TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N,J.—To the Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce, Theresa “Teri” Capparelli is a nonprofit leader, fundraiser and community advocate. To her daughters, she is also the mother who never missed a game, made every holiday memorable and somehow managed to do it all in heels.
Dr. Peter Wohl’s professional accomplishments filled another set of proclamations. His friend Jonathan Heit offered a more personal measure: Try spending a day greeting nearly everyone you encounter by name, asking about their lives and sending them away smiling.
“It’s exhausting,” Heit said. “And he does it with no caffeine.”
Those affectionate portraits helped tell the story of the chamber’s Citizens of the Year dinner, held Oct. 20 at Seasons Catering in the Township of Washington. With family, friends, colleagues, and public officials gathered to honor Capparelli and Wohl, the evening gave two people accustomed to helping others a turn on the receiving end.
The awards date to 1974, when the chamber honored Harold Effron. According to the evening’s program, Effron exemplified giving back without expecting anything in return, notably as an honorary member of the Park Ridge Volunteer Fire Department.
Capparelli and Wohl join a roster spanning generations of local service. Recent recipients include Peter Wells and Jennifer Keilly Errity in 2025; Robin Malley and Jeff Jasper in 2024; and Dee Gillen and the Napoletano Vitale family in 2023. Earlier honorees include Father Thomas J. Norton in 1996, Detective Rachel Morgan in 2011, and Libby and Keith Durie and the Bergen Medical Volunteer Initiative in 2016.
Chamber President Anthony Rizzo, publisher of Pascack Valley City Lifestyle, guided a program that included introductions, acceptance speeches, state and county recognitions, and the chamber’s own awards. The citations documented careers in nonprofit service, health care and business. The speeches supplied the details that people closest to the honorees wanted everyone else to know.
There was another milestone to celebrate, too. Wohl’s son, Hudson, was turning 13, and a cake with a candle gave the birthday boy his own moment of recognition.
Rizzo placed those individual contributions within the chamber’s broader work. Representing 10 Pascack Valley towns, the organization brings together local business owners, professionals and community members to support businesses and give back to their communities.
“Our mission is about bringing people together and building lasting relationships,” he said. (The Press Group, which owns Pascack Press, is a member.)
That work includes meetings on the first Friday of each month and an annual Mayors Breakfast, where local leaders discuss developments in their towns and the year ahead. The chamber also awards the Skip Kelley Memorial Scholarship to a graduating high school senior from each of the 10 communities it represents. “Giving back is just as important as networking,” Rizzo said.
For Capparelli, the personal tributes began with daughters Lindsey Cinque and Allie Graff, who explained that their brother, who lives in Tampa, could not attend. They suggested his absence settled the question of who the favorites were.
They described their mother as an accomplished baker and hostess, an energetic entrepreneur and the person they still call first for advice or encouragement. Her brownies mention, as did the determination that taught her children to pursue their own ambitions.
“She’s led by example, and I think we’re all better people because of it,” they said.
The qualities they knew at home, they explained, were the same ones she brought to the organizations she served.
“She listens, she remembers, she follows through,” they said in their joint introduction, “and she makes people feel like they matter, because they do.”
Capparelli’s public work includes her service as executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Bergen County, her position as a development specialist with the Women’s Rights Information Center in Englewood, and her volunteer work with the Franciscan Community Development Center in Fairview.
Her county proclamation — on hand was Bergen County Commissioner Vice Chair Tracy Silna Zur — also recognized her leadership with the Greater Pascack Valley and Mahwah Regional chambers of commerce and the advisory board of Visions Federal Credit Union.
Capparelli spoke through emotion as she thanked friends, colleagues, volunteers and family. She credited the people who had supported her through difficult times as well as successes, and directed attention toward those whose daily work often receives little recognition.
“A community is more than a place where we live,” she said. “It is a collection of people, stories, friendships, acts of kindness, and shared dreams.”
She said, “You don’t have to change the whole world to make a difference. Sometimes, you simply have to make a difference in one person’s life.”
State Sen. Holly Schepisi said Capparelli’s remarks brought to mind her uncle, former Westwood Mayor Skip Kelley, whose name lives on in the chamber’s scholarship program. She recalled how, beginning with the first local vigil over Sept. 11, he asked people to perform a random act of kindness the following day.
Wohl, CEO and owner of The Spine & Health Center of New Jersey, was recognized for his work in health care and for supporting local entrepreneurs through his LocalBizCast podcast.
He accepted the honor with a warning about the chamber’s judgment in handing him a microphone. “Clearly the chamber did not do their due diligence and background checks,” he joked.
Looking around the room, he described the pleasure of seeing people from different chapters of his life together: kindergarten friends, college and chiropractic school classmates, professional colleagues, neighbors and family.
He spoke about helping patients regain their lives, giving business owners a place to tell their stories, and using humor to make difficult days a little easier.
“Success isn’t just about what we accomplish,” he said. “It’s about what we help others accomplish.”
His thanks became especially personal as he addressed his children, Hudson and Emma, his wife, Kelly, and his mother. He also remembered his late father, a man he described as kind, funny and able to make people feel good simply by being around them.
Their temperaments differed, Wohl said, but their aim was much the same: to leave people a little happier than they found them.
The dinner also helped support the work being celebrated. Rizzo described the gala night as the chamber’s largest fundraiser of the year, with proceeds supporting scholarships and community initiatives and a portion of the evening’s profits going to charities chosen by the honorees.
A silent auction drew on donations from local businesses and individuals.