Noelle Campbell was born and raised in Amityville, including her high school years spent at Queen of the Rosary Academy. A graduate of Stony Brook University (with an MSW earned in 2005), Noelle has been the Gerald Ryan Outreach Center’s hardworking chief since November, 2007.
The Ryan Center provides a range of social services for Wyandanch residents, and on occasion, for others in nearby Town of Babylon communities—helping families and individuals in times of emergency or urgent need. The Center’s work can affect, directly or indirectly, up to 1000 people in a single month.
Additionally, the Ryan Outreach Center “reaches out” in many other ways by running a summer camp for local youths, offering immigration assistance for many newcomers to the USA, and by organizing and managing the distribution of holiday baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
When she took on her new role, Ms. Campbell was very experienced and quite capable (having logged over 15 years as a social worker before 11/07). But nothing could have fully prepared her for the misfortune the Outreach Center was about to face: just one month after she began her tenure as Executive Director, it burned to the ground.
Rebuilding while continuing to serve the community seemed an impossible challenge, but committed social workers do not give up! Eventually, the fire debris was finally cleared. And over the next 4 years, despite difficult and cramped conditions in a cluster of temporary buildings, Noelle and her staff (and the Outreach’s 30+ dedicated volunteers) continued to carry out their mission. They “soldiered on” through the hard times, and finally began to see light at the end of the tunnel as the new year arrived, 2012.
Now, the brand new Gerald Ryan Outreach Center (officially opened in March of 2012) is a comfortable, beautiful, well-lit facility, with an environment that is welcoming, positive and spiritually uplifting.
Noelle’s staff of two program managers may be small, but with the help of volunteers, they are able to accomplish much, and they do so every day of the week–and every week of the year.
Noelle Campbell, once a volunteer herself with the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville, views her leadership role this way: “I believe the mission of our program is to change the lives of the people in Wyandanch by responding to the immediate and critical needs of our community. The scripture passage: ‘My people perish for the lack of knowledge’ challenges us to educate, empower and teach those we serve.”
She wears “many hats” for the parish of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. One of her key roles is as Director of the Summer Camp program for the Gerald Ryan Outreach Center—the very same camp she attended as a young teenager. Naycha is a special individual who truly embodies the values and spirit of OLMM.
The daughter of a father from the Dominican Republic, and a mother from Haiti, Naycha was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York until the family moved to Long Island in the 1990s.
As the middle sister (between Dorline and Marjorie) Naycha can remember the Sunday mornings of her youth when the three sisters begged to watch re-runs of “The Munsters”. However, their maternal grandmother was a devout Catholic, and not a big Munsters fan. And so, leaving their tv behind, they walked to mass every Sunday together. Yes, Grandma was a very strong, important early influence.
Now, Naycha lives in Central Islip, the community of her teen years where she graduated from Central Islip High School. She’s the mother to two children of her own–a 6-year old girl, Rolanda, and 3-year-old Zackory.
As for Naycha’s own education, she credits several years in the North Babylon school district (where her family first lived after leaving Brooklyn) for raising her appreciation of learning and academics. Thus, when the Florivals moved to Central Islip, she became a standout honors high school student…and later, after graduating from St. Joseph’s College on a full 4-year scholarship, Naycha earned her MS in Education from Long Island University.
Sister Elizabeth Myles was running the Gerald Ryan Outreach Summer Camp when Naycha was a young teenager who loved attending the camp. A few years later she became a counselor, and she admired the way Sister Liz managed so many details. All of this turned out to be excellent training for Naycha’s future position as Director of the camp!
The GROC Summer Camp is a 5-week camp with an average attendance of 150 children, staffed by a combination of local schoolteachers and teen and adult volunteers from Temple Beth-Torah, in Melville.
Activities are varied, but always with an emphasis on health, fun, fitness, and learning. The new air conditioning system in the Parish Hall provides welcome relief on the most sweltering days of summer—and Naycha makes sure her staff is prepared to provide lots for the children to do indoors, when necessary.
But most of the time, under alert supervision, the children are outside doing all that kids enjoy doing when school is out. The GROC Camp also arranges fun field trips for the kids on occasion too—such as visiting the Bronx Zoo, or going to a ball game.
Naycha Florival has worked hard, and continues to work hard. She’s used her intelligence wisely, and been lucky to have had exceptional mentors, such as OLMM’s “legendary” Sister Elizabeth Myles. And now, it is quite a busy lifestyle that Naycha has carved out for herself at OLMM and the Ryan Outreach. But it’s also true that her hard work, organizational and teaching skills and her positive spirit are very much appreciated by her peers, staffs, students and campers—here in the heart of Wyandanch on Straight Path.
