution honored Lucy Aponte with the inaugural Community Service Award. Ms. Aponte is the Founder of Friends of Soundview Park and is credited for transforming the park into its current vibrant place in the community. Manhattan Chapter The ceremony was held at the historic Fraunces Tavern. Manhattan Chapter NSDAR Regent Sarah Shea Lynch and Manhattan Chapter NSDAR Vice-Regent Linda Rhodes Jones presented the award.
Ms. Aponte, a longtime resident of Soundview, was frustrated with the condition of the park in the late 1990s and decided to make a change. After making over 200 calls to the Parks Department and attending all community parks meetings for nine years, she started a Soundview Park community group called Friends of Soundview in 2010. Within a few years of launching Friends of Soundview, the Parks Department installed a butterfly meditation garden, amphitheater, and field house. Friends of Soundview also partnered with Bronx River Alliance to make kayaking and canoeing available to residents. The Soundview Park Art and Music Festival have been one of the most significant events held in the Park for the last eight years, with free fitness programs, live entertainment, and crafts available to all residents. Ms. Aponte, a gifted artist, is also an instructor in the program.
The Manhattan Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which celebrates its 125 anniversary this year, is a branch of the National DAR. The DAR is a non-profit and non-political society led, staffed, and funded entirely by women, dedicated to supporting the mission and interests: of education, historic preservation, and inclusive patriotism. Today’s DAR is a 21st-century organization with a vibrant membership, sharing service opportunities, developing leadership skills, and an appreciation of history. There are nearly 180,000 current members of the DAR in approximately 3,000 chapters across the United States and in several other countries. Membership in the DAR today is open to all women, regardless of race or religion, who can prove lineal bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving United States independence.
The Manhattan Chapter NSDAR’s current leadership is Sarah Shea Lynch (Regent), Linda Rhodes Jones (Vice Regent), Evelyn Carmichael (Chaplain), Audrey Fields (Recording Secretary), Maggie Rhodes Nugent (Corresponding Secretary), Melanie Wells (Treasurer), Alyssa Ritch-Frel (Registrar), Eugenia Askren (Historian), Donna Horak (Librarian). Members include: Mary Marshall Anderson, Patricia Altschul, Eugenia Askren, Maureen Bagwell, Heather L Barlow, Misty Beckenbach-Perez, Anne Elizabeth Fisk Bergan, Elizabeth Boltres, Carolyn Jones Borris, Linda Brooke, Katherine Bryan, Nicole Buzzelli, Evelyn Carmichael, Victoria Hamill Chall, Colette Coffman, Bonnie Comley, Karen Compton, Kelly Costello, Sherry Crichfield, Jennifer Cullinan, Sarah de Donato, Loraine Faina, Audrey Fields, Alyssa Ritch Frel, Becky Gliber, Mary Kate Gorman, Alyssa Haak, Joyce Hanly, Kerensa Harrell, Ellen Rhett Hasell, Donna Horak, Crystal House, Charlotte Hsu, Rebecca Hsu, Sarah Hsu, Jessica Huff, Linda Rhodes Jones, Courtney Katzenstein, Hannah Krause, Michelle Kinney, Heather Lottner, Sarah Shea Lynch, Mary Catherine Ludlam, Jennifer Christine Vaughan Maanavi, Suzanne Mancuso, Colleen Manzo, Martha Millard, Margaret L. Moser, Virginia Mugan, Betty Murray, Miranda Patterson, Joan Pedley, Adriana Pezzulli, Sandra Pezzulli, Renee Phillips, Donna Pointer, Kathy Punzalan, Elizabeth Remington, Elizabeth Davis Reynard, Karen Reynolds, Maggie Elizabeth Rhodes, Muriel Roberts, Grace Sallustio, Rebecca Kay Grindrod Schacht, Sue Scott, Margaret Spencer, Alexandra Spinks, Hannah Streck, Emma Stuhlmann, Vivian Taylor, Katherine Terry, Holly Villaire, and Melanie Wells.
DAR members are women who come from diverse backgrounds and have various interests. Their common bond is their lineal descent from the Patriots of the American Revolution. To learn more about The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, see: www.DAR.org
