CLOSE

Yearly Archives: 2016

by -
0 2646

Nine players score points in total team win

1 of 9
Brian Mark maintains possession with a Mercy defender on his hip, as he crosses into his opponent's zone. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Nick Koban winds up to rocket a shot at the cage. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Chandler Sciara passes the ball across the field. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Thomas Mark scoops up a ground ball at midfield. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Matt Murphy leads the pack in a race to the net. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Brian Mark makes his way through midfield as Mercy defenders reach to stop him from scoring. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Chandler Sciara is held outside by a Mercy opponent. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Marco Scarda keeps the ball away from Mercy as he moves around the cage. Photo by Desirée Keegan
Matt Murphy attempts a diving shot. Photo by Desirée Keegan

They may be small and they may be young, but the Royals can score.

Teamwork was the name of the game on Thursday for Port Jefferson: Freshman midfielder Matt Murphy tallied four of his team’s 19 goals on the way to a near shutout of Mercy, 19-1, as senior attack Marco Scarda and junior attack Brian Mark added hat tricks, and six other Royals scored or assisted in the team’s win.

“They work hard together,” Port Jefferson head coach Taylor Forstell said. “The more offensive threats you have in any game, the more it’s going to help your team out. A lot of these guys don’t necessarily get a lot of game time, so it’s good that they can come out here and be offensive presences and compete.”

Senior midfielder Max Scandale started the scoring off just over a minute into the first quarter after he swiveled around defenders and shot through traffic for a 1-0 lead. Seconds later, freshman attack Nick Koban scooped up a turnover off the draw and passed to senior midfielder Shane Bruno in front, who found the back of the cage. Scarda scored unassisted next, and then sophomore midfielder Thomas Mark looped around the cage and faked a pass outside to confuse the defense, instead feeding the ball to junior midfielder Chandler Sciara, who scored to give the team a 4-0 advantage.

Next was where Murphy stepped in, taking the ball to goal off a turnover at midfield, and with the goalkeeper hugging the left post, raced past while shooting the ball toward the far open corner.

“The teamwork was there, there was good passing and it wasn’t any singular guy,” he said of the team’s total effort. “We worked together.”

Murphy shot again seconds later and it was deflected in by Brian Mark, ending the first quarter with the Royals leading 6-0. Port Jefferson dominated the time of possession despite struggling at faceoff, as the team’s midfield and defense was able to force multiple turnovers all evening. Mercy held the ball in the final minute, racing into the Royals’ zone to try to get on the board, but Murphy stayed on a Mercy midfielder’s back, knocking the ball out of his stick and out of bounds for a turnover.

“The guys played hard,” Forstell said. “They came out from the first whistle, and to the last whistle they played hard. They stayed true to the game plan.”

The elder Mark scored unassisted to start off the second, and capped off the quarter with his hat trick goal. Murphy also added his second and third goals of the game in the second, as did Scarda.

“We put in a new offense the other day so that’s been helping get the ball around and get it to everybody so that we don’t have to rely on one or two people to carry the team,” Mark said. “Getting everyone else involved makes it more even and makes it harder for other teams to defend against us.”

By the end of the first half, Port Jefferson had a 15-0 lead on Mercy, which scored its first and only goal at the 10:48 mark of the third stanza.

“We did a good job of possessing the ball on offense, keeping it in our end, keeping it away from them so they couldn’t score — and then when it did go over there our defense did a good job of turning it over and getting it back to us,” Mark said. “It was a good job of keeping it on the offensive side and keeping it out of their hands.”

Mark said that despite the team not getting off to a strong offensive start in the beginning of the season, the team has began to click in the last couple of games. Although his Royals (3-6 overall, 3-3 in Division III) had four straight losses prior to their current three-game winning streak, the matchups were close battles, with two of the four being two-goal games.

Port Jefferson is looking to maintain a .500 league record to be in a good position for the playoffs. The Royals have five games left this season, with the next three matchups being against the top three teams in the division. Port Jefferson made it to the first round last year, despite still being a new program, and lost to Mattituck/Greenport/Southold, 16-8, in the Class C semifinals. The Mattituck team is currently at 5-1, while Babylon remains undefeated at 5-0.

