After a threat of storms postponed the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce’s Summer Nights in the Park: Monday on Main on July 19, the event was rescheduled for July 26. This time around, Monday night went on without a drop of rain.
The event included live bands along Main Street, dance performances, face painting, local photographers and authors displaying their works, a classic car show and more.
It may be weeks before colleges open again, but students and friends are already rallying against the potential of a requirement coming this fall semester.
On Monday, July 19, more than 200 people showed up across from the Stony Brook Long Island Rail Road train station on Route 25A to protest mandated COVID-19 vaccines for State University of New York and City University of New York students.
The Students Against Mandates rally took place less than a mile from Stony Brook University which is a SUNY school. In May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said the students in the state university system would be required to be vaccinated once the vaccines get full FDA approval, which is still pending.
On the SUNY website, Chancellor Jim Malatras in a May 10 statement talked about the educational system’s success in curbing infections and the possibility of a vaccination requirement.
“We thank the governor for providing resources to our many campuses offering vaccines to SUNY and the broader community,” Malatras said. “The state’s new vaccination requirement — contingent on full FDA approval — will be another step in restoring normal campus activity this fall.”
Cait Corrigan, who will attend Boston University in the fall for her second master’s and describes herself as a religious and medical rights advocate and defender of the Constitution on her social media pages, organized the event. She said in an email while SUNY and CUNY have not taken official action yet, “many private schools such as Hofstra and Fordham universities have told students they must get the experimental COVID-19 vaccine to attend in the fall.”
The recent graduate of Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana, said she “overturned my school’s policy for requiring proof of COVID vaccination and proof of a negative COVID test for graduation.”
She is now helping others do the same. At the July 19 rally, protesters held up signs with messages such “SUNY! No forced vax!” and “Vaccine makers are exempt from liability.”
Among the elected officials in attendance were state Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) and Suffolk County Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga). Civil rights attorney Tricia Lindsay also joined the students.
Trotta said in a phone interview it would be hypocritical to ask students to be vaccinated when unvaccinated people are going to stores and bars maskless. The county legislator said students can most likely socially distance themselves in a classroom more than they can in a store or restaurant. He added that young people are more likely to die in a car accident or from an opioid overdose than from COVID-19.
Trotta said he is not against vaccinations, and he got his as soon as he could.
“I think people should get vaccinated, but I’m not going to tell people to get vaccinated,” he said, adding that he feels the same way about wearing masks, that while he’s not against them he doesn’t believe people should be forced to do so.
SBU will follow “the state’s and SUNY chancellor’s public health guidance for students and employees,” according to a statement from the university. SBU surveyed students and employees earlier this summer and found high rates of vaccinations among the school’s population.
“As a public research institution, Stony Brook affirms and strongly supports freedom of expression and the use of science and data to make informed decisions,” the statement read. “The safety and efficacy of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the FDA were demonstrated by many carefully monitored clinical trials, including some that Stony Brook helped to lead. As with other immunizations that are required to enroll at Stony Brook, the COVID vaccines are important tools to protect our community’s public health and ensure student’s optimal learning experience. We maintain the same process as for other required immunizations, to consider exceptions for religious or health reasons.”
In the fall, SBU and SUNY students who are not fully vaccinated will be required to wear masks on campus and maintain social distancing in indoor settings.
A milestone birthday was celebrated at Jefferson’s Ferry in South Setauket recently.
Jeanette Parker, who has called the retirement community location her home for 12 years, turned 100 years old on July 10 and was able to celebrate the momentous occasion with family members, including her three daughters, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
“I don’t know how I got here, truthfully,” she said in a phone interview. “I’m just as surprised as anyone else.”
Her daughter Judith Visconti, of Setauket, was on hand for the celebration.
“I feel I’m very, very fortunate to have my mother still at this stage,” she said. “Not only do I have her, but she’s as smart as could be.”
The centenarian said while she didn’t have advice for longevity, she thinks a few good habits may have contributed to her long life.
“Truthfully, I don’t have any secrets,” she said. “I never smoked, and I never drank much — just once in a while for social reasons — and I was never a big eater.”
Parker, who was born in Brooklyn in 1921, married Charles Parker when she was 21. He was drafted into the Army Signal Corps shortly after they were married, and they were apart for four years. It wasn’t until 1992 for their 50th anniversary that they were able to have the large party that they never had for their wedding, according to Visconti.
