The George Wolly Community Leadership Award 2007 Recipients are Patti Ambinder and Patty DeYoung   Patricia (Patti) Ambinder has deep roots in Jewish Family Services. In April 1995, she and her husband Roy hosted a party at their home, honoring Dave and Audrey Pearlman and their commitment to feeding the hungry in our community. It was the beginning of what became the Pearlman Food Pantry.   The depth of Patti’s community volunteerism and passion spans the course of several decades. Some of the various organizations/committees Patti is or has been dedicated to include: The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), where she served as chair and a founding member of the Board of Governors; Second Harvest Food Bank, serving as President, Executive Vice-President and capital campaign chair; Rollins College Jewish Studies Advisory Board; Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors; Central Florida Police Athletic League Board of Directors; University of Central Florida Judaic Studies Advisory Board; and the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO), serving as a Vice-President and as co-chair of the JFGO’s Community Relations Committee.   Patti’s community projects include(d): Ten Thousand Villages, Yom HaShoah commemoration, JFGO’s Sister City program; Global Peace Film Festival; JFGO’s Elijah’s Harvest; founder of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s Share-a-Meal Week program. She is currently the research assistant to Dr. Yudit Greenberg, Professor of Religion at Rollins College for the soon-to-be published, Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions.   For ten years, Patti was the personal assistant, and co-writer and editor of two books of art and memories for Peter Z. Malkin who served in the Mossad for 27 years and was the agent that physically captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.   Patti and her husband Roy reside in Winter Park and are the very proud parents of four children:  Marc, Michael, Eric and Jessica.   Patty DeYoung has been with Darden Restaurants and the Darden Restaurants Foundation for twenty-three years; spending the first ten in the Controller’s Department and the last thirteen in the Corporate Relations Department as the Assistant Director and Foundation Administrator.   Patty is responsible for bringing forth grants to the Darden Restaurants Foundation Trustees and is additionally responsible for Darden’s corporate contributions. She also works with and is a member of the Communities Activities Committee at Darden Restaurants whose main purpose is to provide volunteer opportunities to Darden employees while providing necessary services to the community.   Patty has spent most of her life in the Orlando area and currently serves as immediate Past President of the Board of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and education Center, is a Past President and Vice President of the Board of Second harvest Food Bank of central Florida. She also serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Board of the Victims Service Center, is the Secretary of the Steering/Advisory Committee of the Central Florida 2-1-1 Program, is a member of the Local Advisory Council for the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community; the organization who puts on the yearly Zora Neale Hurston Festival and is a member of the Central Florida Donor’s Forum; a consortium of local funders.   Patty and her husband, Jim, live in Maitland, Florida and she has one daughter, Kelly.   JFS Web Site | Community Leadership Award | Contact | Home