Raising Funds at the Festival, Ticket by Ticket
The fifth of a series on the people who make the Oyster Festival happen.
“Get your raffle tickets here!”
“You could walk away with 15 thooouuu-sand dollars!”
“Hey there, you could win this boat!”
“Win a three-year lease on this 2011 Audi A4!”
“Buy your raffle tickets here!”
The Oyster Bay Rotary Club raises funds for the community in a variety of ways throughout the Oyster Festival. One way is selling raffle tickets. Each year the club prints 3,000 tickets and sells them for $20 apiece, or six for $100.
Credit cards accepted.
The effort raises about $40,000 which the Rotary distributes to local nonprofit groups, worthy community causes and individuals in need via the Oyster Bay Charitable Fund. Two long-time Rotarians handle raffle sales. Stroll down Audrey Avenue and you’ll find Jim Fuccio at the Rotary’s booth, roll of tickets in hand. Enter Theodore Roosevelt Park and encounter Debra Goyena, lifting her voice over the hubbub.
The winning tickets snare a three-year lease on a new Audi; a fishing boat from Bridge Marine, or $15,000 cash.
The Audi, by Anchor Audi of Lynbrook, is a 2011 model A4.
The four-seater comes equipped with Bluetooth, IPod and Quatro all-wheel drive.
The boat is an 18 foot Bow Rider Angler with 115 Mercury outboard and trailer courtesy of Bridge Marine in Bayville.
There will be an Audi A4 at both raffle booths, and a Bow Rider Angler at Theodore Roosevelt Park.
Together or separate, they make quite an impression.
“You really see people’s eyes pop as they approach the prizes,” said Ms. Goyena. “People start to imagine what winning one of these prizes would be like.”
Meet Debra Goyena
Ms. Goyena began selling raffles about 10 years ago, she said. “They needed someone to do it, so I stepped up.” She has also chaired the Rotary community service and club service programs, handling many administrative details. In 2003-04 she was president of the Oyster Bay Rotary club.
“I got involved in the Rotary through my sister, Donna Lee, and my stepfather, Harry Pinkerton,” she said. “Being involved with Rotary is an incredibly rewarding experience.”
Born in Queens, Ms. Goyena moved with her family to Bayville as a child. After starting her adult life in Huntington, she moved around a couple of times before returning to Bayville where she and her husband, Robert Segarra, a New York City school teacher, have raised two sons and put them through college.
In addition to Rotary service, she is active in the Village Church of Bayville, a Methodist congregation, where she is a certified lay speaker.
A realtor since 1996, Ms. Goyena works through Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes & Estates. The Rotarian recently returned to college to complete work for a bachelor’s degree in education at Old Westbury.
Between job, classes and community service not much time remains for hobbies. Nevertheless, Ms. Goyena enjoys camping, golf and swimming. Less strenuous pastimes include reading and completing sudoko puzzles.
Meet Jim Fuccio
Mr. Fuccio is currently president of the Oyster Bay Rotary Club. An attorney, he grew up in East Norwich and attended Oyster Bay High School.
“My family is from Oyster Bay on both sides,” he said. On the maternal side the lawyer traces his lineage back to Henry Townsend, one of the three Townsend brothers who were among the community’s early settlers. “My father, Louis, was first-generation. His father, my grandfather, came from Italy.”
Mr. Fuccio attended State University at Stony Brook and served one year as student association president. Mr. Fuccio and his three brothers grew up in a home where community service was greatly valued.
“My father was a lawyer and a Rotarian,” said Mr. Fuccio. “He practiced law in Oyster Bay – real estate, estates and trusts, litigation. He was certainly one of my inspirations in choosing to practice law myself.”
Mr. Fuccio received his law degree from Western New England College School of Law and maintains offices in Bayville and Hauppauge. For recreation he hits the town golf course.
Involvement in Rotary is a family legacy. Mr. Fuccio recalled helping his father print and mail out the Rotary newsletter The Clamdigger. “This was back when they still used mimeograph machines, and as a kid I used to help him fold the newsletters and mail them,” he said with a chuckle.
“I got to Rotary about 30 years hence. Many of the names I saw on the mailing list from the mimeograph days are still on it.”
He added, “Funny how things come full circle.”
(The above was submitted by ImageQuest Communications, Oyster Festival promoter.)
