The Whaling Museum is hosting its first golf outing fundraiser after not having a fundraiser two years in a row.
The Whaling Museum of Cold Spring Harbor has announced that it will have its first golf outing on May 16. Held on the grounds of The Woodside Club, in Syosset, the event will offer a day of excellent golfing, delicious food, and an opportunity to support a unique and important cultural gem of Long Island. After a two-year gap without a fundraiser to sustain the museum’s activities, the museum is delighted to host this full day event.
The Woodside Club’s 18-hole championship course has a diverse layout that will challenge all golfers on over 100 acres with challenging doglegs, tree lined fairways, and very well-manicured greens. The championship tees are at 6,520 yards and will make players use every club in their bag. The course was designed by renowned architect William Mitchell back in the 1960’s.
The day promises to be memorable with a delicious Brunch Buffet, BBQ Lunch, Refreshments on the Golf Course, Cocktail Hour, Dinner Buffet with Premium Open Bar, as well as Raffles, On-Course Contests, and Hole-in-One Prizes.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available online (cshwhalingmuseum.org/golf) or call Gina Van Bell at 631-367-3418 x12 for more details.
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About The Whaling Museum – The Whaling Museum engages the community in exploring the diversity of our whaling heritage and its impacts to enrich and inform our lives. The Whaling Museum & Education Center is located at 301 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724 and specializes in the culture and history of our maritime heritage as illustrated by the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Industry of the 1850s. Spring Hours are Thursday-Sunday from 11-4. Learn more at www.cshwhalingmuseum.org.
“The purpose of the Warrior Open is to celebrate those who have served our country, and to remind our fellow citizens how fortunate we are to have men and women volunteer in the face of danger.” — President George W. Bush (2011)
The former president supported a golf outing to honor the wounded warriors on the 10-year anniversary of September 11. For two decades, American soldiers from every part of this nation had served in Iraq and Afghanistan to defend the country in the face of terrorism.
Since 2008, Rocky Point Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6249 has run an annual golf outing similar to that of Bush’s to show appreciation and support to our local veterans who have served under Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
This outing was established by Michael Mauro of Baiting Hollow through the simple idea of helping veterans who have fallen on hard medical and financial times as a result of their fighting time overseas.
Photo by Rich Acritelli
As a former technical sergeant who was a heavy truck operator at the 106th Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach and a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps, Mauro initiated the local push to provide comfort to our local veterans. He was deployed to Iraq, left his newborn son and young family behind, and was wounded in that conflict.
This golf outing emerged during the height of the costly War on Terror fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was estimated there were over 52,000 soldiers severely wounded, as many as 500,000 living with post-traumatic stress disorder, and about 320,000 service members who have suffered from brain debilitating injuries.
With post Cmdr. Joseph Cognitore at Mauro’s side and many of the veterans from different components of the armed forces and conflicts, VFW Post 6249 has created one of the strongest golf outings on Long Island. Over the last 14 years, more than $220,000 has been raised by the participating golfers, businesses, veterans, law enforcement, union organizations and post members.
Cognitore has taken over the responsibilities of this outing for the last two years, and has expanded on this tradition to use golf as a tool to help our veterans. And the devotion to continue these efforts toward helping hurt veterans is still a necessity, as the national chapter of the Wounded Warrior Project recorded that over 184,000 veterans, family members and caregivers are registered for financial support.
While the fighting and deployments have ended in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are vital needs of veterans who are still handling physical and psychological ailments. This North Shore community is no different than any other part of the United States, as there are many local veterans impacted by combat. Cognitore and VFW Post 6249 are eager to help them with financial assistance.
These outings have been held at Long Island National Golf Club in Riverhead, the old Calverton Links, Cherry Creek Golf Links in Riverhead, Willow Creek Golf & Country Club in Mount Sinai and Baiting Hollow Golf Club. There has been a tremendous amount of loyalty toward this function with golfers who have attended this function since 2008.
Next year, it is expected that VFW Post 6249 will carry out this tradition by having this event at Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River. To make this annual event possible, Cognitore counts on the support of Mike Wern, Gary Suzik, Pat Biglin, Bill Fitz, Tom and Ray Semkow, Gil Jenkins, and many of the women from the military ladies’ auxiliary.
Photo by Rich Acritelli
This outing would not be possible without the participation of the golfers along with the businesses and organizations which have always been very generous. Financial donations have been received from B.A.C. Systems and Brian May, Landmark Industries and Mark Baisch, Stanley Steemer and Keith Burtis, the team from Drexel Hamilton and Mike Parisi from Parkside Fuel in Mount Sinai.
