A local community organization will hold its annual fundraising dinner-dance in April, honoring two people who have been an important part of the community.
The Morris Park Community Association’s 43rd Annual Dinner Dance will take place the evening of Saturday, April 8 at the Marina del Rey.
This year, the MPCA selected honorees that have had lenghthy impact to the community, said the organization’s president, Tony Signorile.
They are Benjamin Soccodato, a past principal of P.S. 83 for roughly 13 years and currently an educational consultant to several local community schools and Dr. Edward Casey, a longtime staff member at Calvary Hospital who is a general practitioner and palliative care physician
The MPCA visited Soccodato when he was first appointed acting principal of the community’s largest school which had about 1700 students at the time, he said in an interview, offering their assistance through their community patrol and by supporting school events and activities.
“As a principal, they made my job easier,” said Soccodato of the MPCA, adding “We worked together on may projects.”
The former principal, who left his post in August 2011, said the association served as a bridge to local elected officials in terms of helping him promote the programming the school offered.
“I was very pleased and quite surprised when I got the initial phone call,” said Soccodato.
Dr. Edward Casey has lived in the Morris Park community for 51 years, since his days at NYU Langone Rusk, working in rehabilitative care after being a general practitioner in Connecticut.
In a phone interview, he said that he worked at Calvary Hospital from the 1970s through 2006, starting on Featherbed Lane. The hospital later moved to Eastchester Road.
“I am excited to receive this award,” said Casey, because it recognizes the work he did at Calvary Hospital in palliative care, where the goal was not to rehabilitate so much as to maintain the spirits of the families and patients.
Tickets for the dinner dance are available and cost $100 each. For more information, call the MPCA at (718) 823-0596.
