{"id":75235,"date":"2025-12-19T04:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75235\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T04:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:38:13","slug":"nypd-verrazano-10-13-association-awards-scholarships-at-2025-holiday-luncheon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/75235\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD Verrazano 10-13 Association awards scholarships at 2025 holiday luncheon"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, NY — The New York Police Department retirees\u2019 Verrazano 10-13 Association held their annual Christmas holiday luncheon on Wednesday, where they awarded educational scholarships to family members and announced a change in leadership. <\/p>\n

The luncheon, held at LiGreci\u2019s Staaten in West Brighton, brought together current leaders, association members and NYPD officials, including Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, Deputy Chief Matthew Harrington and Deputy Inspector Eric J. Waldhelm as well as representatives from District Attorney Michael McMahon\u2019s office. It also featured live music and raffles. <\/p>\n

\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro<\/p>\n

Christopher Piazza, the current association president, began the event with an opening address, congratulating members on a successful year and reminding them of the importance of continuing to participate. <\/p>\n

\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Courtesy of Mya Greene<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a list that goes on and on that helps contribute to this association to make us grow, to help us give out those scholarships, to make sure that we give out those donation checks to fallen brothers and sisters in the NYPD, or if there\u2019s tragedy in a retired officer\u2019s life,\u201d he shared. \u201cThat\u2019s what this association was created for. Hence the 10-13, an officer in emergency need, when that\u2019s what this association is about, and I was proud to be your president for the last five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro<\/p>\n

Piazza also announced that this would be his last luncheon as president. After nearly five years leading the organization, he has decided to step down to an advisory position. Current vice president and recording secretary Tom Dembinski will step into the role in the new year. <\/p>\n

Eger, the first female borough commander in Staten Island\u2019s history, also said a few words, sharing her love for the association and gratitude for their involvement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to thank you for your support, for recognizing us, for inviting us here today. We love hearing your stories,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much experience and wisdom in this room, and it\u2019s just really refreshing and amazing to see how you give back to each other. A job that takes a lot from us, that has taken a lot from us, and it\u2019s nice to spend time together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event included a scholarship awards ceremony featuring four recipients, who had all been sponsored by members of the association. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about giving back to our brothers and sisters. They have opportunities for their children. You know, times are tough, and it\u2019s a way of us giving back to the retirees that put in the time and the service on the job,\u201d Piazza said. \u201cWe want to help assist with them and their grandchildren and their children\u2019s educations.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service. Assistant Chief Melissa Eger also spoke at the event.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten. Christopher Piazza awarded a scholarship to a member’s relative during the lunch.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro<\/p>\n

The Verrazano 10-13 College Scholarship, valued at $1,000 and given in memory of Richard Commesso, went to Lucy Dattilo for Molloy College. She was sponsored by Thomas Dembinski. <\/p>\n

The Charles Maganato College Scholarship, valued at $500, was awarded to Sidney Paul for San Diego State University. She was sponsored by Thomas Marten. <\/p>\n

\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro<\/p>\n

The Blue Wreath College Scholarship, valued at $500, was awarded to Markos Zaranis for Seton Hall University. He was sponsored by John Zaranis. <\/p>\n

The Verrazano 10-13 High School Scholarship was awarded to Joseph Masella for Monsignor Farrell High School. He was sponsored by his grandfather, Joseph Masella. <\/p>\n

\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro\"NYPDThe Verrazano 10-13 Association’s annual holiday luncheon at LiGreci’s Staaten featured scholarship presentations and President Piazza’s farewell after five years of service.Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro<\/p>\n

While contributing to education is a core part of the association, their main goal is to continue to support the health and wellbeing of their members, while continuing to grow the community. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a tradition that\u2019s been going on for probably over 10 to 15 years. We\u2019re here to educate them on their health care programs. We\u2019re trying to help them on what\u2019s going on in the world and financial assistance,\u201c he shared. \u201dThis is more than a monthly meet and greet where we\u2019re keeping everybody in the loop, and it\u2019s a brotherhood and sisterhood that will never change. They\u2019re here to gather and talk about the old stories and to reminisce.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, NY — The New York Police Department retirees\u2019 Verrazano 10-13 Association held their annual Christmas holiday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-75235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}