Next to these participants are the former Major League Baseball players: Yankee Frank Tepedino, Met Art Shamsky, Pittsburgh Pirate Fred Cambria and longtime scout Larry Izzo. These professional baseball men have been a constant staple within this golf outing that has seen them hit long drives, strong puts and the telling of unique baseball stories from many years ago.
Cognitore has donated proceeds to local military scholarships, building homes for veterans, and has the constant goal of helping wounded service members. This is a special golf outing.
VFW Post 6249 continues to shine as a major veterans organization that works to make this community into a better place. Through its most recent efforts to build the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Statue in Rocky Point, the Diamond in the Pines 9/11 Memorial in Coram and the Rocky Point High School Veterans Wall of Honor, this golf outing is another example of support to provide comfort to our local citizens.
And much of these efforts are carried out by Vietnam War and Cold War veterans who have a new mission of compassion to ensure that the men and women who fought for this country are properly recognized and are never forgotten.
Rich Acritelli is a social studies teacher at Rocky Point High School and an adjunct professor of American history at Suffolk County Community College. Members of the Rocky Point High School History Honors Society contributed to this story.
Renée, Glen and Zachary Cote at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Rockt Point Post 6249 ninth annual gold outing on Sept. 26. Photo by Desirée Keegan
By Desirée Keegan
The Cote family is overwhelmed.
After Glen, a Gulf War veteran, and Renée found out that they would be receiving a new home for veterans in Miller Place, they got a phone call that some of the proceeds from Joe Cognitore’s VFW Fischer/Hewins Post 6249 ninth annual Veterans of Foreign Wars Rocky Point Post 6249 annual golf outing at Willow Creek Golf & Country Club in Mount Sinai, on Sept. 26, will go toward their new home.
“People keep asking us about the process with the house,” Renée Cote said. “I’m still trying to absorb everything — and then we get a call about this — there’s so much love here and to be on the receiving end of that, it’s a blessing.”
The Cote family will be receiving a home built for returning veterans and their families, on Helme Avenue in Miller Place. Photo by Glen Cote
The Cotes have been through several hardships, from Renée Cote being diagnosed with a rare and painful metabolic disorder called acute intermittent porphyria, which requires expensive biweekly treatments that she has undergone for 14 years at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, to her 7-year-old son Zachary being diagnosed with Grade 4 medulloblastoma, brain cancer, in 2014.
Most recently, the family was told they were being kicked out of their home because the landlord had let the rental fall into foreclosure.
“It’s awesome to see this much love for somebody from out of town like myself, that they don’t know, it’s incredible,” Glen Cote, who’s from Texas, said. “Everyone is so supportive and friendly.”
The family recently met with Cognitore, Rocky Point’s post commander, for the first time when Landmark Property owner and developer Mark Baisch chose the family to receive the 11th home for returning veterans. The two are still looking for a family for the 12th home.
“It’s a good feeling, especially given their circumstances,” Cognitore said of helping the family. “We’ve been doing things over the phone, and it helped me in the hospital. I felt very good. It was a big relief to know that we’re helping this family out.”
The Cotes said they’ve begun meeting their new neighbors and community members and they’re excited to make the move. Their previous rental home was in Sound Beach,
“They are the nicest people,” Renée Cote said. “I like the fact that — because, we kind of stalked the house — they came out and they were saying hello to us, they’ve been in the community for 30 to 40 years, they were very welcoming and we’re excited. I’m excited to have little BBQs with them and stuff like that.”
“When Mark [Baisch] heard about Zachary Cote’s situation, he came to the rescue, and talk about superheroes, [Mark Baisch and Joe Cognitore] are our local superheroes.”
— Sarah Anker
At the golf outing, where more than 160 golfers hit the course to help support veterans, Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) and Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) came out to meet the family and commend Cognitore and Baisch for all of their work helping local veterans.
“They are literally warriors to those that need help,” Anker said. “They get out there, they understand the struggles and they’re there to help, and that’s what’s so important. When Mark heard about Zachary Cote’s situation, he came to the rescue, and talk about superheroes, they are our local superheroes.”
LaValle was glad to seewho have helped him remain in the Miller Place school district, which was most important to his family.
“It all comes together very, very nicely,” he said. “We can’t do enough for our veterans to say thank you, and this is one of many ways that we can appreciate their service that they have made to our country.”
Renée Cote said she is also teaching her son to give back, and said she feels thank you will never be enough.
“I could sit there and write a million thank you cards, and to me, it would not be enough for what they’re doing,” she said. “And I don’t even think they realize what they’re doing. To first serve our country, and then to give back — and I mean give back in a huge way — it’s good to be surrounded by people like that. They’re angels walking the Earth.”
