The Farmingdale Community Summit Council held its fourth annual Summit Expo and Health Fair at Farmingdale High School this past Thursday. There were over 65 tables comprised of the who's who of our community. Service organizations, youth sports groups, local businesses, charitable organizations, health agencies, police and fire department representatives and private individuals. The village is proud to be a charter member of the summit. We were pleased to have had our own table and have taken part in this wonderful event. I want to thank our Village Hall colleagues who staffed the table. Deputy Mayor Rachiele and Trustee Langon did double duty assisting at the village table and helping at the Breakfast Rotary (Joe Rachiele) and Farmingdale Baseball (Tom Langon) tables. Trustees Pat Christiansen and Butch Starkie were also on hand to answer questions and speak with the many organizations present. I had the pleasure of assisting Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto and Legislator Dave Mejias in picking the raffle prize winners. The generosity of many of our local businesses helped the Summit raise money for their family assistance fund. When you review the exhibitors list you see the backbone of our community. The organizations and individuals who give so much of themselves to make our community a better place to live. The Expo provided attendees the ability to talk face to face with the organizations' leaders, to see what they are really about, what their organization does and answer any questions they might have had.

I hope everyone will think carefully about choosing one of our local businesses who support our community when deciding what bank, insurance company or restaurant to go to. For those of you who attended, I am preaching to the choir. For those of you who did not - you missed a tremendous opportunity to see what makes our small community very, very special. I urge all of you to look at the Community Summit Council list of members and see how you can become involved in one of the many organizations. In addition to the annual Expo and Health Fair, the Summit is responsible for other great community events, including Farmingdale Reads, Farmingdale Remembers, Farmingdale Families, and Farmingdale Jumps. They could always use "new blood" and would welcome the assistance. The summit meets the second Thursday of each month at the Farmingdale Public Library at 7 p.m. Come to a meeting and get involved.