STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The decades-long face of Staten Island\u2019s homeless services will step down from her leadership role later this year, the Advance\/SILive.com learned Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Rev. Dr. Terry Troia will end her time as executive director and CEO of Project Hospitality<\/a> later this year to become its president emeritus, and to step into a new administrative role with the West Brighton-based New World Preparatory Charter School.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough I will no longer be leading the organization, I will still dedicate myself to speaking about and supporting the lifesaving work and mission of Project Hospitality, and the lives of the hungry and homeless people Project Hospitality serves, in the public spaces of our island and city where their voices need to be heard,\u201d Troia wrote in an email to the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cI have lived and breathed the mission of Project Hospitality every day, at home and at work, for nearly a half century. I am eternally grateful to God for allowing me to serve the poorest people and families among us through the work of Project Hospitality.\u201d<\/p>\n Spokespersons for the Port-Richmond-based Project Hospitality did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication Tuesday about who will step into Rev. Troia\u2019s leadership role.<\/p>\n Rev. Troia joined Project Hospitality as a volunteer in 1984, just two years after its founding when it was a tiny organization with one $10,000 contract, and mostly served the Island\u2019s hungry and homeless through a soup kitchen and food pantry at a pair of North Shore churches.<\/p>\n In her leadership role, Rev. Troia has overseen the organization\u2019s transformation into a $50 million behemoth with more than 400 staff, over 1,000 volunteers, and several shelter sites around the borough.<\/p>\n