CHARLES H. FLYNN HUMANITARIAN AWARD

Mary L. Pepe Honored With Valley United Way’s 1996 Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award.

Irene G. Smith, Chair of the 1996 Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award Selection Committee, announced that this year’s Award recipient is Mary L. Pepe. “The Flynn Award was established in 1971 in honor of the late publisher of the Evening Sentinel,” Smith said. “The Award recognizes an individual for his/her outstanding volunteer leadership to the Lower Naugatuck Valley. The task of selecting the recipient was a difficult one this year because we received nearly twenty outstanding nominations. We feel, however, that Mary Pepe’s long history of volunteering and leadership exemplify the letter and spirit of the Flynn Award criteria,” Smith concluded.

A native of the Valley, Pepe is currently the Director of Human Resources at Tele-Media Company of Western Connecticut. Long active in “giving back tho the community,” Pepe has served in numerous roles as a volunteer. Her current activities include serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. In her position as the Foundation’s Board Chair, she is serving on the Planning Committee for the National Conference of the Twenty-Five Largest Community Foundations.

Pepe is also a Director of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Shelton Economic Development Corporation. She serves as a Trustee and Executive Board member of the Hewitt Organization and is a member of the Executive Board of the Housatonic Council of Boy Scouts of America.

She has served, in the past, as a member of the Board of Directors of Valley United Way and was Board President for two years. She also served as President of the Birmingham Group/Valley Mental Health Center and the Derby Education Association.

Educated at the College of New Rochelle, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree, and Fairfield University, from which she received a Master of Arts degree, Pepe was a teacher in the Derby Public Schools. She also held the position of Director of Public Relations and Staff Development for the Derby Public Schools.

Her long history of service to the Valley has been recognized over the years. She received the “Good Neighbor Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Mental Health” from the Birmingham Group, the “Gold Seal Award for Outstanding Community Service and Leadership” from the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, and was recognized as “Teacher of the Year” by Phi Delta Kappa, a national society for professionals in education.

“Mary is an example of the dedicated volunteers that are so important to their community,” Smith said. “She not only talks about the need to volunteer and give back to the community, she practices what she preaches. I have had a number of occasions where I’ve worked with Mary and have always been impressed by her tireless energy and commitment to whatever the cause is on which she is working,” Smith added.