“Last year it didn’t feel too good losing in the first round, so we’re looking to get to the county championship,” Mark said. “Once you get there, you never know what could happen.”

by -
0 476
Pictured above, from left, is the happy family: Ronald, Lauren, Sophia, Ryan, Lynn and Edgar Roque. Photo from St. Charles Hospital

Port Jefferson residents Lauren Roque and her husband Ronald welcomed their first child, Sophia, at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson on March 28, at 2:33 p.m. Lauren’s sister Lynn and her husband Edgar, who is Ronald’s brother, welcomed their own son, Ryan, at the hospital just two days later — on March 30 at 11:16 a.m.

Born less than 48 hours apart, Sophia weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces at birth and her cousin Ryan weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

The two Roque families reside in separate units within the same multifamily home in Port Jefferson.

by -
0 238
Smithtown Board of Education member Grace Plourde, file photo

By Grace Plourde

Recently, the Smithtown Board of Education made a difficult decision. Following months of information-gathering and deliberation, we voted to close one of our elementary schools. During that long period of examination and deliberation, I had accepted as true — as accurate —many of the arguments put forth by the community for keeping Branch Brook open. It is an amazing school. I am not happy about an empty building in the Nesconset community where I was born and where I now raise my own children. And we did have some temporary relief this year, budget-wise, despite what’s projected to be a tax cap of less than 1 percent.

And yet, the decision to downsize was clearly necessary, because of factors which exist both inside and outside our Smithtown community. We must all agree that enrollment has been dropping. This year, once again, we’ll admit a kindergarten class that has about 35 to 40 percent fewer students than our graduating senior class. We anticipate this trend will continue, and so it’s necessary to take advantage of economies of scale where we can, in order to save the funds necessary to preserve our entire educational program going forward.

We also explained, more than once, the fact that school budgeting is no longer the collaborative effort of district staff and school communities; one carefully crafting a program worthy of our kids and the goals we set for them and the other acknowledging the worthiness of such a program with their “yes” votes on the third Tuesday in May.

Now, the process is more like a shoehorn, as districts create, not the program they want, or that their kids deserve, but the one they can “fit” within the narrow confines of an arbitrary metric. I’m talking of course about the tax cap, which, in New York’s case, is simply a bad rip-off of the Massachusetts model. It has none of the safeguards, no infusion of state aid, and no regard for program. It’s a political device, rather transparently aimed at busting unions. Except, schoolkids have no dog in that fight, and it’s beyond shortsighted of Albany to risk their educational destinies in this way.

Our legislature didn’t stop there, either. They gave, or rather took, the Gap Elimination Adjustment as a means to close a statewide budget gap. Instead of raising taxes, for which they might have been answerable to their constituencies, they simply “shorted” state aid to schoolkids. In Smithtown’s case, that meant $30 million of aid we should have gotten, but didn’t, over the course of a half decade or so. And, in a spectacular piece of euphemistic rebranding, the legislature has termed the recent cancellation of GEA-authorized fleecing as a “restoration.” That makes it sound as though they gave us some amazing gift when, in reality, all they did was finally put an end to the shell game.

When you consider that near 80 percent of Smithtown’s annual budget is taken up with professional salaries, and when you understand that those contractual salaries increase at about 2 to 3 percent a year, you can see that a tax cap of less than 1 percent puts us into an immediate deficit situation, unless we can make up the deficit through cuts. And this happens every year now, as the district and the board struggle to keep programs intact and plan for a sustainable future.

To make matters still worse, the state has provided financial incentives to homeowners to vote against any effort to pierce the cap. Do you want your STAR rebate next year? That’s easily done: just make sure that your school district complies with the cap. Never mind that educational programs will be slashed, schools will be closed, and your property values will be put at risk. If you choose to support your school district, and its efforts to maintain a quality program, it will cost you — big time!

