2021 HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our readers
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Seaford
HERALD 2020
YEAR IN REVIEW
Citizen
DECEMBER 31, 2020 - JANuARY 6, 2021
What’s
Vol. 69 No. 1
Adding one child’s smile at a time
INSIDE
By J.D. FREDA jfreda@liherald.com
T Courtesy St. William the xx/Herald Abbot
Local residents refocus to maintain xx their faith via Facebook. Page 0
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Andrew Garcia/Herald-Citizen xx/Herald
Black xx Lives Matter protesters seek racial justice across the SouthPage Shore.0
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Bridget Downes/Herald xx/Herald
Police officers play ball to stop the xx stigma against seeking help.Page 0
he Herald-Citizen’s Person of the Year, Elise Ann HowellFehling, has had many titles over the years — waitress, administrative assistant, life skills coach — but none of them adequately sums her up. It seems more appropriate to define HowellFehling by what she does best and most often — help others. The Seaford native and lifelong resident learned many years ago the importance of helping those who need it, and in a year of nearly unfathomable loss, she provided a glimmer of light to her neighbors in the hamlet. From creating and delivering “smile bags” to local families to continuing her work with special-needs children in the school district’s Career Development/Life Skills Program, Howell-Fehling devoted herself to her community in 2020 — as she does every year. Howell-Fehling, 47, grew up in a house on Ocean Avenue in the Harbor section of Seaford. After it was damaged in Hurricane Sandy in 2012, she elevated the house on stilts, and she moved back in. Her father, Bruce Howell, was a general contractor before becoming an engineer. Her mother, Mary, was a homemaker, and was active in the Seaford PTA. Elise Ann, her brother, Roy, who is two years older, and her sister, Allison, who is two years younger, attended Seaford schools. She has adolescent memories of a close-knit community, where families “took care of each other” — a lesson reinforced by her father. “He brought us up to think of others first,” Howell-Fehling said.“He instilled that in us. If there was a snowstorm, when the first drop of snow hit, we would already be in full winter gear and outside, digging out our elderly neighbors.” Howell-Fehling’s inclination to help was boosted by a strong work ethic. At 13
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NEWS
EliSE xxAnn HowEll-FEHling
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oon enough, I xx xx was delivering 600 smile bags a week.
Infections as of Dec. 31
For BrEAKING go to liherald.com
HERALD PERSON oF tHE YEAR
695
CoMMuNItY uPDAtE
Infections as of Dec. 24 638
she started busing tables at the White Whale restaurant, on Bayview Avenue near her home. Roy was a dishwasher, and Allison became a busgirl, too. When Elise Ann entered Seaford Middle School, she broadened her interests. She played field hockey, joined the kickline and cheerleading teams and developed into a talented artist. “I think I stood out within the art community when I got to high school,” she said. “It intrigued me.” She considered going to art school, but her father wasn’t keen on the idea. “He was very strict, and he didn’t think it could be a career,” she recalled. “Then, near the [end of high school], my art teacher came to my house. She told my father that it would be a grave injustice if I didn’t continue [my] art [career].” She attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, but came home a few years later, wanting to return to the restaurant industry. She worked as a waitress at local restaurants, including the now-shuttered Lovin’ Oven and Runyons. She enjoyed the service industry, she said, because she enjoyed cheering people up. “I love the thrill of having someone come in who might be unhappy and making them happy when they leave,” Howell-Fehling said. The desire to make people feel comfortable came naturally to her, and a few years after she came home from college, she was presented with an unexpected opportunity. “I was just asked to come help shred papers,” she said of her first encounter with the Coalition for Domestic Violence, which is now part of Safe Center LI in Bethpage. After just a day of volunteering, she was offered a job. She worked for the nonprofit for 15 years, as an administrative assistant, in the finance department and helping to organize fundraising events. Howell-Fehling Continued on page 4 Courtesy Elise Ann Howell-Fehling
Elise Ann Howell-Fehling, above right, with her late mother, Mary, spent the early part of the pandemic lifting the spirits of Seaford’s children by creating and distributing “smile bags.”