A Selfless Leader: Joseph Delaney Receives Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award

​Borough President Vito Fossella presented the 2024 Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award to Joseph Delaney, a community leader who is most well-known for directing the Notre Dame Club of Staten Island’s annual Bread of Life Food Drive.

The Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award, established in 1986, honors the ninth Borough President. His tenure from 1955 to 1965 saw the creation of the Greenbelt and the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The Maniscalco Award celebrates civic-minded Staten Islanders who have dedicated their lives in service for the betterment of their community.

“One of the common denominators for the people who receive this award is selflessness,” said Borough President Fossella during a small gathering in his office. “It is achieving, it is doing, it is accomplishing things, making things better, taking the initiative, always being there, never saying ‘no’ but ‘what can I do to help.’”

A crowning achievement of Mr. Delaney’s legacy of service is the Notre Dame Club of Staten Island’s annual Bread of Life Food Drive, which he has directed since 1992.

In its 34 years of operation, the Bread of Life Food Drive collected and donated over 2.5 million food items to people experiencing food insecurity in Staten Island and Brooklyn. His Bread of Life Food Drive has been replicated to Notre Dame Clubs in more than 300 cities across the United States.

A native of Pleasant Plains, Mr. Delaney currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Catholic Charities of Staten Island and serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Center, Virtual Enterprises International, and the University of Notre Dame Alumni Club of Staten Island, always with his wife, Nancy, at his side.

For 41 years, until his retirement in 2010, he served in several executive capacities within the professional services firm, Deloitte LLP.

Following the ceremony, Mr. Delaney joined Borough President Fossella in unveiling an engraving of his name on a plaque at the entrance of Borough Hall. He joins more than 30 individuals and organizations who were previously honored with the Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award.

“You know, it starts with the village, but it really starts with the family, and everybody who’s here in this room for me today, you’re not just my friends, you’re my family,” said Mr. Delaney when awarded the honor. “So I thank you for that recognition and our family getting together today. Thank you and may God bless you.”