In addition to Visconti, their first child, the couple had two more daughters, Anita and Carol. The children grew up in Queens, and while living in the borough and raising her daughters, Parker was active in Hadassah, an American Jewish volunteer women’s organization. Her husband ran a trucking business with his brother in New York City’s Garment District, and after he retired due to poor health, his wife started working for a real estate business in the city.
The couple moved to Coram in 1982 where they lived in the Bretton Woods condo development to be closer to their children and grandchildren on Long Island. Parker started the Bretton Woods Players. She always enjoyed music and singing, she said, but chose to stay behind the scenes writing and producing the annual musical shows from 1983 to 1992. Her husband painted the scenery for them. The couple also enjoyed playing golf, and Jeanette Parker was on the women’s golf team.
Visconti said her father loved to swim and looked for a winter home in a place where he could do so even during the colder months, and her parents bought a place in Fort Lauderdale. When he found the waters were still too cold in Florida during the winter months, the Parkers looked into a place in Puerto Rico and the two bought a condo on the island in 1989.
A few years after Charles Parker died in 1995, it was on the island of Puerto Rico where Jeanette Parker met Jose Hernandez walking along the beach. The two wound up dating and were together for 11 years, something she believed was her late husband’s intervention because he didn’t want her to be alone.
“I always say my mother was always lucky in love,” Visconti said.
While one of Parker’s daughters lives in Massachusetts and another in Westchester County, she said they stay in touch with her regularly. She was thrilled to celebrate her milestone birthday with her family after them not being able to visit during the pandemic due to COVID-19 restrictions.
When it comes to going through difficult times, Parker had advice.
“Keep busy,” she said. “That’s the main thing. Keep doing things that satisfy you.”
Student researchers from Brentwood Union Free School District have been working as environmental interns for New York State Parks in a program that was developed by Dr. Rebecca Grella and Regional Parks Environmental Manager Annie McIntyre. Grella is a Brentwood high school teacher and an affiliated Stony Brook University instructor.
Brentwood student researchers have been involved in marsh restoration efforts for the last three years and have collected informative ecological data at Sunken Meadow State Park. The district has partnered with the EarthBus partnership with the BIOBUS education program, which aims at increasing the diversity of student participation in geosciences and developed by SBU’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) and the Department of Geosciences in the College of Arts and Sciences
It is one of the Brentwood district’s most recent collaborative grants supported by the National Science Foundation to advance STEM for students and educators.
State Sen. Mario Mattera’s (R-St. James) life looks a whole lot different than it did last year.
The decision to run for senator in November 2020 was one that he had to make quickly. During a recent visit to the TBR News Media offices, he said he remembers when Jesse Garcia, chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Committee, gave him a call March 26 last year asking if he wanted to run for New York State Senate. He had to make his decision in 24 hours.
Mattera said he was surprised to be asked to run for the Senate because he thought there was a possibility he would be asked to run for a more local office. Garcia told him, “You get along with everybody, so you will work on both sides of the fence.”
Mattera, who describes himself as “an elected official and not a politician,” agreed as he has friends on both sides of the political aisle. He said he wasn’t going to stop working with those he has met along the way who care about labor and people.
“I have friends on the other side and I’m not going to ruin that relationship, because politics gets ugly,” he said. “I’m not that way. I’m the bare bones, let’s get the job done, roll your sleeves up and let’s work together and get it done.”
Mattera represents the 2nd District, which includes Smithtown and parts of Brookhaven and Huntington. He is a former Suffolk County Water Authority board member and has been a business agent with the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters with Plumbers Local #200 for more than four decades.
A Smithtown resident for more than 50 years, he moved from Nesconset to St. James in 1996 where he lives with his wife, Terry, and his two daughters Jessica and Jayme.
The state senator serves as the chief Republican on the Consumer Protection Committee, as well as the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee. He is also a member of the Labor and Transportation standing committees.
The last few months the new senator has been researching and working on a few crucial local matters.
COVID-19
Like most elected officials, Mattera has been dealing with COVID-19 issues. The senator said he is proud of the work his staff has done in making sure residents found vaccination appointments.
“Our office was amazing at finding out who had [the vaccines],” he said. “They were going on social media to find out where the vaccines were being held and working with the veterans hospitals.”
Regarding schools, Mattera said he believes all children need to return to school five days a week in person in the fall. He pointed to districts such as Three Village and Hauppauge for successfully providing the option this past academic year. He added he feels it will be important to have staff on hand to provide emotional support for students, as returning after a long period of virtual or hybrid learning may be difficult for some children.
