Four East Meadow junior firefighters were awarded the Finkelman Family Fund Scholarship at the East Meadow Fire Department’s headquarters on June 1.
Giuliano D’Alessandro, 18, Joseph McLoughlin, 18, Garrett Wanser, 17, and Nicholas Brent, 17, received the award before a room full of firefighters from Jody Ratner, daughter of Nelson H. and Gloria Finkelman and sister of Michael Finkelman.
The Finkelman Family Fund, established in 2018 by Jody Ratner and her siblings Michael Finkelman, Lori Finkelman and Amy Counts, was created in honor of their parents, Nelson and Gloria Finkelman to provide scholarships for superior junior firefighters. Michael Finkelman, a two-term ex-chief in the East Meadow Fire Department, a member of the Board of Commissioners, and an instructor at the Fire Service Academy — just like his dad — died in 2019. The scholarship also now honors his memory too.
The All four recipients this year will continue their education in New York.
According to For Ratner, the scholarship is intended to support well-rounded young people who contribute to the East Meadow community, where she grew up and still lives. She shared that message directly with the recipients during her remarks.
“You were recommended by your supervisor, and were selected for your exemplary dedication, enthusiasm, leadership and commitment to serving the department and the community,” Ratner said. “And it is our hope that you will maintain the spirit of the Finkelman family and for your ongoing involvement in the fire department and other volunteer activities, and that you continue to enrich your own life through service to others.”
D’Alessandro, who will attend Marist University near upstate-Poughkeepsie, echoed that sentiment while reflecting on her time as a junior firefighter.
“I really loved all the events we do with the community, fire safety and everything like that,” D’Alessandro said. “I think it’s really important to spread throughout the community, so getting to be a part of the community and show our faces around is really just fun for us.”
Wanser, who is headed to SUNY Maritime in the Bronx, said the experience gave him a greater appreciation for the work adult firefighters do for the community.
“It’s really taught me to appreciate what these men and women do for our community, and just to be more responsible,” Wanser said.
For the other two scholarship recipients, the junior firefighter program was a family tradition.
“I joined the juniors because I have family in the juniors, and also to get to where I am today,” McLoughlin said. He plans to attend the Northwell Health Paramedic Program in Lake Success.
“It’s sort of like the family business,” said Brent said. Brent, who will attend St. John’s University in Queens., added, “Everyone’s done this and I wanted to join to impact other people’s lives and my community.”
That legacy of service to the East Meadow community is what Ratner and her sisters, Amy Counts and Lori Finkelman, saw in their parents. They later saw the same commitment in their brother, Michael.
“You know, in those days, they had a little speaker that had a siren that it would sound,” Ratner said. “And if it went off, my dad (Nelson) had to run out to the firehouse. My mother called it the squawk box. And he would hear and he would run out, and we knew he was going to save someone’s life, do something important.”
Ratner said her brother followed in their father’s footsteps.
“You grow up with the fire department and fire department people,” Ratner said. “He became a fireman when he turned 18. He was always involved. And that’s why he always stayed in East Meadow. He wouldn’t go anywhere else.”
Both Finkelman men served as commissioners, chiefs and fire service academy instructors during their careers. The elder Finkelman siblings’ father died in 2013 and their mother in 2016. Ratner said she still remembers attending fire department celebrations with them.
“When my dad was chief, back then it was the late 60s, and they would go to all the fire departments, to their big affairs, their galas and everything,” Ratner said. “And I have memories of her in her mink stole, and my dad in his uniform, and I used to (think), ‘They’re so beautiful.’ I was maybe 9 or maybe 10 or whatever. There’s nothing like that; it was just great.”
All four recipients joined the junior firefighter program at age 14 and remained active until age 18. They were recommended by their supervisor, Ex-Chief Joseph D. Lennon, for outstanding participation in the program and excellence in academics. Upon turning 18, they are eligible to become full firefighters with the department.