So, given the budgetary landscape in which we presently find ourselves, we, the board of trustees, must do what is hardest. I want to you know that it is quite often a demoralizing, spirit-crushing endeavor. But we do it, because 9,450 kids depend on us doing it. It’s no longer the case that budgeting is done as a discrete, annual affair.

We look back, forward and sideways with every decision we make, and we are constantly taking stock. The goal around here has become “sustainability.” It’s a fight for survival. But we will not allow Smithtown to be the first district to fall over that fiscal cliff. And just because we got lucky in a couple of directions this year, does not mean that such luck is guaranteed to us. In fact, we know there are difficult days ahead.

Go ahead, right now, and bet everything you own on the stock market: your house, your anticipated annual income, everything you own. If that sounds ridiculous, recall that school budgeting means having a tax cap that is linked to CPI and bears no particular relation to the needs of the district’s students) and that our contributions to the employee and teacher retirement systems are similarly dictated by the whim of the market. A couple of years after the 2008 crash, we were absolutely devastated by the increase in that number.

Even if things were to stay “stable,” that only means we should expect increases of about 1 percent annually. However, due to factors such as the final payment of some debt service, we expect things to get far, far worse. Stay tuned, because “negative” tax levies have become more than theoretical, as some 80 districts statewide find themselves entitled to a smaller tax levy next year. This is Smithtown’s future.

And then consider that if you were held to the same constraints as your local school district, the state would only allow you to keep in “reserve,” i.e., your household savings, a maximum of 4 percent of your annual household income. You read that correctly: for every $100,000 of household income, you’d be permitted to maintain a mere $4,000 in savings.

If your car engine needed repair or your oil burner failed, you’d wiped out. That’s how school districts are forced to operate. The state will not even permit us to save the funds we need in the form of unrestricted “fund balance” to ride out the storm we know is coming.

As I close, I do want to thank our parents for their comments throughout the process, even those comments that were less than charitable. You can tell your kids you fought with everything you had to keep their school open.

And you can put this one on us, because that’s our job. It’s our job to make sure that the kids who attend Branch Brook right now, and all of our current elementary students, will someday have the high school program they deserve. I know it’s hard to think that far ahead. I urge you to try. And whatever we as a board and a district can do for you and for your kids as they transition, this we must endeavor to do. We will all, all of us together in Smithtown, get through this.

Grace Plourde serves on the Smithtown board of education.

by -
0 2876
From left, Bruce Stillman with Anthony Mazurek, a former research investigator who is now with Pfizer, and Marlies Rossmann, a postdoctoral student. Photo from CSHL

When he was 11, Bruce Stillman read about spina bifida and wanted to know what was happening and how he might help. By the time he got to college, genetic discoveries moved him away from medicine and toward scientific discovery.

In 1979, he came to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from his native Glen Waverley through Sydney, Australia, for what he expected would be just two years. At the time, the lab was led by Nobel-prize-winning scientist James Watson, who discovered the structure of DNA the year Stillman was born.

By the time he was 38, Stillman’s research success led Watson to pick him as his successor to lead an institution with an international reputation.

Now in his 36th year at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and with children and a grandchild born in the United States, Stillman has trained a generation of scientific leaders while maintaining two time- and energy-consuming jobs.

“I spend 80 percent of my time” on being the president and chief executive officer of CSHL and “the other 80 percent running the lab,” he jokes.

Former members of Stillman’s lab and collaborators have marveled at Stillman’s ability to continue to remain so active in his scientific pursuits while raising funds, hiring researchers and overseeing a lab with an endowment of $450 million, up from $32 million in 1994.

Stillman, his colleagues say, has a passion for discovery and a dedication to science that informs both sides of a schedule that often includes discussions, meetings and interactions during what many would consider off hours.

Bruce Stillman with Manzar Hossain, a graduate student. Photo from CSHL
Bruce Stillman with Manzar Hossain, a graduate student. Photo from CSHL

Leemor Joshua-Tor, a professor at CSHL who has collaborated with Stillman for about nine years, has interacted with Stillman as an administrator and as a scientist. She says it’s clear which role wins out.

