On May 5, the Community Chest of Port Washington honored Patti and Doug Wood with its 2014 Citizen of the Year Award, recognizing their many contributions to the Port Washington community. Friends, family, colleagues and community members showing their gratitude packed the Port Washington Public Library to praise the Woods, whose dedication and commitment to causes that improve the health and safety of families in the community and beyond will be appreciated for generations to come.
Doug Wood is a professional composer, recording engineer and music producer. Patti, a professional flutist and recording artist, teaches flute and piano in Port Washington. In 1980, Patti and Doug started Port Washington-based Omnimusic, a music production and publishing company that provides music for television and film to producers around the world. Two recent film projects, On Faith & Fracking and No Second Chance, are helping to shape the debate over hydrofracking in New York State.
In addition to their music business, Patti and Doug have become staunch environmental advocates for pesticide-free school grounds, which led to a Port Washington School District Policy to ban pesticides at Port schools, the first in NY State. They were instrumental in the “ChildSafe Playing Fields Act,” a law that prohibits the use pesticides on playing fields at schools, daycare centers and pre-K programs across New York State, and which is the most protective law in the country and a model for other states. Taking it one step further, they worked with the Port School District to help it become the first in the nation to adopt a “No Idling” policy for school buses and other diesel vehicles on school property in response to emerging science linking exposure to diesel exhaust with both lung cancer and asthma. Patti and Doug co-produced the documentary film “Our Children at Risk,” which explores scientific research linking environmental toxins to children’s health problems. Patti authored “Helping To Heal,” a book for parents of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. They co-host “Green Street,” a radio program that focuses on a wide range of environmental health issues and are the founders of Grassroots Environmental Education, a nonprofit organization that both educates and empowers the public with regard to the health risks of common environmental exposures. The Wood’s run the farm at the Dodge Homestead, which provides organic vegetables for the food pantry at Our Lady of Fatima and are the founders and managers of the Port Washington Organic Farmers’ Market at the Town Dock.
As Julie Meer Harnick, Executive Director of the Community Chest, said at the end of the evening, “We are proud to shine a spotlight on Patti and Doug’s commitment to a safe and sustainable world. We all benefit from their dedicated service.”
