Tickets are on sale for the Lions Club Citizenship Award Dinner honoring Donald P. D’Amato.
The event takes place Thursday, May 25, at 6 PM, at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club. Tickets are $55 per person and include a three-course dinner; there will be a cash bar.
You can buy yours at the Shelter Island Public Library, or use this link to pay online through the Lions Club website.
Citizenship Award honoree Donald P. D’Amato
“Don is a pretty remarkable guy,” said Frank Adipietro, MD, who chairs the nominations committee.
D’Amato has a long record of public service, Adipeitro said, but also is quick to help out “quietly.”
A member of the Lions Club for 37 years, D’Amato serves as the local chapter’s IT director, managing the website (among numerous other tasks). If you’ve ever seen a photo from a recent Lions Club event, Don likely took the picture.
D’Amato also serves on the Senior Citizens Foundation of Shelter Island, Inc. board. In addition, he is an avid kayaker; he helps organize the annual Great Peconic Race, an around-the-Island elite paddle craft race that raises funds for programs for various East End initiatives.
Adipietro said his committee overwhelming felt “that if there is one man who has represented volunteerism perfectly throughout his entire existence, that definitely is Don.”
He is a member of the Town’s Green Options Committee. In 2020, he served on the Police Reform and Reinvention Committee that reviewed the Island’s police service as part of a statewide effort.
D’Amato is a retired scientist whose specialty during a long career was image processing and pattern recognition, according to his LinkedIn bio. He was an associate director of Arthur D. Little, the multinational management consulting firm. For 23 years, he was a consultant to the United States Department of State in the Office of Consular Systems and Technology.
He and his wife, Janet, have long been active in the community.
Lions Club Citizen of the Year
Adipietro also noted that membership in the service organization is not necessary for recognition by the Lions. Here are the guidelines:
- nominees demonstrate a profound commitment to serving in a voluntary capacity the needs of the people of Shelter Island
- nominees, through exceptional efforts, have made outstanding contributions to the well-being of the Island community
- they give assistance without expectation of recognition or reward
- nominees may have served in either a leadership or following role
- they may have been previously nominated for (but not awarded) Citizen of the Year