“Mental health is very serious,” he said. “You have no idea what happened during this time with certain children with what they went through being home. That’s what I’m concerned about, and we need to make sure we’re staffed properly for this and be prepared.”
Infrastructure
Mattera said he is looking for his district to have the best sewage treatment plant. He has been working with state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) to find a good solution for Smithtown and the surrounding area. While there has been talk about Gyrodyne LLC., which owns the Flowerfield property in St. James, having a proposed sewage treatment plant and the potential for sewer lines from Lake Avenue in St. James to be hooked up to it, nothing has been promised by Gyrodyne and Mattera said he doesn’t believe this is the best solution.
The pipes that were put down at Lake Avenue can be hooked up to the north or south, and he said there are other potential locations for a sewage treatment plant that could be beneficial not only to St. James but other parts of Smithtown, especially the Route 25 corridor.
He said it’s important to avoid problems such as brown tide and negatively affecting the shellfish and wildlife. One of the concerns of residents and environmentalists in both Smithtown and Brookhaven is the effect a sewage plant on the Gyrodyne property would have on Stony Brook Harbor
“Let’s compromise,” he said. “Let’s find the right location that we’re going to replenish the aquifer, not that we’re going to keep on dumping any kind of discharge from a sewage treatment plant that’s going to be going out to the ocean 3 miles, and it’s going to be going up and dumping out into the Sound anymore.”
He pointed to Nassau County that has big sewage problems, he said, because they didn’t plan properly and discharge dumps both into the ocean and Sound and the need to avoid such problems in the area.
As for Lake Avenue, he said a revitalization project first started when former state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) was able to secure $3.9 million of state funds to put down dry sewer lines. However, the town has not received the funds yet due to procedures stalling during the pandemic.
He said he’s been working on getting Smithtown the $3.9 million as soon as possible. Mattera said despite being a freshman senator he’s not afraid to keep asking.
“I will not stop until the town receives that money,” he said, adding just a signature is needed.
He also pointed to the roadwork done on Route 25A from Nicolls to Port Jefferson being severely needed and called some local roads “a disaster.” He and his chief of staff recently checked out the road near St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown and recorded cars avoiding the potholes. He said many constituents have called in complaining about the flat tires that they have gotten. On the day of the TBR interview, roadwork was scheduled for that area but had to be delayed due to rain.
“That shouldn’t be an emergency situation that we call DOT up,” he said. “It should be something that, in other words, guess what guys, you should be looking at all of our roads and saying this is a necessity for all of us.”
Landfill
The Brookhaven landfill will be closed in 2024, and Mattera said he is concerned as many in the district are affected by this. He said one option that’s been brought up for dealing with the garbage is incinerator plants and sending the ash out, but it’s not feasible due to environmental reasons.
“We need to fix this problem now,” he said.
He’s conduct research and sat down with a waste disposal business to talk about the possibility of packaging garbage in boxed railroad cars out east. They would then go directly to a site in Pennsylvania or Ohio.
“The only solution right now, and I’ve done my research, is to have a facility like this,” he said.
He is currently looking at how it would affect the community, the jobs such a facility would create and how it would affect the area it is potentially going to in another state.
“In the meantime, we are protecting our environment in a way here,” he said. “Are we protecting it somewhere else? That’s the only thing that I’m lost about.”
In April, members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3054 in East Setauket voted for their first female post commander, Reanna Fulton.
Fulton, 41, has been with the post since 2004. Former post commander Jay Veronko, who moved to Florida before the end of 2020, said she was the right person for the job.
“Reanna, regardless of her gender, was the obvious choice for commander as she was one of the most motivated and involved members of the post while I was commander,” Veronko said. “She felt, as I did, the future of the post was in getting younger veterans to join, more community involvement and to maintain our great relationship with the Three Village Dads, Rotary Club and Daughters of the American Revolution. The fact she was the first female commander of the Setauket post is noteworthy, but I believe the membership that voted her into the leadership position saw, as I did, the best path forward for the post was in her election to post commander.”
After Veronko left, Fulton served as commander pro tempore until June when her term officially began. As a member for almost two decades, she said after she joined another woman also became a member but after a while she left, so Fulton remains the only female.
