What makes a house, or a town, a home? To East Meadow’s Catherine Razzano, it’s a sense of community.
Razzano, 62, devotes her working life to real estate sales, for Coldwell Banker American Homes. For the past 16 years she has worked with aspiring homeowners on deals that are often the biggest of their lives.
“I got into it to make it a much calmer process for people,” she said.
In her spare time, she is a passionate member of East Meadow’s Kiwanis Club, where she focuses on youth leadership programs and food collection. In honor of all her efforts as a volunteer over the years, the Herald is proud to name Razzano its 2025 Person of the Year.
Selling homes appealed to Razzano as a rare profession in which all parties involved in a deal can be cooperative.
She recalled a common saying in the industry: “It’s the only table you can sit down at and everybody will walk away with something that makes them happy,” she said. “Somebody gets paid, somebody gets keys to their home, and somebody could get a check that’s going to pave the way for the future. It’s a positive thing for everybody.”
Razzano’s husband, Mark Razzano, is also her partner in real estate. He described her as someone who goes “above and beyond.”
“My wife exemplifies service and professionalism,” he said. “Her impact is felt by everyone she works with.”
Despite the volume of her work, Razzano makes time in her schedule for her other work, for Kiwanis.
“My mother used to always say to ask the busiest woman in the room, and she’ll get the job done,” she said. “That’s really what it comes down to … I’m a mother of three and grandmother of five, so I just learned to do it — and I’m the seventh child of eight, so you had no choice but to get it done.”
Her career focus is similar to that of her volunteer efforts for the club: laying strong foundations that set people on a good path for the future.
Kiwanis is concluding its marathon of holiday season events for the year. In November and December, the organization conducts back-to-back food and toy drives, fundraising parties and special events such as the hamlet’s Christmas tree lighting, which took place on Dec. 5. Razzano chairs the food drives, and serves as liaison between the club and its youth-oriented subsidiary at East Meadow High School, the Key Club.
The Key Club, and similar programs for middle and elementary school students, satisfy two of Kiwanis’s goals at once: facilitating programs that help students in need, and offering students a chance to grow through community service. Many of the season’s donation-driven programs are staffed in part by these young club members. In November, they helped collect hundreds of food items outside the Uniondale ShopRite during the Fall Food Drive. Some 150 Kiwanis and Key Club members and additional volunteers reached out to shoppers, taking in enough food to support nearly 120 families, according to Razzano. Afterward students organized and followed through on its distribution.
Annabel Yee, a senior at EMHS and the Key Club’s president, helped lead students throughout the process. “It gives students an opportunity to show up — not just to volunteer, but also to experience the community,” she explained. “It’s really not too hard to get that many volunteers, because everyone is always really eager to help out, which is very exciting to see.”
Razzano and Yee have worked together for years, since Yee was in ninth grade and a fresh new face in the Key Club. “By the end of the year, she definitely became a very familiar face,” Razzano recalled, “and I was always happy to see her.”
The following year, Yee became a Key Club board member, and this year was elected president. Throughout her high school career, Razzano supported Yee’s digital projects, and in turn, Yee was inspired to enhance the club’s web presence.
“I always went to her for help,” Yee said. “She always supports our endeavors for everything.”
Over the course of her partnership with Razzano, Yee grew into a skilled event organizer playing a vital role in the administration of food drives and community wellness programs — learning skills that will last a lifetime.
“I definitely want to pursue a Kiwanis when I’m an adult,” she said. “Seeing the community of people who are just there to volunteer and help out is really inspiring me to continue doing that. Kiwanis plays an integral role in my life and being more comfortable in East Meadow by finding a community, and I definitely found one in Kiwanis.”
As the Kiwanis Club gears up for the new year, its president, Donna Goldstein, will continue to work closely with Razzano, as they coordinate the efforts of hundreds of volunteers who work to benefit the lives of hundreds of people in need — “from senior citizens to the military to our families in our schools,” Goldstein said.
Of Razzano, she added, “She’s an amazing … person. She’s very involved in her community, her family, her church — she takes the Key Club (and makes it) a really great experience for her kids.”
The club’s immediate past president, Melody Schiller, said she particularly values Razzano’s passion for food drives.
“She’s so dedicated to making sure that no one goes hungry,” Schiller said. “‘Nobody should ever be hungry; nobody should ever be cold…’ That’s her reason for why she does what she does.”
