On Thursday, April 15th, Suffolk County Legislator Kevin McCaffrey recognized Melissa Muma of Babylon as his nominee for the Suffolk County Legislature’s Woman of Distinction Award. Melissa is a high-school educator and mother of two, as well as the founder of the not-for-profit Babylon Strong. In addition, Melissa serves as a Girl Scout Troop leader and the historian and information officer for the Babylon Village Women’s Club.
Melissa considers her greatest accomplishment outside of her daughters Grace and Sophia to be the creation of Babylon Strong. Babylon Strong's mission is to empower the community to help one another in times of crisis, through providing financial and social-emotional support to neighbors in their hour of need. They have sent meals to the frontline and to our neighbors that were battling illness during the apex of COVID-19, given many of their members and neighbors are nurses. When a local woman was hospitalized for months battling COVID-19, they created a fundraiser to provide direct financial assistance to her family. And when she was ultimately released to recover at home, Babylon Strong sent meals and a nurse to help her. Moreover, they stepped in to provide direct financial assistance to two local widows (with school aged children) that lost their husbands this year.
Through her job as an educator and in volunteer service, Melissa has made it her mission to continually promote the female experience. In her words, “It is so important for young girls to see their own experiences, perspectives, and possibilities reflected back to them in literature and poetry. If you can see it then you can be it.” Pictured is Legislator McCaffrey with Melissa and her family.
Legislator McCaffrey represents Suffolk County’s 14th Legislative District which encompasses the Village of Lindenhurst, Babylon Village, the hamlets of West Babylon and North Lindenhurst, portions of Copiague, North Babylon and Babylon’s barrier beach communities.