When she first joined she said it was a bit uncomfortable, but she said it was due to not having any connections at the time, and the members feeling strange that a female was around.
Fulton, who is also junior vice commander of the Suffolk County VFW, said in addition to hoping to add more women she wants to recruit more veterans in general.
“We’ve taken a different perspective on what we envision our posts to be, because for so long it’s been this hidden gem in the community,” she said. “When I grew up, I never knew it was there until somebody recruited me.”
She said post members hope the community outreach will “bridge that gap between the old perception of what the VFW was to what we envisioned it now for us to be more family oriented.”
Fulton lives in Setauket with her husband Chris and sons Blake and Bryce, and said she looks forward to them being involved.
In June the post hosted an event for its members and families, which was different from the annual chicken barbecue fundraiser it holds every August for the community, an event that is not planned this year due to COVID-19.
“It was more about us as a group of veterans so that we can invite our families down and get to meet each other and have those relationships,” she said.
Military service
The new post commander first came back from deployment in 2003 after serving in the U.S. Navy on active duty during the 9/11 era. She said at the time veterans like her weren’t sure how they would be classified. To join the VFW, vets need to have been deployed overseas and have received a recognized campaign medal. Eventually the military campaign was deemed War on Terror.
The 1997 Ward Melville High School graduate entered the Navy in 1998, and after leaving active duty in 2003, she was in the Navy reserves from 2006-09.
The vet said she tried college for a bit after high school, but she knew joining the military was her true calling after being inspired by her father.
“One of the reasons that I did join the Navy in the first place — it wasn’t like it came out of the blue — my father was in the Navy during Vietnam, and then my grandfather was in the Army in the post-World War II occupation of Germany,” she said. “So for me, I always had that in me and knew that and that was one of the reasons I was so interested in it because of my father.”
In July of 2002 she was deployed on an aircraft carrier and was stationed in the Persian Gulf for six months as part of Operation Southern Watch.
“Just to keep an eye on things,” Fulton said. “That was during the time there was some tension in Afghanistan.”
Around Christmas time they were ready to return home, but they were given orders to turn around. She was in the Middle East for Operation Iraqi Freedom and finally returned to the States in May 2003.
She said when she first enlisted she never imagined anything like 9/11 and the aftermath. She was in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen by the terrorist group al-Qaida in October 2000.
“My first thought was, oh my God, I’m leaving for a ship in like three months,” she said.
Fulton said she knew things like that could happen, but it wasn’t something she thought about all the time.
“Aircraft carriers like mine — USS Abraham Lincoln — are fortunate enough to have many ships and a submarine in our battle group to protect us,” she said. “Our mission was first to monitor what was happening in the Middle East and then later to get our airplanes up with bombs for ‘shock and awe’ and the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.”
She said while serving she was mostly on the carrier, the crew did stop off in Bahrain twice. While the country is more lenient than others in the Middle East about what women should wear, it is more conservative than the United States.
“It’s interesting because you’re briefed every time you get off in a different port, so you knew as a woman what to wear,” she said. “We had to wear a shirt that was completely buttoned up with long sleeves and long pants with shoes. You couldn’t show any skin. We were allowed to show our faces. So, that was how we had to leave when we left — off the base, that’s how we had to look.”
Joining the military, Fulton said she wanted to gain discipline so when she returned home she could go back to college, and that’s what she did. She holds a master’s degree and a postgraduate administrative certificate for education at Stony Brook University. Currently, she’s a supervisor of technology for a local school district, and she’s enrolled in her third year of the doctoral program in leadership and organizational change at Baylor University.
For women looking to join the military, Fulton has advice.
“Expect the unexpected, and just stick to your goals,” she said. “What are you there for? What do you want to get out of it?”
This is a philosophy she applies as the new commander of VFW Post 3054, and she’s looking forward to meeting community members, especially veterans and their families.
A Smithtown lawyer is hoping to achieve something new in the town by becoming the first female supervisor.
Maria Scheuring recently won the approval of Democrats during the June primaries and will be running on Election Day to unseat town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) who is seeking his second term.
If she wins, Scheuring will be the first female supervisor in the Town of Smithtown, and the first Democrat to win since Patrick Vecchio ran in 1977. He switched to the Republican Party in 1990, his run in 1977 making him the first Democrat on the Town Council in 16 years.
Scheuring said “it’s about time for some female representation” and whether a candidate is Democrat or Republican shouldn’t matter.
