Friends,
It is important to thank and show appreciation for the people who take time out of their busy lives to volunteer and support those less fortunate. For over 11 years, the Outreach Center has hosted the PAL / First Precinct / Outreach Center Soccer Clinic here in Wyandanch, and many of our volunteer coaches have been with us since the very beginning.
A silver lining to all this rain: each night, the showers wash away the chalk artwork on the parking lot, giving the kids a clean slate every morning. Many campers love to draw, creating mosaics of their dreams, rainbows, sunsets, stick figures, and family portraits; sometimes, they write words in chalk that give us a glimpse into their inner world. Our counselors are trained to subtly monitor these messages, as they can occasionally signal a cry for help; it’s an important way for us to identify and support those in need. I will take a few photos of their artwork and post them on our website soon.
Friends,
For the third year in a row, we were blessed with perfect weather for our golf outing at Indian Hills in Northport. A big Thank You to everyone who participated, whether it was golfing, having dinner with us, being a sponsor, or donating as this is our largest fundraiser for summer camp. It was a privilege to honor Harbor Seafood Inc for their 14 years of generous support, and separately, Christian Limberg for his unwavering commitment. Special thanks as well to the Mike Ryan family for their ongoing support. The day was filled with a beautiful spirit of community, camaraderie and diversity, like minded folks getting together for a common good—that’s who we are. I’ll be posting some photos on our website soon.
Friends,
The one true constant is change. We can all acknowledge that 2024 was a year of significant events, which impacted us all; rising inflation, fires, hurricanes, the election of a new President, the polarization of the country, and the contrasting views on so many issues beginning with immigration. I am proud to say that through it all, the Outreach Center has remained persistent, steadfast in its responsibility towards the Wyandanch community, providing food and services to those less fortunate fulfilling its primary mission of feeding, clothing and protecting the children. We are color blind as to ethnicities as we are simply here to help and this has not changed in the past 52 years!
Special thanks to Suffolk County Police Officer Yasmin Gallant, Latino Liaison Officer for the Commissioners Office, and First Precinct Inspector Forte for participating and speaking at our two Spanish masses last Sunday. Officer Yasmin explained SCPD Policies; Bishop Romero who celebrated the 9:15 Mass was very pleased with the presentation. Police Officer Dara and Police Officer Nick (our soccer clinic cops) were also present and spoke with the parishioners as they left mass, answering their many questions helping to alleviate some of their fears. Thanks to St John the Baptist DHS Felianny Taveras for translating for Inspector Forte on the pulpit.
Friends,
The Outreach Center, in partnership with the Suffolk Y JCC, hosted a really wonderful MLK “Day of Service” on Monday in the Parish Hall. Attending and working the event were the OLMM Round Table, the Islamic Mosque of Wyandanch, and the UJA Federation of New York. Students from our Religious Education Program, the Wyandanch High School, Copiague High School, Half Hollow Hills East, and West, students from UJA, and St John the Baptist DHS High School got together and performed various tasks; some created birthday party packages for children in need, others made beaded inspirational bracelets for our food pantry clients, while others helped sort 76 crates of food. The spirit and enthusiasm of this diverse group of 150 students, all working together for a great cause in honor of this important day, was quite impressive and truly heartwarming. The Day of Service ended at the Suffolk Y JCC in Commack with an interfaith MLK service sponsored by the JCC, and coordinated by Abraham’s Table of Long Island; Paule Pachter, CEO of Long Island Cares, was the keynote speaker on the theme of “sharing our bread with the hungry,” and the Thea Bowman choir performed gospel music.
Our Noelle and the student volunteers are in the middle of this two minute news clip!
Friends,
It takes a village… At 8:30 am Monday, November 16th the Feeding NY truck pulled up to the Parish Hall and six volunteers from Reworld manually unloaded 300 turkeys. This added to the 75 turkeys we received from Winter Brothers ( who have donated many turkeys for the past three years) and the 75 we received from the Babylon Rotary Club, another longtime donor. St Anne’s parishioners in Garden City built all the food baskets and delivered them to the Outreach a few days before, and the Suffolk County Police Hispanic Society provided all the onions, fresh garlic, and some chickens. St John the Baptist DHS in West Islip, for the tenth year, also donated food for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Temple Beth Torah also is a supporter for many years. The year-round financial support of Rothco, Harbor Seafood Inc., the Mike Ryan Family, John Sauer, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Town of Babylon has enabled the Outreach to stay open year round. This year was extremely busy with many new families in need, and fortunately, we were able to provide services to one of the poorest communities on Long Island, with your help. By the end of the day on 11/16, with 20 tired but happy volunteers, we distributed around 450 turkeys and food baskets, chickens and hams to our clients. Our uniqueness as a street-level, community-based parish charity is our partner and volunteer diversity.
With the constant increase in new clients, I am very concerned as to how we can continue to maintain our current level of food distribution. What started out as a mild concern, is now a big issue. On a typical Tuesday or Thursday, our busiest days when the clothing room is also open, we service at least 54 families for food. This means at least 54 chickens, in addition to pantry items such as peanut butter, jelly, pasta, cereal, rice, beans, soup, spaghetti and sauce, eggs (when we can afford), and fresh vegetables. Our food costs have increased significantly due to volume as well as rising food prices; at current prices of $12 each, chickens for just these two days cost more than $1200 on a weekly basis. This is why we need your help.
“Give me the boy, you have been bingeing for the past week” said Grandma to his mom “the boy should not have to live like this”.
After some family intervention, he was allowed to live with Grandma and she registered him for camp. He had a truly entertaining, educational, fun and loving camp experience.
We are more than halfway through our summer camp, and the kids are having a blast!
AMF Babylon Bowling now lets the children use their sneakers instead of renting bowling shoes, one of the positive impacts of Covid. On bowling day, I noticed three campers without sneakers, so I took them aside and asked if we could call someone to bring their sneakers; two girls said yes, and the other girl said that she did not have any. So I went to Walmart and bought a few pairs, not knowing her size, and gave her a pair to keep. However, the next day, she was back wearing the same old broken pair of flip-flops; when I asked her why she wasn’t wearing the sneakers, she said that she was saving them for school. I gave her another pair and told her to wear them now. One of many stories. We know which of the campers need extra food and very subtly give them what we have on hand so that they can have some dinner; no words are exchanged, it’s all via eye contact and a smile.
Although the camp fees are heavily subsidized at $425 ($85 a week), we waived camp fees for over 80% of the campers this year. This is why I am aggressive in trying to maximize fundraising at the golf outing; it’s so that we can afford to pay the teachers, the bus transportation, day trips for bowling, Adventureland, etc., to make these five weeks enjoyable for these children who are captive in their circumstances, for now.
