PASCACK VALLEY—Congratulations to The Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce 2023 Citizens of the Year: the Napoletano Vitale family and Dee Gillen.
They’ll be honored at the 2023 Citizen of the Year Awards Dinner Tuesday, April 25 at 6 p.m. at Seasons Catering, Township of Washington.
The 2023 Citizen of the Year Awards Dinner will feature a silent auction in addition to dinner, drinks, and the awards program to help raise more funds for the GPVCOC, The Black Poster Project, Grace’s Gold Ribbon Gang, and the Chamber.
The non-profit GPVCOC promotes the business and community interests of the greater Pascack Valley including Montvale, Park Ridge, Woodcliff Lake, Hillsdale, Westwood, River Vale, Washington Township, Oradell, Old Tappan and Emerson.
It says John Vitale and Alissa Napoletano Vitale were inspired during their honeymoon in Paris and Tuscany in 2012 to create Sogno Coffeehouse, along with Alissa’s parents Joe and Cheryl Napoletano.
Within a year they expanded to open Caffe Anello, a staple in the Westwood community, with Tuscan-inspired dishes and more recently a full-service bar.
Early in the pandemic, while the cafe was closed to the public for in-house dining, the family found a way to extend their reach beyond their doors.
The Napoletano family aided in the efforts to make and bring hot meals to frontline workers through their Anello Feeds First campaign.
April 2020 to October 2022, Anello Feeds First, with the support of the community who purchased meals at $10 each, John created and delivered more than 48,000 meals.
To date, that number has more than doubled. Eighty percent of all proceeds raised went to making and delivering meals; 20% was put aside to helping small business of Westwood and Greater Pascack Valley Small Businesses.
The Napoletano family has now revamped its initial initiative into The Wonderful World of Birthday Wishes. It teamed up with Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital and Grace’s Gold Ribbon Gang to delivery birthday cakes, gifts, and meals to families, and healthcare providers of kids under 18 years old who are hospitalized on their birthday.
Dee Gillen, a lifelong resident of Haworth, with her husband Greg, are the proud parents of Scott, Deborah, and Eric.
In 2015, after losing Scott to an overdose, Gillen attended the first of many overdose awareness event. During one of these events Gillen felt there would be a greater impact to have posters of lost loved ones surrounding the speaker.
In 2019, Gillen founded The Black Poster Project. Since its inception, tragically, the project has grown from 50 awareness posters to more than 550. Gillen hand-makes each poster, starting with a photo submitted by the grieving family — and at no cost to them.
Gillen travels throughout New Jersey and New York, displaying these posters of loved ones in an exhibit, “Silent Memorials.” Volunteers usually assist with setup at these events, but transportation of these posters now requires a large van and the need for raising funds.
In summer 2022, Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-5) honored Gillen with a Fifth District Hometown Hero award. He said, “She brings together grieving families, people in recovery, and local communities, in an effort to educate attendees about the dangers of alcohol and drug use.”
Tickets to the awards dinner can be purchased at pascackchamber.org/coty.
2023 Donors and Sponsors
- C2 Education
- Fig & Tomato
- New York Giants
- New York Jets
- New York Red Bulls
- Otis Makes Things
Past Citizens of the Year Honorees
Citizen of the Year awards have been given every year by the Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce every year since Harold Effron was first honored in 1974. Here are the previous recipients of the Citizen of the Year award:
- Peggy Andrews (2012)
- James R. Beattie
- Lynne Bennett
- John Birkner (2012)
- Donna Bott (2008)
- Rev. Norman Brinkmann*
- Lupe Budelman*
- Andre DiMino
- Libby and Keith Durie (2016)
- Harold Effron* (1974)
- Bernard J. Finnegan
- Joseph Fisher
- Mike Fitzsimmons (2018)
- George Haskew Jr.
- Timothy Hampton
- The Hodges Family (2015)
- John Johl
- Skip* and Nina Kelley (2013)
- Lois Kohan
- William Kroepke* (2010)
- Scott Laughton (2021)
- Thomas Lehmann*
- Bill McLaughlin (2021)
- Jeanne Martin (2015)
- Det. Rachel Morgan (2011)
- George Mulhauser (2007)
- Charles Naden*
- Bea Napier (2010)
- James Napolitano
- Father Thomas J. Norton (1996)
- Debra Oberg-Kmiecik
- Julia Ogden (2018)
- Florine Ponton*
- Harry Randall* and family (2009)
- Kathy P. Randall
- John Redden* (2004)
- Yash Risbud (2019)
- Donald J. Ruschman
- Jay and Elin Stolz
- Lee Tremble
- Susan C. Vaccaro (2019)
- Sophie Werner*
- Fred Winkler* (2008)
- Louis R. Ycre Jr.
- Bergen Medical Volunteer Initiative (2016)
*deceased