“In a town that is majority female, we deserve to have our voices heard,” the candidate said. “Since this is a town race, it should not be partisan. To me, it doesn’t matter, Democrat or Republican, because national issues simply do not correspond to our town’s issues. What does matter is values, commitment and transparency. That’s what I want to bring to Town Hall.”
Despite the Republicans’ stronghold on Smithtown, Rich Schaffer, chairman of the Suffolk County Democratic Committee, believes Scheuring has a lot to offer the town.
“Maria’s experience as an attorney and small business owner, and her involvement in the Smithtown school district supporting and advocating for music education makes her an exemplary candidate to bring new leadership to the Town of Smithtown,” Schaffer said in an email. “Maria’s strong roots in the community and incredible work ethic is going to not only motivate Dems to come out and vote, but also give her the cross-party support she needs to win the race.”
Background
Scheuring moved to Smithtown from the Bronx in 2006. While she spent most of her formative years in the borough, moving there when she was 12, she was born in Poughkeepsie, and in her earlier years, she moved around to a lot to places such as New Jersey, Texas and Mexico City.
Her parents were Catholic missionaries who both held doctorates in theology and eventually taught at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, where Scheuring earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She said with her sister and brother being close in age to her, that was the only option, since her parents couldn’t afford college for all three at the same time, and they could go to the university for free since their parents taught there.
After achieving her master’s degree, she went on to Fordham University School of Law and obtained her doctorate. She was an assistant district attorney for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for a few years, before working as an associate attorney for private practices and eventually opening up her own law office.
The divorced mom of three teenagers said her legal career covers everything from guardianship to visiting clients in nursing homes to looking over music contracts. She said her love of music started when she was 11 years old and picked up a guitar. She was in school bands throughout high school and college. While her career plans took another direction, she’s involved in Patchogue’s Alive After Five music series and has enjoyed teaching at Musicology in Smithtown.
Run for supervisor
The candidate said her son Maddox, who interned for Nancy Goroff who ran for U.S. Congress last year on the Democratic ticket, turned her onto politics. Scheuring said he was participating in a Zoom meeting when she heard they needed people to run for Smithtown Town Board.
“I feel like I’m at the point where my kids are getting older and one just graduated high school,” she said. “Should I move or should I do something to try to make it a little better?”
She decided to try to do something to make it a better place to live. She said she feels Smithtown residents have so much at stake.
“You invest so much in this town and in your property and community, but what are you getting back?” she said.
Among her goals, if elected, are downtown revitalization, protection of the environment, affordable housing and transparency. She said like many she feels there are too many abandoned storefronts in the town.
“There are a lot of abandoned storefronts,” she said. “I don’t think that there’s any incentive to get restaurants here.”
She added she went to Bay Shore one night and thought of restaurants in Smithtown that left the town and reopened elsewhere. She said other areas have more restaurants and a livelier evening environment and in turn bring in more revenue and have a stronger community.
She said she believes that most people want to live in a more vibrant town, and while they may not want it as developed as Patchogue, they would be open to something like Sayville or Bay Shore.
“Those are nice towns, those are not overdeveloped,” she said.
She also added that many of the proposed housing in the area is not as affordable as developers have promised. She said revitalization should include discussions with community members including civic groups.
Scheuring also added that she feels the proposed Flowerfield development in St. James isn’t good for the town. Plans include the building of an assisted living facility as well as a hotel and sewage treatment plant.
“Whatever they want to do there, I don’t know how anyone could agree with that,” she said. “There’s just no feasible way that could keep this town the way it is. I think a lot of people are against that no matter what party affiliation.”
As pandemic restrictions lift, more leisurely activities are showing up on people’s calendars, among them high school reunions.
For one Ward Melville High School class, it’s all about plus one. Toward the end of 2019, members of the Class of 1980 began planning their 40th reunion. A few months later, planning came to a stop due to COVID-19 restrictions. Now the class is gearing up for their 40+1 reunion at Danfords Hotel, Marina & Spa in Port Jefferson, July 31.
The class was one that grew up during a time when the area saw an increase in population with people arriving due to jobs at the recently built Stony Brook University and the construction of homes in the alphabet section of Stony Brook.
Charlie Lefkowitz, who along with fellow former classmates Kim Keady, Lesley Hunter and Paul Magidson is planning the reunion, said with members of the planning committee living across the country, a lot of planning was already being conducted using email, phone and Zoom.
