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What’s INSIDE
DECEMBER 25 - 31, 2025
Vol. 25 No. 52
HERALD PERSON oF tHE YEAR Catherine razzano
Feeding the needy, and inspiring youth Catherine Razzano’s mentorship with Kiwanis shapes future leaders in E.M. By Joseph D’Alessandro
Longtime F.D. members thanked for their service. Page 6
What makes a house, or a town, a home? To East Meadow’s Catherine Razzano, it’s a sense of community. Razzano, 62, devotes her working life to real estate sales, for Coldwell Banker American Homes. For the past 16 years she has worked with aspiring homeowners on deals that are often the biggest of their lives. “I got into it to make it a much calmer process for people,” she said. In her spare time, she is a passionate member of East Meadow’s Kiwanis he’s very Club, where she focuses on youth leadership programs and food collection. In involved in honor of all her efforts as a volunteer her community, over the years, the Herald is proud to name Razzano its 2025 Person of the her family, her Year. church. Selling homes appealed to Razzano as a rare profession in which all parties DoNNa GolDStEiN involved in a deal can be cooperative. She recalled a common saying in the President, East Meadow industry: “It’s the only table you can Kiwanis Club sit down at and everybody will walk away with something that makes them happy,” she said. “Somebody gets paid, somebody gets keys to their home, and somebody could get a check that’s going to pave the way for the future. It’s a positive thing for everybody.” Razzano’s husband, Mark Razzano, is also her partner in real estate. He described her as someone who goes “above and beyond.” “My wife exemplifies service and professionalism,” he said. “Her impact is felt by everyone she works with.” Despite the volume of her work, Razzano makes time in her schedule for her other work, for Kiwanis. “My mother used to always say to ask the busiest woman in the room, and she’ll get the job done,” she said. “That’s really what it comes down to … I’m a mother of three and grandmother of five, so I just learned to do it — and I’m the seventh child of eight, so you had no choice but to get it done.”
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Music in Eisenhower Park all summer long. Page 12
Homecoming celebrations around town. Page 16
For BrEAKING NEWS go to liherald.com
Her career focus is similar to that of her volunteer efforts for the club: laying strong foundations that set people on a good path for the future. Kiwanis is concluding its marathon of holiday season events for the year. In November and December, the organization conducts back-to-back food and toy drives, fundraising parties and special events such as the hamlet’s Christmas tree lighting, which took place on Dec. 5. Razzano chairs the food drives, and serves as liaison between the club and its youth-oriented subsidiary at East Meadow High School, the Key Club. The Key Club, and similar programs for middle and elementary school students, satisfy two of Kiwanis’s goals at once: facilitating programs that help students in need, and offering students a chance to grow through community service. Many of the season’s donation-driven programs are staffed in part by these young club members. In November, they helped collect hundreds of food items outside the Uniondale ShopRite during the Fall Food Drive. Some 150 Kiwanis and Key Club members and additional volunteers reached out to shoppers, taking in enough food to support nearly 120 families, according to Razzano. Afterward students organized and followed through Continued on page 2 Herald file photo
Catherine Razzano coordinates the East Meadow Kiwanis Club’s youth leadership and food collection programs.