Patricia Cipriani and Dr. Joseph Cipriani, with their son Joseph, beam with parental pride. Joseph was awarded his rank of Eagle Scout, and honored with a Community Service Award from Leslie Dimmling of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Garden City Eagle Scout Joseph Cipriani was presented with the NSDAR Community Service Award on Friday, May 16 during the Eagle Scout Court of Honor,held at St. Joseph's School. Leslie Dimmling of the Colonel Aaron Ogden Chapter NSDAR presented the award.

The NSDAR is a 170,000 member nationwide patriotic and civic organization, which has a focus on education, patriotism and historic preservation. It has a long history of support for the American serviceman. In recent years the NSDAR has provided phone cards and personal supplies to the soldiers of the aircraft carrier USS Stennis, while it was stationed overseas in support of the recent Golf War. With the Stennis now returned to port, attention has been switched to aiding wounded soldiers at the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

In keeping with this connection to the US military, members of the Colonel Aaron Ogden Chapter felt that Joseph Cipriani's Eagle Scout project, which was to provide a morale boost to the veteran patients at Northport VA Medical Center, was especially worthy of recognition by their organization. With the help of his parish and friends Joseph collected and delivered over $17,000 worth of media equipment, including DVD players, movies, audio books and phone cards to the veteran patients at Northport hospital. This has made an immense difference in helping to alleviate the isolation and tedium of the residents' everyday lives.