Photo source: Warwick Valley Rotary Club, Facebook
Rotary names Michael Newhard Citizen of the Year; Card and McFarland receive Lifetime Achievement honors, while Donna Benson and Robbie Jacobs earn Outstanding Community Service Awards.
WARWICK — Warwick Valley Rotary has announced its 2026-27 community honorees, naming longtime Village Mayor Michael Newhard its Citizen of the Year and recognizing Donna Benson and Robbie Jacobs with Outstanding Community Service Awards.
But among this year’s honorees is one recipient for whom the words “Lifetime Achievement” may be slightly premature.
At 99 years old, Evelyn Card is still working on hers.
Card and fellow 99-year-old Warwick legend Donald McFarland will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards when Rotary gathers Wednesday, Oct. 21, at The Landmark Inn to celebrate residents whose decades of work have helped shape the Warwick community.
The recognition comes during what has turned into a particularly busy year for Card — and at an age when most people might reasonably be expected to have cleared their calendars.
She turned 99 in August. Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus subsequently honored her as Orange County Citizen of the Month. She continues working every week as post-production manager at the Warwick Valley Dispatch and remains a regular voice on WTBQ Radio’s Food for Thought.
And then she took another job.
This fall, Card became “Grandma Ev,” Masker Orchards’ ambassador and honorary First Lady of the Apple Pie, representing the orchard’s longtime Grandma’s Corner bakery and presiding over its new weekend apple-pie-eating competition.
Now there is even a proposal to give the 99-year-old a promotion of sorts that could last considerably longer than any job title: renaming the familiar orchard bakery “Grandma Ev’s Corner .”
It seems appropriate in Warwick, where apple pie had its annual moment in the spotlight again during Sunday’s Applefest, that one of the community’s oldest traditions should find itself represented by one of its most enduring personalities.
Card has spent fall weekends at Masker’s greeting visitors, judging contests and congratulating pie-eating champions and helping put a face — a very recognizable Warwick face — on a bakery known for its towering apple pies and cider doughnuts.
The assignment also neatly connects two Warwick stories separated by generations. Masker Orchards traces its history to 1913. Card was born just 13 years later.
Apparently neither has shown much interest in retirement.
A Lifetime of Showing Up
The lighthearted “Grandma Ev” chapter is only the latest addition to a record of community involvement extending nearly six decades.
Card joined the Warwick Valley Central School District in 1966 and spent nearly 25 years as building secretary at Kings Elementary School, becoming a familiar presence to generations of students, parents and teachers.
Beginning in the early 1960s, she also volunteered for nearly a decade with the nationally recognized Queen Village Queens all-girls drum and bugle corps, traveling throughout the Northeast and participating in events including President Richard Nixon’s inaugural parade and the Miss America Parade.
Her service continued through church activities, charitable causes, senior programs and community events.
For more than 20 years, Card has also been part of the Warwick Valley Dispatch, where she continues working each week to help prepare the newspaper for distribution. She is a permanent co-host of WTBQ Radio’s weekly Food for Thought, sharing the stories and memories of a Warwick she has not merely studied, but lived.
Assemblyman Karl Brabenec described Card as representing “the finest tradition of public and community service,” sharing her time and talents while enriching generations of neighbors.
That longevity is what makes this particular Lifetime Achievement Award unusual.
It recognizes nearly 60 years of service, but it does not close the book on it.
At 99, Card still goes to work, still appears on the radio, still participates in community events and, most recently, has taken up the demanding responsibility of supervising people attempting to eat apple pie at competitive speed.
The unstoppable Grandma Ev, it appears, remains a work in progress.
Michael Newhard Named Citizen of the Year
Michael Newhard, a lifelong Village of Warwick resident who has served as mayor since 2001, was selected as Warwick’s 2026-27 Citizen of the Year.
Newhard previously served on local boards and as a village trustee. He earned a BFA in painting from SUNY New Paltz and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in France.
During his tenure as mayor, Warwick has expanded and improved public spaces, earned national and international recognition through America in Bloom and Communities in Bloom, and supported an increasingly active arts and cultural community.
Projects advanced during Newhard’s tenure include Warwick Grove, Liberty Green senior housing and the rebuilding of the Albert Wisner Public Library. The village park system has doubled in size, while improvements to Railroad Green helped support the revitalization of Warwick’s downtown.
Newhard’s administration has also overseen reservoir and dam improvements, construction of a microfiltration plant, wastewater-treatment upgrades and extensive street and sidewalk work, with more than $20 million in grants supporting infrastructure projects.
Alongside his public service, Newhard has spent more than 37 years as co-owner of Newhard’s the Home Source in Warwick’s historic downtown.
Donna Benson — Outstanding Community Service Award
Donna Benson has dedicated much of her life to serving her Warwick and Orange County communities. Her long history of service, leadership, generosity and genuine care for others represents the kind of commitment that strengthens a community.
Her list of activities and accomplishments is long and varied.
She was elected to three terms as County Clerk, 1998 to 2013, giving her time, experience and knowledge to the county and the people she cared deeply about. Her commitment to Florida public service continued throughout her time in office and continues to the present with extensive volunteer work and involvement with local organizations.
