Rhiannon Navin

Rhiannon Navin became involved in helping her community members most impacted by COVID-19 when New Rochelle became the first virus hot spot in New York State in March 2020.

As part of a team at the Westchester Community Opportunity Program (WestCOP), working tirelessly to feed families in need, Ms. Navin helped shop for and assemble nearly 60,000 lunches in the first month. The team also assembled pantry bags containing more than 320,000 pounds of groceries and distributed approximately 1,200 school lunches per day.

She and the team are determined to keep up with the growing demand for assistance to help see her community through this unprecedented crisis. Ms. Navin donated countless hours, and thousands of her own dollars, to ensure New Rochelle families were fed during this devastating pandemic. She works daily at the WestCOP site on Lincoln Avenue, packing and distributing food to her neighbors.

Ms. Navin grew up in Bremen, Germany. Her career in advertising brought her to New York City, where she worked for several large agencies before becoming a full-time mom and writer. Her debut novel, Only Child, became an international bestseller and was published in twenty languages. Described as an “audacious debut” by the New York Times, Only Child tells the story of six-year-old Zach, who survives a deadly shooting in his school by hiding in his classroom closet. In the middle of the raw and devastating aftermath, Zach finds the strength and determination to help the adults in his life rediscover the love and compassion needed to pull them through their darkest hour.