Lefkowitz said at the beginning of last year, they began to see the slowdown in responses. Even though New York State lifted restrictions slightly at the beginning of last summer, the committee knew the 50-person limit wouldn’t be enough to accommodate everyone and people from out of state wouldn’t be able to make it.
“Pulling the plug was not a very hard decision, because a lot of people were coming from, especially in California and from Massachusetts, states that were so restrictive,” Lefkowitz said.
While they tossed around the idea of canceling the reunion altogether, they finally decided to plan a reunion for 2021.
Keady, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, said it helped that their former classmates had trust in them that they could pull it off.
“We were really lucky because our classmates just had faith in holding steady and pausing, and they just trusted us,” she said.
“People have lost folks and been very fearful for good reason during this time. I think that gratitude levels are going to be really high.”
— Kim Keady
Lefkowitz said while there are still some people who can’t attend due to other events or health reasons, in the last few months the response has been overwhelming with more than 100 attending so far. He added that planning was still touch and go at first at the beginning of the year because even though restrictions were being lifted, there were still some state-mandated requirements at the time such as no dancing and wearing masks when not eating. He said once the number of vaccinations increased and the infection rate decreased the group became more optimistic.
“Everyone’s saying it’s 40+1,” he said. “We’re one year older and one year wiser.”
Hunter, who will be traveling from California, said a friend who is an epidemiologist looked at the venue to check out the airflow in the party room, and they are making sure Danfords keeps the doors of the room open. She indicated it made the decision to go ahead easier after their friend looked at the room.
“She said you don’t know what’s going to happen next year,” Hunter added. “It’s the best as we know it could be this summer.”
Keady said she believes the reunion will be even sweeter.
“People have lost folks and been very fearful for good reason during this time,” she said. “I think that gratitude levels are going to be really high.”
The reunion will include a memorial event the night before at West Meadow Beach for those who have passed through the decades followed by drinks and cocktails at The Bench in Stony Brook, one of their former hangouts. Keady and Hunter added that the Class of 1981 has been invited to join them, too, making it not only “plus one” for the added year but the added class.
For more information, visit www.wmhsclassof80.com.
It’s been said that all good things must come to an end.
Joseph and Maddie Mastriano, organizers of the Three Village Kids Lemonade Stand fundraising event, are currently planning the ninth and last one. The annual event, which to date has raised more than $100,000 for Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, will be held Aug. 9 at R.C. Murphy Junior High School.
Maddie, who will be turning 21, is attending Loyola University in Maryland and is a rising senior majoring in advertising and public relations. Joseph recently graduated from Ward Melville High School and is set to attend Stony Brook University in the fall. While he is undecided on his major, he is minoring in video game design.
The Mastrianos said the lemonade stand will leave them with tons of good memories due to the community members, local athletes and even celebrities who came out to show their support.
“I like to see everybody who comes to support us,” Joseph said, adding he realizes many are going out of their way from work or taking time out of their busy days.
Maddie added that friends and families have even come out of state from New Jersey and Connecticut to show their support. One highlight through the years was Chef Barret Beyer, from “Hell’s Kitchen” Season 11, helping them make a special fruit lemonade.
She said visits from Cheryl Pedisich, Three Village Central School District superintendent, are always appreciated as she has supported the endeavor since the beginning. Maddie added she also loves it when Joan Alpers, director of Child Life Services at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, stops by.
Alpers said Joseph and Maddie are “amazing young people with, I imagine, extremely wonderful careers in front of them.” She said while the ending of the annual event is bittersweet, she hopes more young people will be inspired by the Mastrianos’ work.
“I’m so excited for all the good work that Maddie and Joseph have done, and I’m wishing Joseph a wonderful college career, and at the same time it’s bittersweet,” Alpers said. “We have had such a great connection with them, and we’ve not only enjoyed them but they’ve been so helpful in the community for us. But we understand that kids need to move on.”
The fundraising event began in August of 2013 when the siblings decided to make lemonade and sell it outside their home with some friends. At first, they thought of splitting the few dollars raised between friends, but their mother suggested donating it to charity and they chose the local children’s hospital.
“If I were to go back into my 11-year-old self, I don’t think I would have imagined this lasting more than a summer,” Maddie said. “I couldn’t have seen it going the way it’s progressed, and I think it’s just a reflection of the community.”
