The Bronx YMCA served up its tenth annual Bon Appetit with a tribute to a past executive director and former honorees on Thursday, September 8 at its Castle Hill Avenue facility. The food tasting fundraising event featured a re-dedication of a plaque to Ralph Jallouk, a former Bronx YMCA executive director who served from the 1940s to the 1980s. The plaque was first dedicated in 1997 at the facility’s outdoor pool area, but was removed during a renovation and then lost during Hurricane Sandy. Left, Barry Fitzgerald, Bronx Chamber of Commerce assistant secretary, with Beatrice Castiglia-Catullo, R.A.I.N. founder, at the gala. Photo by Silvio Pacifico
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Sharlene Brown (c), Bronx YMCA executive director, with some past Bon Appetit honorees.
Photo by Silvio Pacifico
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Sharlene Brown (front, 4th from r) celebrated the evening with the Bronx YMCA Board of Managers.
Photo by Silvio Pacifico
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(l-r) Elizabeth Figueroa, New York Botanical Garden director of community relations; Lisa Sorin, Westchester Square Business Improvement District executive director; John Collazzi, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto’s chief of staff; Laura Guerriero, Bronx Times Reporter publisher; Rosemary De Luca, Wildlife Conservation Society Government and Community Affairs director and Anna Vincenty from the Bronx Zoo.
Photo by Silvio Pacifico
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(l-r) Sharlene Brown; Geri Sciortino, Bronx YMCA Board of Managers chairwoman; Wendy Cohen; Ralph and Wendy Jallouk and Jessica and Matthew DeJana during the Ralph Jallouk rededication of the Bronx Y’s swimming pool.
Photo by Silvio Pacifico