This past Sunday, March 19th, 2017, at the Legislative Breakfast of the Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula, Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway) presented her mother, Audrey Pheffer, former Assemblywoman and now Queens County Clerk, with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the JCCRP. Pheffer was also honored as the new namesake of the JCCRP Community Service award.

“I thought I was her Lifetime Achievement, but what do I know,” joked Pheffer Amato. “In all seriousness – I’ve learned so much of what I know from my mom. She’s been my role model for how I treat people, for going into public service, for learning that there are absolutely no limits on what a woman can do.

“What everybody says about her is what I take with me every day: it was never about politics with Audrey Pheffer,” Pheffer Amato continued. “That’s why I don’t talk about being a politician, to this day. I talk about community service. That’s what I learned, and that’s what I hope I pass on. Thank you, mom, for giving everyone here such a crystal-clear example of what that looks like.”

The Breakfast, which took place at Congregation Kneseth Israel (commonly referred to as “The White Shul”), was in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the JCCRP, an established provider of a diverse array of social services serving the Rockaway Peninsula.