When Joshua-Tor was the dean of the Watson School of Biological Sciences, she would email him in his capacity as president. She would often get a time slot three or four weeks from her request.

“If I called/emailed and said I would like to speak with him regarding the science, the reply would often be, ‘How’s 4 p.m.?’” Joshua-Tor recounted.

Stillman said that continuing in his role as a scientist helps him make better decisions for CSHL. He has a “connection with what’s going on” scientifically that informs his pursuit of scientific expertise and new technology, he said.

Stillman has also forged numerous connections with the people who work at CSHL. Joshua-Tor said he knows most people by name, from the grounds keepers to the graduate students to the postdoctoral researchers, a skill she said also follows Watson’s legacy.

In his long, storied and award-winning career, Stillman has worked with viruses, yeast and human DNA, making landmark discoveries that include using the Simian Virus 40 to discover human cell DNA replication proteins.

Stillman “covered many areas during his career that make him special,” said Christian Speck, a nonclinical lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine at the Institute of Clinical Sciences at the Imperial College in London who earned his Ph.D. in Stillman’s lab in 2006 and who collaborates with Stillman.

Huilin Li, a biophysicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and a professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Stony Brook University, said Stillman’s discovery of the Origin Recognition Complex, abbreviated ORC, “set off an entire research field of eukaryotic DNA replication initiation.”

Indeed, Stillman, Li, Speck, Joshua-Tor and others continue to devote considerable energy to understanding the protein, signals and processes that are a key part of DNA replication, which allows cells to make genetic copies of themselves.

Replication makes it possible for the body to produce red and white blood cells at the rate of 500 million per minute. Spreading the spectacularly thin, tightly wrapped genetic material out over that minute would produce a million kilometers of base pairs, which could wrap around the equator 25 times.

Replication isn’t just important for passing along information, but, as Stillman recognized when he was 11, biological processes don’t always follow the typical code.

Stillman and his collaborators have explored numerous ORCs, which occur once every 50,000 to 100,000 base pairs along the chromosome. His recent studies suggest the ORC is involved in the fundamental decision of whether or not a cell divides.

His recent unpublished findings also show that ORC controls the expression of genes that are overexpressed in cancer by interacting with tumor suppressor genes, he said.

Understanding how DNA replication is regulated has already produced drugs that are in the clinic or are heading that way, Stillman said.

Through his years at CSHL, Stillman has worked with talented scientists. His lab was near that of Barbara McClintoch, who won a Nobel Prize for her work on jumping genes in corn. While Stillman said he enjoyed most of his interactions with her, he did struggle on occasion to return to his own research, which could often take 12 to 14 hours a day, after a long discussion with her.

Avoiding McClintoch during those long research days was no easy task for the six-foot, four-inch scientist, whose tall, trim figure is easy to spot down a hallway or in the picturesque CSHL laboratory setting.

Stillman met his wife Grace, a co-founder of Operation Hearts and Homes, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of orphans around the world, in Huntington. Their son Keith is a commercial real estate appraiser and their daughter Jessica is a fifth-grade teacher specializing in literacy.

Stillman, who has no plans to step away from either role in the near future, suggested that the scientific process, though demanding, has given him numerous rewarding experiences. In the 1980s, he made a hand drawing of how he thought histones, the fundamental building block of chromatin, might get together. About a decade later, X-ray crystallography showed that the drawing was close to accurate.

“It was how I imagined it to be,” he recalled. These discoveries provide “excitement and then with the new insight, [a desire to] get to a full answer quickly.”

by -
0 1537
China and glassware will be just two of the many different types of items offered at this weekend’s event. Photo by Catherine Quinlan

Spring is in the air and that means its time for the return of the Port Jefferson Historical Society’s largest fundraiser, the Port Jefferson Antiques & Garden Weekend Show to be held this weekend, April 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Returning for its ninth year, the Village Center will once again be filled with antiques and collectibles from over 40 vendors, including the society’s consignment shop and the flower boutique of the Suwassett Garden Club.

