Huntington Foundation to Honor Suzi Biagi at Gala

The Huntington Foundation for Excellence in Education will honor Huntington High School business teacher and club advisor Suzi Biagi at the organization’s Reach for the Stars gala on Thursday, March 21 at the Harbor Club at Prime. Tickets will be available soon.

Ms. Biagi will be joined by community honoree, Jonathon Dawson, owner of Jonny D’s Pizzeria. “Ms. Biagi and Mr. Dawson share a love of helping people in the community and we are thrilled to honor them at our 2024 Reach for the Stars Gala,” Huntington Foundation President Jennifer Stevens said “Both honorees give of their time and resources so readily and with joy; they embody the true meaning of generosity.”

In addition to teaching business classes, Ms. Biagi is a faculty advisor for the Grandfriends club, A World of Difference club and the Blue Devil mock trial team. She was the high school National Honor Society’s honorary inductee earlier this year.

Those who would like to send a congratulatory message to Ms. Biagi or Mr. Dawson, can do so through HFEE’s “30 for $30” fundraising campaign. For a $30 donation you can write a personal note of congratulations up to 30 words long. Your message will be shared on screen at the HFEE Gala on March 21 and then included in a hardcover memento book, which will be gifted to the two honorees after the event. Click here for more details.

Interested in becoming a sponsor gala or donating a raffle prize or gift certificate? Send a message to Huntington Foundation Vice President Tara Poli at tarapoli@danielgale.com.

Huntington Foundation history

Parent Nancy Lundell came up with the original idea for an educational foundation in 1993. She pulled together a group of people, including fellow district parents Beverly Wayne and Elliot Levine, an attorney who performed the legal work necessary to formally create the Foundation’s corporate structure.

That small group of parents, along with several others, began meeting in the superintendent’s conference room in what was then the administrative wing at Woodhull School. It was from those meetings that the Huntington Foundation for Excellence in Education emerged, becoming a non-profit organization in 1994, with formal bylaws, a logo and a board of directors.

In addition to Mrs. Lundell, Mrs. Wayne and Mr. Levine, the original directors included Diane Kirchner, Tom Webster, Susan Agolia, Paula Schneider and Susan Jouard. The first fundraiser was held on a Sunday afternoon at the old Coco’s Water Café on New York Avenue in Halesite. (The site is now occupied by Prime.)

The original group of volunteers devoted and enormous amount of time to the organization, helping to insure its long-term success.