Harrison Resident Receives Award from Ursuline School

The Ursuline School in New Rochelle recently honored Catherine Quigley Tammaro of Harrison with the St. Angela Award, for she embodies the best attributes of a community leader.

Tammaro was honored for raising awareness of issues and raises funds to help those in need. She makes an impact on numerous constituents within her community.

Perhaps the most heartfelt form of Catherine’s Serviam began after losing her brother to addiction in 2016.  Catherine and her sisters Kelly Lieberman and Liz Junior started a nonprofit named Project REACH.  Their aim was to let other families with similar struggles know that they are not alone and to offer resources, education, compassion and hope for drug addiction.

Their annual fundraiser, REACH at the BEACH in Rye, raises awareness, helps remove the stigma of addiction and offers families a day of fun. In the last 3 years, they have raised over $20,000.  The proceeds are donated to organizations that help treat people struggling with substance abuse including St. Vincent’s Hospital Westchester; St. Anthony’s Shelter for Renewal; St Christopher’s Inn; and the Hoving Home for Women.

Tammaro’s dedication to Project REACH extends far beyond the annual fundraiser. She regularly meets with families of former addicts.  She speaks to representatives from rehab centers. She takes part in community panels on addiction, sharing the research that she has amassed.

However, REACH is not the only focus of Tammaro’s community work. She is the Religious Education Co-coordinator at St. Gregory the Great in Harrison and involved with the Community Service Department of Harrison.

For Greenwich Hospital, Catherine and her daughter, Talia, have made over 30 red hats and delivered them to the NICU, in recognition of Heart Health Month.  Talia has revealed that it took her mom a while, but she learned how to knit just for this cause!

At Ursuline, Tammaro is an active member of the committee that raises funds for the Helen Crossin-Kittle scholarship. Her Ursuline classmates say that Catherine has “always been a generous person, with both her time and resources.  She has always been willing to lend a guiding hand, especially to the underdog.  She is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.”

Tammaro has instilled these values in her children.  They share, “Whenever we’d have a bake sale or lemonade stand as kids, mom would always encourage us to donate the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project.  Even if it was a small contribution, she has always stressed the solemnity of a veteran’s sacrifice.”