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Founded in 1999, COPE is a grief and healing organization helping parents, siblings and families living with the loss of a child. Started by bereaved parents, COPE offers professionally-led support groups, a grief-support phoneline, and healing workshops, including yoga, meditation, art, movement, music, and journaling.
Since 2012, COPE supports grieving children and teens who have lost a loved one with its annual bereavement camp, a free summer weekend experience for kids and their families. Traumatic loss and grief take a physical and emotional toll on survivors.​ Our COPE families learn they are not alone and gain the essential healing tools that help them cope with their grief.
Learn more at www.copefoundation.org​
25th ANNIVERSARY
MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2025
GOLF COMMITTEE & EVENT PLANNING
Golf Committee
BILL SLOVIN
HAL STEIN
Co-Chairs
PATTY COCCHIARELLI
DONNA COOPERMAN
SCOTT HABER
LILLY JULIEN
SPENCER JULIEN
LARRY MERGENTINE
DOUGLAS NEWTON
KAREN NEWTON
LYNNE SLOVIN
Golf Event Planning
LARRY BATTAGLIA
President
CHRISTINE BATTAGLIA
Vice-President
JASMIN ZHENG
Event Coordinator
BRETT GUGEL
Event Coordinator
HONOREES
HONOREES
Happy Jack & Riley’s Dance
David & Ali Nathan
Happy Jack is a heartfelt platform dedicated to raising awareness and funds for mental health, established by the late Jack Nathan. Jack created art on apparel to manage his depression and anxiety and to let others know that they were not alone. Jack donated his first $1,000 dollars to the Child Mind Institute after his first day of sales.Tragically, Jack passed at the age of 19, on July 3rd 2020, due to an accidental fentanyl poisoning. shortly after launching Happy Jack World. His family continues to share Jack's artwork, images, words of support and more to honor his legacy, and to continue his mission and vision. Jack was a survivor never a victim and together we can make this world a better place for those struggling with mental health.
Riley’s Dance was created to honor and remember the unique and special life of our five-year-old daughter, Riley Kogen, whom we lost too soon.
Riley gave the gift of life to two women who received her kidneys. Her gift saved not only two people, but their entire families as well. This final act of love has inspired us to continue supporting organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
Riley was the most gentle and kind-hearted little girl to ever walk on this earth. Her smile alone could light up the room. She had the most infectious laugh and the brightest blue eyes you had ever seen. She lived for her friends, family, and, most of all, her little brother Connor. She loved to spend her afternoons playing dress up, hula-hooping, and dancing. Riley died two days after her 5th birthday. We will forever celebrate her life as if she was still here. She impacted all that knew her, and her memory will live on in all of us.
HONOREE
Lola Jayne Foundation
Chris & Mary White
The night we lost Lola, we walked away from the hospital with nothing but a memory box of her painted handprints. It was shocking to us as parents that we didn’t get a phone call from the hospital to check in on us or offer some type of mental support. It quickly became clear to us that there is a lack of resources for bereaved families. Thankfully, a local mother who had been through the same trauma reached out to us and recommended a grief counselor and a group for bereaved parents that we credit for saving our lives. Without this support, the responsibility of identifying and seeking out these necessary services would have fallen on us at a time when we simply did not have the energy or ability to do so. Throughout our grief journey we continued to meet parents coping with the loss of a child who were similarly unsure how or where to seek support. Soon after in March of 2023, we decided to turn our pain into purpose, setting up The Lola Jayne Foundation in Lola’s honor. The Lola Jayne Foundation seeks to bring necessary resources to grieving parents as they navigate the seemingly unnavigable and to improve infant healthcare with the goal of preventing future tragedies.
PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD
Arnold Drucker
Nassau County Legislator
Arnold W. Drucker was elected to the Nassau County Legislature in a November 2016 special
election. He is currently serving his third full term as the representative for the 16th Legislative
District, which following the 2023 redistricting is comprised of Plainview, Old Bethpage,
Syosset, Woodbury, Muttontown, Brookville and Old Westbury.
Deputy Minority Leader Drucker, who was elevated to the role of Deputy Minority Leader on
Jan. 1, 2024, currently serves on the Rules, Budget Review, Public Works, Planning,
Development, & the Environment, Economic & Community Development & Labor, and Health
& Social Services committees, and is the ranking member for the Government Services &
Operations committee.
