Legis. Flotteron named Heart of the Community

It is not often that an award’s recipient is chosen before the award itself is created and named. Yet, that was the case when the Sagtikos District of Boy Scouts of America’s Suffolk County Council chose Suffolk County Legis. Steven Flotteron to receive The Heart of the Community Award.

The Heart of the Community Award recognizes individuals for their outstanding service and demonstrated involvement in the development and implementation of opportunities for the youth of our communities.

“We have had other awards in the past, but this one we kind of nominated first, and then built the award around him because of his involvement with scouting, helping the community, and attending all the Eagle Code of Honors,” explained Dianne Corallo, the SCCBSA Sagtikos district executive. “He is very hands on, participating in everything, so we decided to name the award ‘The Heart of the Community’ after him.”

The Suffolk County Council BSA provides a comprehensive values-based scouting program that develops character, teaches citizenship, and encourages personal fitness to more than 7,500 boys and girls each year. Flotteron is an active committee member of the Sagtikos District, which extends from Great River to the Nassau border, Amityville. Flotteron also attends all Eagle Courts of Honor, recognizing and celebrating those who attain scouting’s highest rank.

“He actually comes in person and attends everything. His heart is in it, and that is why this came about,” explained Corallo. “It is not like an obligation where he just shows his face just for optics. He really wants to be there, and you can tell he really wants to support the kids.”

Flotteron and the SCCBSA encourage you to attend the 2024 Heart of the Community Award dinner reception—which will honor Flotteron’s efforts and raise proceeds for the Sagtikos’s scouting programs—at Shandon Court in East Islip on Friday, March 8, from 7 to 10 p.m. The event will feature a buffet dinner, music, and a basket auction. Tickets cost $100 to attend, and there are also a variety of sponsorship and journal ad options, ranging from $75 through $2,500. Tickets, sponsorships, and journal ads can be purchased at www.sccbsa.org/HTC.

Proceeds from the evening will support the Scouting Program as well as the SPARK Initiative (Scouting Program for At Risk Kids), which provides scouting to youth in underserved areas. Not all youth have the luxury of enrolling in the scouts due to financial restrictions, so the SPARK initiative helps cover the membership fee, registration fee, and supplies. The initiative is primarily in Brentwood and Central Islip, and is expanding to other areas.

“This is something [in which] we need to make sure all of our youth have that opportunity, because these children are our future,” shared Flotteron. “I feel a little bit safer each day knowing that these Eagles are being produced in our backyard.”