Bayville Resident Recognized With ‘Friend Of Veterans Volunteer Award’ For Helping Hometown Heroes

Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino and members of the Town Board honored Bayville’s Katherine Gibson with the Town’s 2023 Friend of Veterans Volunteer Award, presented to an exemplary non-veteran who advances the causes of our nation’s hometown heroes. In 2011, recognizing the need and determined to help those veterans diagnosed as experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress, Katherine played a key role in creating the Operation-Initiative Foundation (OIF). The OIF is a central resource here on Long Island that provides advocacy, education, holistic and financial support to veterans and their caregivers. In her work with Operation Initiative, Katherine co-produced the organization’s manual, which provides invaluable information to assist caregivers and veterans facing PTSD. Katherine is the proud grandmother of four veterans, all of whom were deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan post 9-11.