Serving Manhasset
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Friday, December 15, 2017
Vol. 5, No. 50
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HOLIDAY GIFT, PARTY GUIDE
SCHOOL BUDGET PROCESS UNDERWAY
NIFA CUTS $18 FROM COUNTY BUDGET
PAGES 33-48
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New director brings bright lights to CASA
C H O R A L C E L E B R AT I O N
Mazzotta former Broadway producer, spiritual director BY A M E L I A C A M U R AT I Lesley Mazzotta said she has worked in the entertainment industry, the nonprofit sector and a couple of Manhasset churches before joining the organization. So, she said, her new job as the Manhasset Community’s Coalition Against Substance Abuse’s new project director seems like a perfect fit. “What it’s really about is helping our youth become healthy socially, academically and emotionally, and that’s really been passion from my days on Broadway — making sure kids are healthy, their stress levels aren’t too high and they really have an understanding of who they are and they can find their identity,” Mazzotta said. Originally from Boston, Mazzotta moved to New York City after graduating from Tufts University with a bachelor’s degree in English and has lived in the city ever since.
Mazzotta said she began her career working for a Broadway producer and climbed the ladder to become producing director of Camp Broadway, an award-winning children’s theater arts education company. From there, she turned her attention to the nonprofit sector and founded After the Storm, an organization that used theater and storytelling to help children in New Orleans heal after Hurricane Katrina while helping rebuild community centers in the area. Mazzotta later decided she wanted to use her educational gifts in a spiritual way and became certified as a spiritual director, working for both Community Reformed Church and Christ Episcopal Church as director of spiritual formation focusing on programming for women and children. When CASA was looking for a new project director after the resignation of former project director Continued on Page 77
PHOTO COURTESY OF VARSITY CHORAL SOCIETY
The Varsity Choral Society presents their 28th annual holiday concert this month in Manhasset. See story on page 67.
Low voter turnout in special district elections ed in the commissioner election on Tuesday. Incumbent Mark S. SauviAlthough approximately gne, running unopposed, gar39,000 registered voters live nered 207 of the votes, while in the Manhasset-Lakeville 9 voters opted to write in a Water District, only 216 vot- different candidate.
BY A M E L I A C A M U R AT I
Approximately .6 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the water commissioner election. In the Manhasset Park District commissioner elecContinued on Page 77
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