Southold Anti-Bias Task Force presents Helen Wright Prince award to Al Edwards

Led by new co-chairs, Southold Town’s Anti-Bias Task Force is preparing for its seventh annual presentation of the Helen Wright Prince award.

This year’s event will take place Thursday, Oct. 5, from 6-7:30 p.m. in the community room at Peconic Landing in Greenport. It is free to the community and no registration is required.

This year’s honoree is retired Greenport High School boys basketball coach Al Edwards.

“He coached the Greenport Porters to 383 wins, 12 league championships, 10 county titles, 3 trips to the State IV final and was in general a role model and a mentor to hundreds and hundreds of kids at Greenport High School so he seemed like a very good candidate,” said new task force co-chair Emily Geiger. 

Ms. Geiger and Michael Domino have succeeded previous Anti-Bias Task Force  co-chairs, Sonia Spar and Valerie Shelby, who stepped down this spring. However, they both remain very involved.

“Both of them are still very much involved in all of this,” Ms. Geiger said. “They’ve been dealing with this particular program for the last seven years; they were, I think, instrumental, in getting it started.”

The award was created in honor of the late Helen Wright Prince, who died in 2013 at the age of 101. Ms. Prince spent most of her life helping children and families in need and decades working at area migrant labor camps, including a notorious camp that operated on Cox Lane in Cutchogue.

The award is presented every October to members of the community who promote diversity, unity and fairness. Previous honorees have included Pauline Smith and current Southold Town Board member Brian Mealy. 

The organization chose October because it is Bullying Awareness Month and Oct. 5 because UNESCO has designated it World Teachers Day.

“It is a beautiful event; we love it,” Ms. Spar said. “It’s bringing out the heroes and the leaders in our community that have devoted their lives to make it a better place.”