SOUTH FALLSBURG – The SYDA Foundation has announced that Denise Frangipane of Bethel, has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 SYDA Foundation Community Service Award. This prestigious award includes a certificate of merit for outstanding service to the Sullivan County community and a monetary gift of $6,000 to be distributed by the recipient to the charities of her choice.

Since 1986, the SYDA Foundation has sponsored this annual award to recognize and honor local citizens for outstanding community service. The selection committee, comprised of past award recipients and local civic leaders, chose Denise Frangipane to receive this year’s award in recognition of her many years of service to the community of Sullivan County. Denise’s areas of service include environmental protection, advocacy on behalf of women and girls, local historical preservation, beautification and community development.

Denise currently serves as the executive director at Sullivan Renaissance, where she works with her team to support grassroots volunteer efforts to build beautiful, active communities in Sullivan County. In this role, she also helped Sandra Gerry and the Gerry Foundation with the development of Sullivan 180, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of residents of Sullivan County.

In 2000, Denise began working with the Gerry Foundation as part of the research and development team for Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, where she saw the project through from groundbreaking to ribbon cutting. During this time, she established the Harvest Festival and worked on the creation of the Museum at Bethel Woods.

Inspired from an early age by her experiences of the natural beauty of Sullivan County, Denise is passionate about protecting the environment. She joined Sullivan County Environmental to successfully oppose a proposed medical waste facility in Monticello at a site that is now a senior housing facility. As a member of the Bethel Town Council, she advocated to preserve the health and safety of her community from overdevelopment; helped establish the Forest Reserve at Smallwood with a permanent conservation easement; and worked with her colleagues to pass a ban on heavy industrial uses, which included damaging drilling practices.

After graduating from the Duggan School and Monticello High School, Denise attended SUNY Binghamton, where she became involved with issues related to safety for women and children. She returned to Sullivan County after graduation and volunteered with a crisis hotline and was an advocate with Safe Passage, which provided services to survivors of domestic abuse. She also worked for the Center for Discovery and for Catholic Charities in a group home for girls. Later, Denise was appointed by the Sullivan County Manager to develop systems and policies that improved access to the Division of Health and Family Services, including programs for pregnant and parenting teens.

Denise also serves on the board of the Catskills Food Hub, as a member of the board of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Sullivan County, and as a trustee on the board for the Museum at Bethel Woods.

Denise resides in Bethel, with her husband, Dr. William Pammer, and their nine-year-old son, Ian. Her parents, Al and Maria Frangipane, were recipients of the 2013 SYDA Foundation Community Service Award.

Due to ongoing pandemic concerns, the SYDA Foundation Community Service Award will be presented in a virtual format this year. The virtual award presentation will take place on Thursday, November 18, at 10:15 a.m. To request the link to participate, please email csa@syda.org. Everyone is warmly invited to attend.