Monday, January 20, 2025
Faith Stallone began her journey in Girl Scouts 12 years ago, under the proud tutelage of her mother, Kerri Stallone, who headed Wantagh’s Troop 3305. In the years since, the pair have led efforts to make a difference in their community.
This year, Faith, 17, a junior at Wantagh High School, earned a Gold Award, the highest honor for a Girl Scout, by educating people about local food insecurity. Over the years, Kerri, 55, has shown her daughter and her sister scouts the importance of service projects that have a lasting impact.
“Right from the start, I try to teach them the word sustainable,” Kerri said, “so they try to do sustainable projects so that they can see the effect of them long after they’re done.”
For their commitment to making their community more informed and enlightened, the Herald is proud to name Kerri and Faith Stallone its 2024 People of the Year.
In the beginning, being a scout was a way for Faith to see friends outside school, but starting around fourth grade, she was exposed to real-world issues, and got involved in donating clothes and hygiene products to local homeless shelters. That, she said, opened her eyes to the struggles of those who are less fortunate.
“At such a young age, there was only so much that we could do,” Faith said, “but even the little handle that we could have on it, we felt that we made an impact.”
When her mother was growing up, she was involved in service projects as a member of the Triangle Girls, a youth organization in New York State, and she knew when Faith entered her life that she wanted to lead others.
“My mom was my Girl Scout leader,” Kerri recalled, “and I knew the minute I found out I was pregnant with a girl, I was like, ‘I’m going to be a Girl Scout leader.’”
Kerri began leading 18 girls in her troop in 2013, when they were kindergartners. One of their first service projects was the Garden Journey, in which they planted a perennial garden at the Wantagh Public Library. She taught them to plant flowers, and the garden is still thriving today. Now she is helping them pursue Gold Awards, inspired by her daughter’s determination to earn hers.
Last year, Faith began her Gold Award Project by hosting a food drive at Viking Graveyard, a haunted house charity in Seaford that collects canned goods around Halloween for Long Island Cares, a nonprofit dedicated to combating hunger. According to William Gonyou, Long Island Cares’ community events and food drive manager, Faith helped collect roughly 700 pounds of food at Viking Graveyard.
Julie Nietsch, the event organizer and a family friend, said that Faith has helped set up the haunted house for the past three years. Last year she spoke with visitors about the importance of food donations and something that might otherwise sound insignificant, but is not: the need for can openers, so needy families can open donated canned goods.
“She finds ways to give back,” Nietsch said of Faith. “She knows she has the ability to share what she was given, and that’s what she does.”
In November 2023, Faith supported the Wantagh Kiwanis Club by working a gravy station at a Thanksgiving food pantry, and promoting a can opener drive. In January this year, she educated younger Girl Scouts in Wantagh and Seaford about global hunger, food sustainability, and the importance of donating canned goods.
For her Gold Award, Faith organized a youth food pantry at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, in Levittown. The pantry, part of her “Hunger Games Program,” empowers kids to host food drives, manage supplies and earn community service hours.
“I like seeing the lasting effects that it has,” Faith said of her projects. “I’m not just helping out in the community, but I’m teaching other people at the same time, so maybe they can get inspired, too, and take on whatever they want to do in life.”
Kerri described her daughter as an ambassador for the Girl Scouts, and credited the organization’s Media Girls program for helping her speak confidently about real-world issues.
Cassie Colgan, senior director of marketing and communications for Girl Scouts of Nassau County, said that Media Girls teaches scouts public speaking skills and how to share their stories with adults and the media. Colgan noted that Faith, who is still in the program, started as a shy Brownie at age 6, but grew more confident over time, becoming comfortable talking about her experiences.
“Just being comfortable with who she is and what she likes to do really helps her make the world a better place,” Colgan said.
After earning her Gold Award, Faith continued her community service. She raised over $1,000 to send an underprivileged child to Camp Kiwanis, a summer camp in upstate New York that provides recreational and educational programs for children and adults with developmental disabilities, promoting the effort at local events and delivering the donation to the Wantagh Kiwanis Club in September.
Faith hopes to continue giving back well into adulthood. Her mother hopes she will do so in college. As for Kerri, she has joined the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce as a way to get involved with her community.
“I want to be someone that someone else can count on,” Kerri said. “I want them to know I can get it done, so I’ve put myself on different platforms in the last year so that I’ll always have an opportunity to volunteer.”
Her daughter emphasized the importance of overcoming the initial hesitation to help others. She believes that helping should never be embarrassing, and wants to set an example by stepping outside her comfort zone to support her community.
As for Kerri, she credits her organization skills for her ability to balance leadership with work and family. “If you keep your goals organized, you can always make time to help others,” she said.
In addition to her Girl Scout achievements, Faith is a member of the Miss Wantagh Court, a program that also encourages community involvement, as well as student government and Key Club, a student-led high school organization that’s part of Kiwanis International.
She has begun visiting colleges, and has been inspired by the activities of campus service clubs to plan her next project.
“I feel like I look at her and I see the wheels turning, like she’s not done,” her mother said. “Even though she’s going to be a senior next year, she’s not done.”