Throughout his tenure, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker has advocated for initiatives aimed at
protecting public health and securing greater equality for all Nassau County residents. he proudly
worked to secure passage of legislation restricting the sale of tobacco products to individuals
under age 21, bringing an effort initiated by his predecessor, the late Judy Jacobs, to fruition. In
late 2019, he took further steps to safeguard public health and protect young people from
nicotine addiction and the emerging scourge of vaping by introducing and passing legislation
that bans the sale of flavored vaping products in Nassau County – a measure that has since been
enacted statewide.
To address Nassau County’s ongoing opioid addiction crisis and the terrifying scourge of
fentanyl in our communities, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker cosponsored legislation that
would require the County to provide fentanyl detecting test strips with every Narcan kit it
distributes, and continues to demand for the Blakeman administration to expedite the rate at
which it expends more than $90 million in opioid settlement funds currently available to the
County.
Deputy Minority Leader Drucker has also distinguished himself as a tireless advocate for
initiatives that make Nassau County more equitable and inclusive. Central to that mission are his
efforts to strengthen the County’s fair housing policies.
Following Newsday’s explosive “Long Island Divided” housing discrimination exposé, Deputy
Minority Leader Drucker spearheaded the creation of a housing discrimination hotline for
residents to call if they experience illegal housing discrimination, and co-sponsored legislation to
engage scholars and academics to compile a searchable database of discriminatory covenants on
property deeds for the purpose of identifying patterns and addressing the impacts of
discrimination in Nassau County.
After securing unanimous passage of legislation he co-introduced to criminalize the non-
consensual, malicious distribution of intimate images (also known colloquially as “revenge
porn”) a similar ban was implemented statewide soon after.
To create a safer workplace for Nassau County employees, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker
obtained passage of his legislation mandating online and in-person sexual harassment training for
elected officials, Deputy County Executives, and department heads within Nassau County
government. Furthermore, as an outspoken ally to the LGBTQ community, he continues to
advocate to amend Nassau County’s Human Rights Law in a manner that extends protections
against discrimination to transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.
MORE ABOUT DEPUTY MINORITY LEADER DRUCKER:
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from SUNY Buffalo, Deputy Minority
Leader Drucker received his Juris Doctor from Rutgers University Law School. He is admitted to
the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the New Jersey State
Bar Association.
Deputy Minority Leader Drucker, who is fluent in Spanish, has owned and operated a successful
law practice in Queens since 1982, where he serves a primarily Hispanic clientele. He has
lectured over the years on home-buying and real estate transactions and is also a two-time
recipient of the New York State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Service Award in recognition of his
commitment to providing fair and equal access to legal representation for all.
In 2012, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees of
Nassau Community College, a role he served until his election to the Legislature. In addition to
his public service and professional commitments, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker is a former
Board Member and congregant of the year at Plainview Jewish Center. He is also a member of
the Plainview-Old Bethpage and Syosset Woodbury Chambers of Commerce.
A lifelong Plainview resident, Deputy Minority Leader Drucker and his wife, Franny, enjoy
spending as much time as possible with their grandkids, adult children, and extended family.
CONTACT DEPUTY MINORITY LEADER DRUCKER
If you would like to share your thoughts or concerns with Deputy Minority Leader Drucker,
please contact his office at (516) 571-6216, or ADrucker@nassaucountyny.gov. You can also
follow the Deputy Minority Leader on Facebook and Instagram for updates on community issues
and current events impacting District 16 and all of Nassau County.
COPE GRIEF CAMP VOLUNTER AWARD
Camp COPE
Former campers return to volunteer and give back to other grieving children
Dymond Ortiz
Tsarina Romanoff
TEEN GRIEF COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD
SID JACOBSON JCC'S HERO PROJECT
Charlie Dubofsky & Sydney Hassenbein
The HERO Project was created as a safe space for middle and high school students who have lost a parent, sibling, grandparent, or friend, so that they may feel empowered while connecting with other grieving peers.
Sid Jacobson JCC, the only full-service JCC on Long Island’s North Shore, provides a full range of cutting-edge recreational, health, fitness, educational, cultural arts, and social services programs to East Hills and the surrounding community. Sid Jacobson JCC promotes Jewish identity and provides a comprehensive program based on Jewish values, traditions, heritage, and culture and is committed to enriching the lives of all individuals and families in its community.
