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HERALD
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DECEMBER 26, 2024 - JANUARY 1, 2025
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Vol. 72 No. 53
HERALD PEOPLE oF tHE YEAR FAith & Kerri StAllone
A mother and daughter always thinking of others By CHARLES SHAW
Faith Stallone began her journey in Girl Scouts 12 years ago, under the proud tutelage of her mother, Kerri Stallone, who headed Wantagh’s Troop 3305. In the years since, the pair have led efforts to make a difference in their community. This year, Faith, 17, a junior at Wantagh High School, earned a Gold Award, the highest honor for a Girl Scout, by educating people about local food insecurity. Over the years, Kerri, 55, has shown her daughter and her sister scouts the importance of service projects that have a lasting impact. “Right from the start, I try to teach them the word sustainable,” Kerri said, “so they try to do sustainable projects so that they can see the effect of them long after they’re done.” f you keep For their commitment to making their your goals community more informed and enlightened, the Herald is proud to name Kerri organized, you and Faith Stallone its 2024 People of the can always Year. make time to In the beginning, being a scout was a way for Faith to see friends outside help others. school, but starting around fourth grade, she was exposed to real-world issues, and KERRI StAlloNE got involved in donating clothes and hyLeader, Wantagh giene products to local homeless shelters. Girl Scouts That, she said, opened her eyes to the struggles of those who are less fortunate. “At such a young age, there was only so much that we could do,” Faith said, “but even the little handle that we could have on it, we felt that we made an impact.” When her mother was growing up, she was involved in service projects as a member of the Triangle Girls, a youth organization in New York State, and she knew when Faith entered her life that she wanted to lead others. “My mom was my Girl Scout leader,” Kerri recalled, “and I knew the minute I found out I was pregnant with a girl, I was like, ‘I’m going to be a Girl Scout leader.’” Kerri began leading 18 girls in her troop in 2013, when they were kindergartners. One of their first service projects was the Garden Journey, in which they planted a perennial garden at the Wantagh Public Library. She taught them to plant flowers, and the garden is still thriving today. Now she is helping them pursue Gold Awards, inspired by her daughter’s determination to earn hers. Last year, Faith began her Gold Award Project by hosting a food drive at Viking Graveyard, a haunted house charity in Seaford that collects canned goods around Halloween for
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Long Island Cares, a nonprofit dedicated to combating hunger. According to William Gonyou, Long Island Cares’ community events and food drive manager, Faith helped collect roughly 700 pounds of food at Viking Graveyard. Julie Nietsch, the event organizer and a family friend, said that Faith has helped set up the haunted house for the past three years. Last year she spoke with visitors about the importance of food donations and something that might otherwise sound insignificant, but is not: the need for can openers, so needy families can open donated canned goods. “She finds ways to give back,” Nietsch said of Faith. “She knows she has the ability to share what she was given, and that’s what she does.” In November 2023, Faith supported the Wantagh Kiwanis Club by working a gravy station at a Thanksgiving food pantry, and promoting a can opener drive. In January this year, she educated younger Girl Scouts in Wantagh and Seaford about global hunger, food sustainability, and the importance of donating canned goods. For her Gold Award, Faith organized a youth food pantry at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, in Levittown. The pantry, part of her “Hunger Games Program,” empowers kids Continued on page 2
Courtesy Kerri Stallone
Faith Stallone with her mother and troop leader, Kerri Stallone, who has guided Faith along her 12-year journey in Girl Scouts. Their dedication to community service, from food drives to sustainable projects, has left a lasting impact on Wantagh.