2018 Klaber Award Winner Is Sheila Pariser

Sheila Pariser

The 2018 recipient of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce’s John Klaber Memorial Award is Sheila Pariser.

The Klaber Award symbolizes devotion to the community. It is given to a citizen, at least 60 years of age, who has a record of distinguished and exceptional voluntary service to the community for 15 years or more and has held key leadership positions with diversified town-wide organizations.

Pariser has been a volunteer on Long Island for more than 40 years. She became a member of the board of directors of the Huntington Chapter of the American Red Cross in the ’70s and served there for five years.

From 1980 to now, she’s been a member of Soroptimist International of Huntington, serving as its president, vice president and director. She was selected as Soroptimist’s Woman of the Year for her outstanding volunteer service to the community and her contributions to the organization.

During the ’80s and ’90s, Pariser was on the board of directors of the Huntington Freedom Center, which is now Head Start, a nonprofit that provides pre-kindergarten education to economically disadvantaged children. During those years, she also volunteered on Sundays at Huntington Hospital on the hospital floors.

She’s also been a volunteer at Visiting Nurse Service and Hospice House of Suffolk since 2010, assisting staff one per week in providing services to patients and their families.

Since 2015, Pariser has been a member of the board of directors of Friends of Oheka, serving on the artistic scholarship selections committee.

Shelia also served from 2006-2011 on the board of managers of the Greens at Half Hollow – in 2011 as secretary of the Homeowners Association, and from 2012-2014 as vice president of the Homeowners Association of the Greens in Melville.

 In 2013, Shelia was appointed the chair of special needs committee for Community. Again; from 2016 to the present, she has been a member of Condo 3 Board of the Greens in Melville, and has been appointed government liaison for its government affairs and public relations committee.

Pariser is a registered professional court reporter and was a partner and/or sole proprietor of Modern Shorthand Reporting Agency, a freelance court reporting agency with 13 sub-contractors.

The Klaber Award will be presented to Pariser at a special chamber event on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 6-8 p.m. at the Inn at Fox Hollow (7755 Jericho Turnpike, Woodbury). For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit Huntingtonchamber.com or call 631-423-6100.

Previous Klaber Award recipients include: Clayton F. Mugridge (1973), Bryon Sammis (1974), John Ficker (1975), Richard E. Allen (1976), Honorable Fred Munder (1977), Jack Lee (1979), Jane M. Sullivan (1981), Robert Mitchell (1984), Ruth F. Concoran (1986), John Jazombek (1988), John Staib (1989), Quentin Sammis (1991), Anthony Mastroianni (1992), Walter Spilsbury (1997), Arthur Goldstein (1998), Vaughan Spilsbury (1999), Mary C. Cary (2000), Libby Hubbard (2001), Clifford Starkins (2002), Joy Squires (2002), Duncan Elder (2003), Kenneth Christensen (2004), Eleanor Casey (2004), Delores Thompson (2010), Robert Scheiner (2013) and Trudy Fitzsimmons (2015). The award is not given every year and has not been awarded since 2015.