Formerly known as the S-Section Kids Lemonade Stand, the booth attracted more and more people each year. Hundreds of residents from all over the school district and even local celebrities came to their home in 2016. Knowing that the lemonade stand was attracting too many people for a neighborhood booth, the Mastrianos moved the event to the grounds of R. C. Murphy Junior High School in 2017, and 500 people attended over the course of another hot August day. Besides lemonade, the kids have expanded to offer food, activities and live music, and also in 2017 they were among TBR News Media’s People of the Year.
Also, that year, the siblings began finding sponsors for the event. Many local businesses as well as larger ones such as Chick-fil-A and Island Federal Credit Union pitched in to help.
Bret Sears, president and CEO of IFCU, in an email statement said the Mastrianos approached them a few years ago.
“Remarkable is the word that comes to mind when asked about Maddie and Joseph Mastriano,” Sears said. “Two young kids who had a goal of helping those at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, and who have let nothing stop them from doing just that — not even a pandemic. When Island met them a few years ago and learned about their cause, it touched our hearts, and we knew becoming their corporate sponsor was something we needed to do. It just felt right. They certainly are two role models whom the youth of our communities should strive to emulate, and we are truly proud to call them our partner.”
In addition to all their sponsors and volunteers, the siblings said they are especially grateful for their parents and the support they have given them from their first lemonade stand.
“They’re just so supportive, and I don’t know who else would just willingly give up their front yard like they did those first couple years,” Maddie said.
She added that their parents have always been there to help to drive them around and in any way they could before, during and after the event.
“They just help us do everything they possibly could with keeping us as the lead and letting us guide them,” she said.
Maddie said it’s been surreal seeing some of the volunteers growing up, from elementary school children to young teenagers in middle school.
“It’s really cool to see how we’ve helped impact others and helped shape them wanting to give back to others in the community,” she said.
Joseph echoed the sentiment.
“It’s just a nice experience to see how much everybody really cares about helping the community,” he said. “I love seeing the teamwork of all of our volunteers trying to make the event better, and then I love seeing just random community members coming in to try to help us.”
One volunteer who has been helping out the last few years is neighbor Courtney DeVerna, 11. Courtney said while she is sad that it’s ending, she is also proud of everything the lemonade stand accomplished.
“I just think that Joseph and Maddie are great people for doing this for so long,” Courtney said.
She remembers going to the lemonade stand when it was first held in front of the Mastrianos’ house.
“My mom told me when you get older, you’ll be able to volunteer, and I felt like I could do something for the community, and it was not only that, it was just so much fun,” she said.
Maddie said Aug. 9 will be an emotional day.
“Everyone uniting for the cause that we find so special — it’s amazing,” she said. “It’s hard to put into words.”
Last year, the siblings along with family members and friends were able to hold the event in a modified way despite the COVID-19 pandemic. During the afternoon, they hosted a drive-thru event at Murphy with fewer volunteers and later that day a virtual event that featured a Minecraft version of the stand. Despite the changes, the lemonade stand raised $35,000 for the children’s hospital.
As of now, the Mastrianos said they have to follow the same format this year but, if guidelines change, they do have a plan for a more traditional event. The goal is to raise $50,000 this year and fundraising has already begun with a GoFundMe page and teams from each school who are vying for the annual Lemonhead award that is given out to the team that raises the most money.
The siblings said they won’t forget how the community, elected officials, student-athletes and more who have supported them. Most of all they have been left with life lessons.
For Maddie, she said working on the lemonade stand shaped her college major as she has created the graphics for the posters and T-shirts.
“I think it really has helped me see that I can do advertising in the future if I really want to,” Maddie said. “I don’t know if that’s the path I’m gonna take, but it has shown me that I’m capable of doing that if I end up wanting to.”
For Joseph, he said it has helped him get out of his shell.
“I was a very, very shy kid,” he said. “I still kind of am, but the lemonade stand definitely threw me out there into the world.”
For more information, visit: www.threevillagekidslemonadestand.com.
Commack seniors and their families headed to the Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stadium at Stony Brook University June 25 for their graduation ceremony.
The Commack School District left words of advice for the graduates on the district’s. website.
“Take advantage of all the opportunities that life presents you; push yourself out of your comfort zone every once in awhile; continue to surround yourself with a strong support system while never hesitating to lift others up when they need it; and be sure to utilize these very important words every single day — please, thank you, and I’m sorry. Stay curious, stay humble, stay grounded, and most importantly — stay true to yourself!”
Prev
