Hello to all!

As this summer rolls out, we look back with pride on the successes and achievements of North Fork Women since the beginning of 2024.

As the newest president of North Fork Women, I was most pleased to start off with our Annual Meeting in January. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear from and share thoughts with many long-time members, advisory board members, as well as introduce the newest members of our expanded Board.

Since January, we have awarded 17 grants totaling $19,933 thanks to your generosity.

In February, we created the “Pride Love” fundraising event which helped to fund our 2024 parade sponsorship. It was the super fun dance party we all needed mid-winter.

In March we co-sponsored the first “Pride and Progress” forum with Queerli— interviews and open discussions on today’s constantly evolving LGBTQ+ spectrum. We hope to continue the discussion in the coming year.

Our Founders Award event in April was the party of the century, honoring the amazing Barb Pfanz!

In May we enjoyed our sold-out Annual Pride Golf Outing event which exceeded all expectations and was a day full of fun and important fundraising! We want to thank all of our participants and sponsors for making it a fabulous day.

We also provided scholarships for 5 select outstanding local High School seniors to help with their college studies.

June started us off with another fantastic First Friday Friends—this time gracing us with a double rainbow and spectacular sunset — perfect for Pride Month. I was also very happy to have met some new members while I was there. To all new members, please introduce yourselves to us if we don’t find you first! We want to meet you, get to know you, and introduce you to others — WELCOME!

We proudly and joyfully marched again in this year’s North Fork Pride Parade! Kudos and thanks to Lori Panarello, the mastermind of the North Fork Pride Parade. It was a most beautiful day in so many ways, beyond words, that touched many hearts. We also were proud to march in the first inaugural Juneteenth parade in Greenport.

North Fork Women has been mentioned in the local press several times during Pride month!
Please see the featured article on North Fork Women in the Suffolk Times, with thanks to Leslie Weisman who provided our detailed history and evolution. Click here to read the article. 

Many thanks to all who helped us to sponsor several local children to attend summer camp this year, in collaboration with our friends at C.A.S.T. Thank you!

Coming up is our Annual Labor Day Benefit — Sunday, September 1st from 6-9 p.m. at Veteran’s Memorial Park Beach in Mattituck. We hope to see you there to celebrate our community together. If you cannot attend, please consider purchasing raffle tickets to help support our mission to help others. Click here to purchase entry, raffles, sponsorships or to just donate.

I’ll close by expressing my gratitude to our amazing Board, loaded with talent, expertise, and heart — an Advisory Board who has given us their wisdom and the solid foundation on which we proudly continue to build, the truly amazing women of the Grants Committee and HelpHer volunteers, the one and only Barb Pfanz, and especially our membership—we are grateful for your support and community.

My best to all,

Barbara