Antique seekers and collectors from Long Island, Connecticut and surrounding areas anticipate attending this annual event co-sponsored by the Village of Port Jefferson. Visitors from across Long Island Sound will be offered a two-for-one passenger walk-on discount from the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company.

All three floors of the Village Center will feature veteran vendors as well as new ones whose merchandise ranges from country, primitive and fine furniture, china and glassware, jewelry, quilts, vintage posters, art, books, paintings, garden furniture and other eclectic items.

The Suwassett Garden Club’s trellised boutique will greet visitors as they enter the Village Center. Hanging baskets, plants and patio tubs will be for sale at reasonable prices. An array of spring annuals will be set up outside for eager gardeners.

The popular 50/50 raffle and donation table has been organized by Kate von der Heyden and will offer some attractive prizes from vendors, advertisers and society friends.  Be sure to bring in your raffle stubs and checks to be in the running!  The raffle will be drawn Sunday afternoon.

The third-floor café, again chaired by Barbara Cassidy and Christine Spanbauer, promises an enticing menu of sandwiches, sides and drinks. Lunch with your friends in this sunny setting overlooking the harbor area. For dessert, select some homemade goodies at the Suwassett Garden Club’s baked goods table, arranged by Donna McBrien and Kate Thomas. Admission to the event is $6.

This yearly fundraiser relies on volunteers from both the society and garden club. The Mather House Museum complex on Prospect Street benefits from this large event. For further information or to volunteer for tasks including setup on Friday, April 22, or breakdown on April 24, please contact co-chairs Catherine Quinlan (631-428-6467) or Sandra Swenk (631-473-3253).

by -
0 559
St. Johnland Nursing Center in Kings Park is celebrating a milestone this year. File photo by Rachel Shapiro

For a century and a half, the name St. Johnland has been synonymous with helping people from all walks of life. Established in 1866, the Society of St. Johnland is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2016.

In 1866, the Society served as a home for veterans and orphans from New York City, but eventually developed into a self-sustaining industrial village.

Today, the St. Johnland Nursing Center is located on the North Shore near Smithtown Bay in Kings Park and serves as a long-term skilled nursing facility caring for about 300 people every day.

Over the course of 150 years, the role of the facility has changed, but their mission remains the same, according to a press release about the anniversary: “To create a caring and supportive environment committed to the highest standards of quality health care … to uphold the principles of human dignity and worth … affirm the right of every individual to maintain the optimum quality of life.”

St. Johnland Director of Development Cathie Wardell, who has been at the nursing center for 13 years, reflected on the impact St. Johnland has had on the community and people in need.

“The level of care for the people whose care is entrusted to us is very high and it’s amazing to see everyday,” Wardell said in a phone interview.

The nursing center shifted its focus from children to the elderly in the 1950s. Today, their primary focuses are providing care for people with Alzheimer’s, dementia and traumatic brain injuries.

“The fact that this institution has survived and persisted for 150 years focusing on different demographics, the fact that we are 98 to 99-percent full all the time, that we have evolved over the years to make the changing needs of the community with our specialty units and adult day care programs is significant and noteworthy,” Wardell added.

In honor of the anniversary, the society will hold four events during 2016. For all of June, historical photographs of St. Johnland will be on display at the Kings Park Library.

On June 18, people who grew up at the facility around 70 years ago will gather for a reunion.

On Oct. 27, a dinner will be held at Watermill in Kings Park to honor the Fire Department and EMT Squad, and on Nov. 18, town historian Brad Harris will deliver a lecture on the history of the Society.

For more information about the anniversary or any of the events, call 631-663-2457 or visit www.stjohnland.org.

by -
0 619
Pony Boy, who was named after a song by the Allman, will greet visitors on Feb. 13. Photo by Giselle Barkley

He might be under five feet tall but 25-year-old Pony Boy at the Smithtown Historical Society farm has a big presence. For this pony, the farm isn’t just a sanctuary, it is also a place where he can help teach children about animal ownership and farm life.

As the Historical Society’s sole stallion, Pony Boy will extend a helping hoof for the society’s Help a Horse Day events on April 25 and 26.

