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The Farmingville Hills Chamber of Commerce, Inc. recognizes that it is "time to make a difference" and is offering a $500 scholarship to 2 (two) Sachem East High School Seniors.
2020 Nick Vavas
Time to Make a Difference Scholarship
Awarded to 2 (two) Sachem East High School Seniors
We are offering a $500 scholarship to 2 (two) Sachem East High School Seniors.
To be eligible, the student must be:
1. Graduating from Sachem East this spring.
2. Attending an accredited college, vocational, or trade school in the fall (if selected, they will need to provide us with a letter of acceptance from the school they plan to attend).
To apply, use the form on the right to write a 750 word essay telling us what it means to you to "make a difference" in the Farmingville Community.
All entries must be submitted by Tuesday, April 21st, 11:59PM.
Proceeds from the tips we received at the beer garden during our Annual Farmingville Street Fair help us continue to offer the scholarship year after year in a row. In 2019, our beer garden was made possible thanks to Manhattan Beer Distributor.
One of the chamber's first events was a fundraiser for Nick Vavas, who was a life-long member and at the time, was 24 years old and fighting medulloblastoma brain cancer, and was unable to work. Prior to this, Nick worked at Stop & Shop in the deli department, and as a substitute teacher at Waverly Avenue Elementary School in Sachem.
The chamber, in it's early stage of infancy, raised over $500 for Nick's medical bills. Nick was extremely grateful and began supporting all of the Chamber's events. Events such as our 2012 Dining & Dancing event, our 2 Feasts of Farmingville, farmers market, and all of our Street Fairs until last year, when, dealing with a recurrence of Medulloblastoma, he was unable to walk.
Nick spoke to Stop & Shop, Sachem School District, and Resurrection Church on behalf of the Chamber many times since 2011. With relentless effort, he got permission for the chamber to hand out flyers for all of our events outside of Stop & Shop in Farmingville.
He was a special education elementary school teacher, because he wanted to help the younger kids that people didn't understand, or give a chance to.
When Nick's cancer came back in January of 2019, the chance of a 5 year survival was 10%. He was being treated at Mt. Sinai in NYC due to their excellent neuro department. As a result of the fundraiser, Nick became best friends with our director of membership, Marisa Pizza. She was with him 5 days before he passed. The last thing that he said to her was 'Farmingville'.
CONGRATULATIONS to our 2019 Time To Make A Difference Scholarship winner Joelle Vetter.
Pictured (L to R): Thomas Lohr chamber recording secretary, Gary Carruthers chamber director, Joelle Vetter, Ann-Marie Connor chamber vice-president, Jackie Monette chamber treasurer.