Giordano is Franklin Square’s ‘Citizen of the Year’

If the fastest way to someone’s heart is through their stomach, it’s easy to explain by Vincent Giordano of Tulip Caterer’s is the Franklin Square Historical Society’s citizen of the year.

Giordano, a Franklin Square native whose community involvement runs deep, said he felt honored to be chosen for recognition by the historical society, and hoped to continue serving his hometown long into the future.

“I feel humbled, that’s probably the best way to describe it,” Giordano said. “I do things out of my heart. I don’t do things to get a pat on the back or applause. I just like to do as much as I can to help people.”

Giordano, 46, was born in Franklin Square and educated at St. Catherine of Sienna school before attending H. Frank Carey High School. He credited his close connection to the community of his birth with helping him maintain a civic-minded spirit, something that’s not uncommon among fellow business owners and residents he’s grown up with.

Giordano opened the celebrated Tulip Caterers in 1986, and has since become one of the most familiar and popular faces in the community.

He stays so busy, in fact, that he kept serving customers at his business while on the phone for his Herald interview. It’s all part and parcel of his identity as a consummate businessman in Franklin Square.

“We always try to address any situation — tough situations — in the community before it gets worse” he said. “That could be anything from litter on the turnpike to installing beautiful flower beds on the sidewalk, and keeping up the preservation of the flowers every year to put smiles on people’s faces.”

Giordano has always been a vociferous defender of the Franklin Square business community, something he has done most recently in his role as the 2nd Vice President of the Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce. One thing that’s most important in that role, he said, is the ability to foster communication between businesses.

“I guess you could call me a liaison or a mediator between people in the community,” he said. “If you give me a message today, and ask me to forward it on, it’s guaranteed to be done.”

He said he feels that keeping neighbors talking — both businesses and families — makes the community a better, more stable place to live.

“My big thing is community unity,” he said. “That’s one thing I love about Franklin Square. Whenever there’s a crisis with someone, whether it be an illness in someone’s family, an accident, something negative, Franklin Square’s there to support them one hundred percent.”

Giordano is a familiar face in Franklin Square along with wife Joanne, stepson Austin Ricca, and daughter Olivia Rose. He plans to make a speech during the acceptance of the citizen of the year award on Thursday, April 22.

He said he plans to use the speech to help spread his message bringing people together.

“The ultimate goal, the ultimate feeling inside for me is that there’s so much camaraderie in Franklin Square, and we ought to be doing more to promote that,” he said.”

As to why he thinks he was chosen for the honor, Giordano said he believes its because his compassion for the community comes through in everything he does.

“I care, and it’s like our saying goes ‘if you care, shop the square,’” he said. “I just care about people, it’s not about the money.”