According to the society’s website, Help a Horse Day is a national campaign started by the ASPCA to raise awareness  of the plight of horses and encourage equine rescue.

Kris Melvin-Denenberg, director of Development and Public Relations at the society said Pony Boy and his companion, a female donkey named Jenni Henrietta, were purchased 14 years ago from a farm that closed in Huntington around that time. The director added that it’s possible the small horse was abused in the past. When Pony Boy first arrived on the farm, he didn’t like any male volunteers to approach him from his left side, which is where people typically approach when greeting a horse or pony.

Pony Boy’s best friend, Peter the sheep, lays in the sun after resting inside the barn. Photo by Giselle Barkley
Pony Boy’s best friend, Peter the sheep, lays in the sun after resting inside the barn. Photo by Giselle Barkley

“He’s a prime example of what a good foster [process] we do,” Melvin-Denenberg said. “Over time he became more and more accepting of men and now there are guys who can put a halter on him, which we could never do before.”

Despite his initial timid disposition Melvin-Denenberg said their pony is always gentle when interacting with children.

Pony Boy didn’t only get used to men or being in the spotlight when kids are near, but he also made a new friend while living at the farm. When Jenni Henrietta passed away several years ago, the stallion gravitated to Peter, a blind sheep living on the farm. Before Peter developed cataracts, the duo bonded. Pony Boy now helps Peter when he needs a farm friend to lean on.

While members of the historical society’s farm animals usually call out to members of their group if they are separated, Melvin-Denenberg said Pony Boy and Peter will sit in close proximity to one another and communicate. She added that horses can form a bond with any animal with whom they share their home.

“They’re herd animals,” she said about horses. “So they are very social and they get very upset if their companions … get separated. They do have concerns — they do worry and look out for each other.”

But the animals aren’t the only ones looking out for each other. Melvin-Denenberg said programs like the Help a Horse Day event teach children how to care for an animal. It also helps them understand the benefits of having a horse on a farm. In the past, horses provided transportation, plowed the crop fields and provided fresh manure for the farmer’s crops. In return, the farmer would care for the horse.

The society doesn’t just want to show families how animals like horses helped on the farm, they also want to encourage people to familiarize themselves with the needs of the animal they wish to adopt. They hope to do so through their programs.

The main difference between ponies like Pony Boy and horses is the animals’ heights. Photo by Giselle Barkley
The main difference between ponies like Pony Boy and horses is the animals’ heights. Photo by Giselle Barkley

“We want [children] to learn about the responsibilities of adopting an animal whether it be a horse, a sheep or a fish. You need to do your research,” Melvin-Denenberg said. “Find out everything you can about the animal. Learn how to properly groom the animal [and] what their veterinary needs are.”

Families can learn more about farm animals like Pony Boy  and horses overall on Monday, April 25, at the Frank Brush Barn, 211 Middle Country Road, Smithtown, at 7 p.m. as Town Historian and Board President Brad Harris presents a lecture titled Famous Horses of Smithtown. Admission is free.

As part of the society’s Spring Break programs, children ages 6 to 12 can come meet Pony Boy, learn  about animal care and how horses helped farmers, and create horse-related crafts on Tuesday, April 26, from 9:30 a.m. to noon in the Frank Brush Barn. Cost is $25 and $22.50 for members and includes a snack and a beverage. Registration is required by calling 631-265-6768.

Finally, children ages 3 to 5 can take part in a child and caregiver horse-themed reading adventure at a program titled Tales for Tots: Horses! on April 26 at the society’s Roseneath Cottage at 239 Main Street, Smithtown, from 11 a.m. to noon. This event is free but registration is required by calling the Smithtown Library at 631-360-2480.

by -
0 519
The Red Cross is highlighting Joe and Lori-Ann Spaccarelli in honor of National Volunteer Week. Photo from Donna Nicholls

The Spaccarelli siblings don’t argue often. But when they do, it’s about preparing people for calamities like house fires through their fire safety programs at the Red Cross.

