STATEN ISLAND, NY – The parishioners of Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Staten Island honored New York State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis for her extraordinary recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy at their dinner dance on January 26.

The affair will be the first time Malliotakis was publicly honored and thanked for her efforts and her exceptional dedication to the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn.  For the entire year after Hurricane Sandy, Nicole has been the voice and face of the disaster relief push, ever present at devastated locales and ever available to the public in need. Nicole is one of Staten Island’s own having been raised in Great Kills, educated in the local public schools and a graduate of Wagner College’s MBA program.

“She had been on the streets before the storm was even over — she had literally rolled up her sleeves and gone to work,” Fr. Petropoulakos told the Staten Island Advance. “She was there night and day, early and late, to ensure everyone was getting some help.”

“Our community, for the last 15 months, has been suffering tremendously, and each

and every day we see families and businesses getting back to some type of normalcy,

but still there’s a lot to do,” she told the Advance, which reported that “Although she said she felt ‘humbled’ by the evening’s honor, Ms. Malliotakis made sure to thank the many volunteer groups that sprung from the storm, including organizations like The Staten Island Alliance, formed by Sandy victim Tom Consulo, as well as many others that were represented during Saturday’s reception.”

Malliotakis said, “It’s a celebration of having a community that is so strong and so willing to help one another, and I think that’s what we’re really celebrating here today.”

Diane Vernados was the Chairperson of the Gala.