2026 inaugural Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Award
Wilton Kiwanis Foundation announces the winner of the
2026 inaugural Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Award
WILTON, April 2, 2026 — The Wilton Kiwanis Foundationand the Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Fund (“Zucker Fund”) together take great pleasure in announcing that the inaugural 2026 Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Awardhas been awarded to Virginia “Gini” Benin of Wilton.
The Zucker Fund, established by the Wilton Kiwanis Foundation, together with the family of long-timeresident and civic leaderJudy Zucker who passed away in 2023, has created a $5,000 award that celebrates and honors individuals who reflect herextraordinary legacy of volunteer public service to Wilton. Each year, the Fund will present the cash award to an individual whose actions exemplify Judy’s selfless devotion to the Wilton community, her commitment to excellence, and her spirit of kindness, inclusiveness, generosity, humility, and grace.Nominator Pam Klem noted, “Within days of reading about the Zucker Award in GOOD Morning Wilton, the Steering Committee of the Wilton Leage of Women Voters asked… who should we nominate? There wasn’t really any discussion, because the answer was obvious: Gini.” Pam later commented with a smile, “May I grow up to be like her.”
Virginia “Gini” Benin, has served the Wilton community as a leader and member of anexceptional range of civic organizations since the 1970s. A deeply active member of the non-partisan Wilton League of Women Voters for the last 50 years, she initiated community sessions and study groups examining issues at the national, state and local levels, and has supported candidate forums, debates and get-out-the-vote efforts every year since 1976. She served in various leadership roles over the years with the Wilton Parent-Teacher Association, then was elected and served on Wilton’s Board of Education and later the Board of Finance. She also served on Wilton’s Council on Ethics, as well as on the boards of Wilton Library, Visiting Nurse &Hospice of Fairfield County, and continues her membership to this day on the board of the Wilton Historical Society.
Her hands-on work in town over the decades includes countless examples. In one, our high school students may not realize that she built a consensus in 2001 to evaluate research on sleep needs for high school age students; the town ultimately switched schools’ start times to enable a later start time for the high school.In another, she has been a driving force in the preservation of historic spaces, including Wilton’s newly-rediscovered 18th century Spruce Bank African-American cemetery, a final resting place for enslaved and free Black and Indigenous residents in our town.
The Award will be formally presented to Ms. Benin in a ceremony at the Kiwanis Club luncheon on April 22nd. The Zucker Fund is managed by the Wilton Kiwanis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations to the Fund are tax-deductible. Further information about the Zucker Fund is available at https://k03637.site.kiwanis.org/zucker-fund/.
Media contact: Paul Hannah
(203) 943-1019
[email protected]
Last Updated: April 5, 2026 by saulwgoldberg
2026 inaugural Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Award
2026 inaugural Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Award
Wilton Kiwanis Foundation announces the winner of the
2026 inaugural Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Award
WILTON, April 2, 2026 — The Wilton Kiwanis Foundationand the Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Fund (“Zucker Fund”) together take great pleasure in announcing that the inaugural 2026 Judith B. Zucker Community Engagement Awardhas been awarded to Virginia “Gini” Benin of Wilton.
The Zucker Fund, established by the Wilton Kiwanis Foundation, together with the family of long-timeresident and civic leaderJudy Zucker who passed away in 2023, has created a $5,000 award that celebrates and honors individuals who reflect herextraordinary legacy of volunteer public service to Wilton. Each year, the Fund will present the cash award to an individual whose actions exemplify Judy’s selfless devotion to the Wilton community, her commitment to excellence, and her spirit of kindness, inclusiveness, generosity, humility, and grace.Nominator Pam Klem noted, “Within days of reading about the Zucker Award in GOOD Morning Wilton, the Steering Committee of the Wilton Leage of Women Voters asked… who should we nominate? There wasn’t really any discussion, because the answer was obvious: Gini.” Pam later commented with a smile, “May I grow up to be like her.”
Virginia “Gini” Benin, has served the Wilton community as a leader and member of anexceptional range of civic organizations since the 1970s. A deeply active member of the non-partisan Wilton League of Women Voters for the last 50 years, she initiated community sessions and study groups examining issues at the national, state and local levels, and has supported candidate forums, debates and get-out-the-vote efforts every year since 1976. She served in various leadership roles over the years with the Wilton Parent-Teacher Association, then was elected and served on Wilton’s Board of Education and later the Board of Finance. She also served on Wilton’s Council on Ethics, as well as on the boards of Wilton Library, Visiting Nurse &Hospice of Fairfield County, and continues her membership to this day on the board of the Wilton Historical Society.
Her hands-on work in town over the decades includes countless examples. In one, our high school students may not realize that she built a consensus in 2001 to evaluate research on sleep needs for high school age students; the town ultimately switched schools’ start times to enable a later start time for the high school.In another, she has been a driving force in the preservation of historic spaces, including Wilton’s newly-rediscovered 18th century Spruce Bank African-American cemetery, a final resting place for enslaved and free Black and Indigenous residents in our town.
The Award will be formally presented to Ms. Benin in a ceremony at the Kiwanis Club luncheon on April 22nd. The Zucker Fund is managed by the Wilton Kiwanis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations to the Fund are tax-deductible. Further information about the Zucker Fund is available at https://k03637.site.kiwanis.org/zucker-fund/.
Media contact: Paul Hannah
(203) 943-1019
[email protected]
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