Last year, Joe Spaccarelli joined the Red Cross after seven children died in a house fire in Midwood, Brooklyn, in March 2015. According to Spaccarelli, the family’s hot plate malfunctioned and the only working smoke alarm was in the basement of the home. The incident was enough to make Spaccarelli quit his job of 27-years to work full-time for the Red Cross as a lead for its home fire safety program. Spaccarelli started volunteering for the Red Cross during Superstorm Sandy, in 2012.

“When that happened, I lifted an eyebrow going ‘huh, it must be a very worthy cause,’” said Lori-Ann, Spaccarelli’s younger sister, about her brother quitting his job to work for the Red Cross.

Lori-Ann Spaccarelli, of Farmingdale, joined the organization as a volunteer last year. She became one of the Long Island volunteer leads for the Home Fire Safety program, after her brother left the position in September to be the program director for Get Alarmed New York City. The Red Cross volunteer and elementary school art teacher in Syosset school district said she couldn’t “say no” to helping a program that her brother loved.

The Red Cross’s Home Fire Safety and Get Alarmed New York City programs don’t only focus on educating people about fire safety and the importance of fire and smoke alarms. Volunteers also install smoke alarms free of charge. The fire safety program aims to reduce home fire-related deaths by 25 percent.

The goal of Get Alarmed NYC is to establish 100,000 smoke alarms in the NYC region within two years. The siblings said they install three to four alarms per home. While they said some homes don’t have an alarm at all, other homes don’t always have one that is working.

“When we go into a lot of these homes, it’s either that the smoke detectors aren’t working, the batteries are missing or the batteries are low,” Joe Spaccarelli said. “It beeps, they take the battery out.”

Spaccarelli added that some residents never get a chance to replace the batteries. Forty percent of the time, fire-related deaths and injuries occur when there isn’t a working alarm in the residence. According to Red Cross CEO Elizabeth Barker, the Red Cross responds nationally to around 70,000 home fires a year. Home fire preparedness isn’t simply about adding smoke detectors and informing people about escape plans, but also about educating young children.

Lori-Ann Spaccarelli started the Pillowcase Project in her school. The program teaches young kids how to get out and cope with home fires and other hazardous. The Disney-sponsored program began after Hurricane Katrina, when college students in Louisiana packed various items in their pillowcases before heading to a shelter.

According to the Spaccarellis, the program puts children at ease during a tragedy, which also helps parents remain calm.

“The children exiting those [Pillowcase Project] lessons come out with much more confidence and conviction when they go home to let their parents know,” Joe Spaccarelli said. “They know what to do and they’re comfortable.”

While the duo didn’t have any prior experience running these kinds of programs, helping others is in their blood.

Growing up, the Spaccarellis said their parents regularly gave back to their community, which encouraged the siblings to help others as well.

For the siblings, helping others is a family affair and Barker said the pair brings that same vibe to the Red Cross.

“Usually what I have is a husband-wife duo,” Barker said. “It’s been really fun to have this brother-sister dynamic to work with. It makes it feel more like a family.”

by -
0 1322
Supervisor Frank Petrone shows off the rain barrel that Huntington resident Claudia Liu painted, which one resident will win this Saturday at Family Earth Day Expo. Photo from A.J. Carter

Huntington is getting ready to go green.

This Saturday, April 23, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Huntington Town will host its annual Family Earth Day Expo at Town Hall, an event that helps residents learn about the many programs and businesses on the North Shore that are working to reduce their environmental footprint, as well as how the community members themselves can play a part.

“Each year the town tries to highlight how residents can help preserve the environment while saving themselves money,” Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) said in a statement. “Whether it’s … bringing e-waste for recycling or dropping off unneeded and unwanted medicines, residents will find a variety of ways they can get into the Earth Day spirit.”

One issue that will be highlighted at the expo is the risk pharmaceutical drugs have on the local water supply and marine life, such as when medications are flushed down the toilet or are present in human waste.

In a joint effort with the advocacy organization Citizens Campaign for the Environment, residents will be able to turn in medication they no longer need to the Suffolk County Police Department, which will dispose of it in an environmentally safe manner.