Throughout the years, Donna Benson has been involved with numerous organizations, including the Boy Scouts, Florida Little League, Meals on Wheels, Florida Chamber of Commerce, Hudson Valley Council Committees for Distinguished Citizens, The Office of Aging/RSVP Advisory Councils, AHRC Botanical Gardens, American Legion Auxiliary, United Way and St. Joseph’s Living Rosary Society.
She has served on the Board of Directors for Inspire since 2006 and is an honorary member of the Florida Fire Department. She has been Regional Chair for the Hudson Valley and New York State Association of County Clerks.
And the list goes on and on.
A nominee wrote, “Donna’s decades of public service, volunteerism, leadership and personal dedication have made a lasting difference in the community. She has consistently given her time and talents to help others, and she continues to do so even after retirement.”
Robbie Jacobs — Outstanding Community Service Award
There are people who operate businesses in the community, and then there are people who use their businesses to build a community. Robbie Jacobs, owner of Back In The Game Consignment in Florida, NY, has done exactly that.
What began as a small sporting goods consignment shop has evolved into a center of kindness, generosity and service to others.
The most remarkable example is Jacobs’ bicycle program. He has given away thousands of bicycles to children and families. Bikes that might otherwise sit unused are collected, refurbished and then given to children and adults who might never have one.
Shortly after opening Back in the Game, Robbie Jacobs encountered a military family trying to determine whether they could afford a bicycle for their child. Instead of making a sale, he gave them a bicycle. Seeing what that simple act meant to the family changed the direction of his business and helped establish a philosophy that continues today.
According to Jacobs, “The kindness is worth more to me than the profit.”
His generosity extends far beyond bicycles. Through his business Robbie has provided sporting equipment, clothing, formula, strollers and other necessities to those in need. He maintains a small food pantry, supports local sports teams, and continually finds ways to help people who walk through his door.
During the Jennings Creek wildfire, a firefighter who had been working the fire came into Jacobs’ store with his family looking for hockey equipment for his daughter. When Robbie Jacobs learned that the father had been fighting the wildfire, he would not accept payment for the equipment.
That type of kindness is how Jacobs operates. His store has become much more than a place to buy and sell sporting goods. It has become a place where someone struggling financially can find help, where a child can receive the equipment needed to participate in a sport, and where people know they will be treated with dignity and compassion. Robbie says his personal motto is simple: “Make it a kind day.”
Donald McFarland — Lifetime Achievement Award
Don McFarland, who will celebrate his 100th birthday this Christmas, has left his imprint in the Town of Warwick for decades. He’s a World War II veteran, NASA Research Engineer retiree, owner of The Burt Farm, historian, conservationist and an active member and officer of Warwick’s American Legion Post 214 for 44 years.
McFarland takes great pride in sharing his love of patriotism and history. Each year he joins other area veterans for classroom talks to elementary, middle school and high school students.
He is a former grand marshal of Warwick’s Memorial Day Parade.
McFarland recently shared his military historical knowledge with Warwick Valley High School history students as they helped develop preliminary exhibits for Warwick’s Patriot Path in Veterans Memorial Park.
He is a longtime member of Christ Episcopal Church, serving previously on its Vestry, making apple butter for Applefest fundraising and leading the committee to acquire the “new” organ. He also was a devoted member of the choir and only recently stopped singing after singing in church choirs for 94 years. He also delivered Meals on Wheels for 20 years.
McFarland is a lifetime member of the Warwick Historical Society where he spent many a summer as a docent at the Shingle House and Sly Barn, including the fourth-grade tours.
Don McFarland can trace his roots back to before the American Revolutionary War.
Since 1760, seven generations have called themselves “stewards of The Burt Farm.”
Recently, Don’s desire to preserve The Burt Farm for the future stewards of the homestead was realized when the Town of Warwick acquired property development rights for 61.5 acres, ensuring the land remains agricultural and a greenway into the Village of Warwick.
Honoring Warwick’s Tradition of Service
The Warwick Valley Rotary Club awards ceremony will be held Wednesday, Oct. 21, at The Landmark Inn. The evening begins with a one-hour open-bar social at 6 p.m., followed by food and the awards program.
Retired Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton will serve as master of ceremonies for the 19th consecutive year. Event co-chairs are Leo R. Kaytes, Tina Buck and Stan Martin.
Tickets are $75 and are available through the Warwick Valley Rotary Club or by calling Leo R. Kaytes at (845) 629-6497.
Proceeds will benefit Rotary International’s PolioPlus campaign to eradicate polio worldwide. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation matches donations two-to-one. According to Rotary, the Warwick event has generated nearly $120,000 for PolioPlus to date.
And when Warwick gathers Oct. 21 to recognize a Citizen of the Year, two Outstanding Community Service recipients and two remarkable 99-year-olds for lifetimes of achievement, one of those honorees will presumably accept her award before returning to her regular schedule.
There is, after all, a newspaper to get out.
And somewhere at Masker’s, there are pies that need looking after.
