2006 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

ANTHONY MESSINEO

President, Stevenson Printing

Anthony Messineo has been impersonating a
very popular character for more than 20
years. He’s been pretending to be, none other
than Santa Claus, since 1977, when he brought the
Salvation Army (“Ringing the Bells”) Program to
Glen Cove while serving as president of the Glen
Cove Rotary Club. He’s also stood in for “the big
man” at the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce
Breakfast with Santa for two decades.

“It’s amazing to see little children giving money,
putting their dimes into the kettle,” says Messineo
who, like Santa, has a special place in his heart for
children. He tells a story about an experience he had
while standing outside a store “ringing the bell.” He
noticed a little boy watching from inside; finally the
boy came out and said, “You’re not doing it right.
You gotta say, ‘Ho, ho, ho.’” Messineo adds, “That
was easy for him to say, but when you’re out there
awhile, you’re freezing!”

But the role of Santa does come easy to this man
who has been spreading good will and adhering to
the Rotary motto: Service Above Self. A believer in
the philosophy that being a good businessman means
being a good citizen, Messineo joined Rotary in 1967,
shortly after becoming owner and president of
Stevenson Printing in Glen Cove.

Messineo is president of the 2005-06 Rotary District
7250 Gift of Life program, bringing children to the

United States for life-saving open heart surgery. He
has been involved with the program since 1977, a
member of the board of directors since 1982, and it
can be said that when the children come to Long
Island for open heart surgery, Messineo opens his
heart!

“Once you go to the airport to meet the child,
you’re hooked,” Messineo claims. “Everyone
involved will tell you the same thing.” He adds that
after the surgery, when you see the child up and
about, “You get to thinking—wow!—you had something
to do with it. It’s a great experience.” Gift of
Life was initiated by a member of the Manhasset
Rotary Club in 1975 and has arranged operations in
the U.S. for approximately 7,000 children worldwide.

Messineo was instrumental in coordinating the Gift
of Life program with Russia and China. Through a
relationship with a Russian employee at his printing
business, he was able to connect just the right people.
During a business project with the Chinese Center in
Hempstead, he found out the group was bringing
Chinese children to the United States, but had no host
families. Messineo was able to bring them into Gift of
Life, too. He tells another story:

On one occasion, he and his wife picked up a 13year-
old Russian girl and her mother at the Ronald
McDonald House in New Hyde Park. They wondered
what kind of activity they could offer their

guests and decided to bring them to their daughter
Cindy’s house. Messineo’s son-in-law went on the
Internet and discovered a site where the Russian girl
and his sons (aged 12 and 14) could talk to each other
through a translation program. “They had the greatest
time,” he says.

Add to Messineo’s “list” of contributions and
accomplishments, his service as Rotary District
Governor in 2002-03. At the California training session
— “a unique experience, itself,” he says — he
was among 600 District Governors from around the
world. His responsibilities included visiting the 41
Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau Rotary clubs, guiding
them and helping run programs.

Messineo also spreads goodwill and encourages
self esteem through various Rotary endeavors. He
began a Student of the Month program with Glen
Cove High School, which recognizes outstanding students,
who themselves are involved in community
service, and presents them with a certificate and savings
bond at a Rotary meeting. He helped coordinate
a blood pressure screening program through the community
hospital, and he participated in raising funds
to purchase equipment for the Glen Cove Ambulance
Corps. Through his “Dress a Child” program, Rotary
raises money to buy new clothes for children whose
families do not have the resources to buy them. And,
Messineo and Rotary have supported Hermandad, an
organization working primarily in rural communities
of Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen
local community organizations and accomplish sustainable
development. They are well known for their
work in the Dominican Republic, assisting villagers
in building aqueducts and irrigation systems, promoting
reforestation efforts and home gardens to
support family nutrition.

Sponsored by his Rotary club, Messineo received
the distinguished Paul Harris Founders Award in
1989. The club’s $1,000 donation to Rotary helped
continue the service organization’s fine work, including
its polio immunization program, inoculating children
in underserved countries around the world. In
the same year, the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce
honored Messineo with its “Man of the Year” award.
He served as Chamber president for two years and
has been on the board since 1987. He also served as
vice president and board member of the Glen Cove
Business Improvement District, working to revitalize
Glen Cove’s downtown and maintain business
growth and development.

Through his business contacts, Messineo has
reached out to Nassau AHRC and supports its children
and adults with mental illness. He is one of the
sponsors of AHRC’s annual Margiotta Golf Classic
and the Camp Loyaltown Auction. He was Grand
Marshal of the organization’s walk-a-thon in 2003,
and generously donates back to AHRC a portion of
the cost of all its print projects.

Messineo lives in South Huntington with his wife
RoseMarie. They have three children — Cindy, Glenn
and Don — who have often become involved in their
father’s community service — including Glenn’s
service as Santa Claus. The Messineos are proud of
their seven grandchildren, too.

Certainly not a complainer, Messineo says he often
attends charity functions, particularly for his business
clients, like St. Francis Hospital, Family and
Children’s Association and AHRC. Yet, he quips,
“ Between Agnes Funk’s associations and mine, I’m
often on the go. Have tux, will travel!”

NETWORKING® January 2006