According to the World Health Organization, there is some discharge of pharmaceuticals into water sources, and Citizens Campaign said, “pharmaceutical drug contamination has been proven to adversely impact fish and aquatic life.”

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, male fish have developed eggs when exposed to female hormones in birth control pills. Anti-depressants and beta-blockers reduce fertility or affect certain aquatic organisms’ reproductive systems.

Staying on the theme of safe ways to dispose of materials, the town will also, in sponsorship with Covanta, a global corporation that works on sustainable solutions to waste-management challenges, give residents the opportunity to properly dispose of electronic goods with a recycling event.

Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D) said it’s a day not only for adults to learn but also for kids to enjoy as well.

“Children and parents alike will definitely have the opportunity for a lot of hands-on fun at this event,” he said in a statement. “It is equally important to be able to show families across Huntington how easy it is to protect kids from harmful chemicals and pesticides, how to make homes and cars more energy efficient and how to save money in the process.”

There will be residential solar energy and organic garden demonstrations, as well as lessons for kids on how compost is made and how to plant a seed in a recycled pot.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk, a nonprofit community education agency, will also provide a variety of sea specimens that kids are welcome to touch, to demonstrate the importance of protecting the marine environment.

There will be a raffle to win a custom-painted rain barrel, painted by former Huntington resident Claudia Liu. The 50-gallon barrel is both a decorative item and a utilitarian one, to be placed in a yard to capture and store rainwater for use with gardening, which helps conserve water. The winner will be announced at the expo.

Family Day Earth Expo will take place in the parking lot of Town Hall on Main Street, at Jackson Avenue, in Huntington.

by -
0 375

By Rabbi Mendy Goldberg

Friday night, April 22, Jews the world over will be celebrating the first night of Passover with a traditional meal called the “Seder.” During the Seder, we observe various traditions such as eating the “matzah” (an unleavened bread) horseradish and drinking four cups of wine.

Mendy-GoldbergwAll of these rituals are reminders of the Jewish people’s exodus from Egypt 3,327 years ago, the birth of the Jewish nation. Our ancestor’s miraculous release from oppression to freedom has served as a source of inspiration for many generations and will do so for many more to come.

A central theme of this holiday is asking questions and providing relevant answers so that children will understand the significance of this celebration. I, however, find myself asking year-after-year the same question: What meaning does an ancient story and its associated ceremony hold for the average American in 2016?  How can we look at events that transpired so long ago and still be spiritually inspired by them?

The answer is found in the Talmudic dictum: “In every generation a person must feel as if he or she was liberated from Egypt.” In other words, we have a responsibility to make an ancient experience important to us living in modern times. We achieve this by recognizing that the imprisonment from which the ancient Hebrews sought emancipation is conceptually still present.

Slavery finds many forms and takes on various appearances. In days of old, it was depicted by a whip-toting taskmaster hovering over a slave with a chain wrapped around his ankle. Today, bondage is often found in our jobs, relationships and attitudes where we find ourselves addicted to a certain negative trait and find it excruciatingly difficult to “break free.” Sometimes we are trapped in a bad relationship or negative habitual behaviors with no easy way out.  Then there are those who are enslaved to material items and cannot possibly fathom life without them. At times we box ourselves into believing less in ourselves then we are truly capable of. Are these not the modern-day equivalents of slavery?

Therefore, every year as we begin the holiday of Passover and the celebration of freedom, we are reminded that the stories we recount and the rituals we observe are more about a commitment to the present then reminiscing about the past. During this time of year, we once again reaffirm our obligation to fight all forms of bigotry, negativity and slavery, be they within or without, to think and do “out of the box,”  realize and actualize our true potential. And, most important, we devote ourselves to being positive members of society at a time when we all crave the most priceless blessing of all: peace on earth.

Rabbi Mendy Goldberg is the Rabbi at Lubavitch of the East End in Coram.

Prev1...139140141...205Next Page 140 of 205
TBR News Media is your local news and entertainment website.
We provide you with the latest breaking news and information for your community.
Contact us: [email protected]

Most Viewed

©