Whether it is repaving a parking lot at the Hewlett House or helping children find scholarship money to attend college, Cedarhurst resident Joseph Santaniello wants to be able to help.
The 64-year-old, who came to the Five Towns from Italy in 1957, has enjoyed building his life here and his work with the Peninsula Kiwanis, he said. Santaniello became involved with the club along with a friend about five years ago.
“A friend of mine, a limo and taxi driver, was joining the club at the time,” he said. “He asked if I was interested, and I said yes. It’s a nice thing, this organization, and we get to do a lot for the community.”
One of Santaniello’s projects he’s most proud of is his work at Hewlett House, a center on East Rockaway Road in Hewlett that hosts the program 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Action Coalition. “Every time I would go to Hewlett House, I’d see people struggling to enter the building in their wheelchairs,” he said. “It really bothered me that they didn’t have better access to enter the building.”
Frank DiNapoli, friend and fellow Kiwanian, has known Santaniello for more than 20 years. DiNapoli described the masonry work his friend did at Hewlett House. “It was a big job he took on himself,” he said. “He saw that Hewlett House had a need, and he saw that someone was going to take care of it. He has the biggest heart in the world, helping his community and others the best he can.”