Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
Families visit Benner's Farm April 20 and 21 for Easter fun. Photo by Greg Catalano
The Easter Bunny greets children at Benner's Farm. Photo by Greg Catalano
The Easter Bunny greets children at Benner's Farm. Photo by Greg Catalano
Children enjoy a
Easter hunt at St. James R.C. Church April 21. Photo by Greg Catalano
Children enjoy a
Easter hunt at St. James R.C. Church April 21. Photo by Greg Catalano
Children enjoy a
Easter hunt at St. James R.C. Church April 21. Photo by Greg Catalano
Children enjoy a
Easter hunt at St. James R.C. Church April 21. Photo by Greg Catalano
Children enjoy a
Easter hunt at St. James R.C. Church April 21. Photo by Greg Catalano
The rain this past weekend didn’t stop a certain rabbit from dropping off goodies at Benner’s Farm for Three Village and neighboring children.
The farm hosted egg hunt events April 20 and 21, where children found plastic eggs filled with treats and stuffed animals.
Families also were able to visit with the farm’s baby animals, check out crafts from vendors, play on the big swing, walk the trails and take pictures with the Easter Bunny!
St. James R. C. Church in Setauket also hosted its egg hunt April 21 after Easter Sunday morning service.
Poquott’s community dock will be completed in time for summer. Photo by Gerard Romano
Residents in the Village of Poquott will be able to enjoy a new community dock
this summer.
After years of debating and hammering out the details, the village’s dock will be completed in the next few weeks, according to Mayor Dee Parrish.
“It feels great, and everybody is talking about it on Facebook and the Instagram page for the village and people are taking pictures,” Parrish said. “It’s that time of year where spring is in the air and people are excited, and I think a lot of residents are going to get use out of it this summer.”
The dock, located in California Park at the end of Washington Street, had been discussed by residents for nearly a decade, and while several protested the idea, the village board began seriously looking at building one a few years ago.
The village took out a bond equaling $255,000 to help finance the dock construction. Officials said the village will begin paying off the bond in the end of this year, and the board approved taking the interest payment from the fund balance this year.
Trustee Jeff Koppelson, who supported the idea of a dock for residents, said lately when he walks down to the beach, he sees people checking out its progress. He said he believes many residents will enjoy it, from fishermen to those who are just taking a leisurely walk.
“I find it very gratifying, and I think for years to come it will be kind of a focal point of the village down there,” Koppelson said.
Budget
As the board began to look over its budget for 2019-20, it was first believed that the dock would create an extra $4 more per hundred in the budget, according to Parrish. However, once the numbers were crunched, the trustees announced at the April 11 village meeting that the budget increase for all village services is $3 more per hundred. The new budget of $552,969.17 is a 3% increase over last year and pierces the 2% tax cap.
At the March village board meeting, Parrish, Koppelson and trustee Chris Schleider voted to authorize the board of trustees to exceed the 2% taxing increase limit, and at the April meeting, approved the 2019-20 budget.
The budget includes $63,125 of dock expenses such as engineering fees, legal fees and construction costs.
Stormwater retention pond
The village was recently notified by the New York State Department of Transportation that it would attend to issues regarding a stormwater retention pond on Route 25A, right between Van Brunt Manor Road and Washington Street. Village officials brought the issue to the attention of the NYSDOT, which will be fencing in the pond.
Richard Parrish, Poquott’s stormwater management officer, sent multiple letters to the NYSDOT last year alerting the department of villagers’ complaints that the unfenced structure constructed of earthen walls and an earthen base could potentially collapse and cause a person or animal to fall in or become trapped. After a heavy rainfall, the structure can fill with up to four feet of water.
The mayor said she was relieved that the NYSDOT was going to remedy the situation.
“It won’t be such an eyesore, and also, I think a lot of residents worried that kids might play in it or someone may drown in it, so with a fence around it, it will eliminate that problem,” Parrish said.
‘The Rock on the Green,’ 1865, by William Sidney Mount
Archaeologists and historians are scheduled to explore the Setauket Village Green to see what they can unearth about Long Island’s Revolutionary War history.
The Lamar Institute has begun a month-long field research project titled The Struggle for Long Island: Expanding Revolutionary War Studies in New York funded by a $60,000 American Battlefield Protection Program grant from the National Park Service and $5,200 in contributions from Lamar. The Georgia-based nonprofit, which conducts archaeological research to advance public awareness, has organized historians, archaeologists, residents and City University of New York students to explore three military sites occupied by Loyalists on the North Shore during the Revolutionary War — the Setauket Village Green, Fort Slongo (now known as Fort Salonga) and Fort Franklin in Lloyd’s Neck.
A reenactor reads the plaque on Patriots Rock. Photo from Three Village Community Trust
Barbara Russell, Town of Brookhaven historian and a Caroline Church of Brookhaven vestry member, said the project was presented to the church’s vestry last year for permission to access the site.
“This is all quite exciting to have respected and qualified researchers from the Lamar Institute in and around our Village Green,” she said. “Historians always welcome further study, and I hope the community will come by and watch the process take place.”
Field research began April 15 in Fort Salonga and will continue April 22 for a week at the Village Green. This will be followed by more studies in Lloyd’s Neck during the week of April 29. While the team has been given permission to research Fort Slongo, which is on private property, property owners have not given permission to study Fort Franklin, which is also on privately owned land. Instead the team will only be able to do work on property that was once the battlefield.
The project will focus on the North Shore areas where the Patriot attacks on the three forts led to their victory at Fort Salonga. Daniel Elliot, president of the Lamar Institute, said the research would include ground penetrating radar survey, systematic controlled metal detection survey, small excavations of key targets, total station laser transit mapping, drone-assisted aerial videography and laboratory analysis. The findings will enable the identification of battlefields and provide data regarding military strategies.
The itinerary for Setauket includes searches of the Patriots Rock tract across from Frank Melville Memorial Park, Setauket Presbyterian Church property and the Village Green and the green and front parking area of Caroline Church of Brookhaven.
Elliot said even though similar studies have been conducted in Georgia and South Carolina, this is the first one in New York and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. While not all the forts have a visible footprint like Fort Slongo, written accounts from those who fought and a map from the Culper spies will help guide them to their exact locations.
“We’re trying to bring them back to life a little bit and increase public awareness of what’s out here,” Elliot said.
“It’s really an American story.”
—David Griffin
The Battle of Fort Slongo, led by Benjamin Tallmadge, he said was a victory for the Patriots where an injured Elijah Churchill became the recipient of the first Badge of Military Merit, which became the Purple Heart.
“It’s one of the few success stories on the Island for the Americans during the war,” Elliot said.
David Griffin, a local historian, has been collaborating on the project. An architect by trade, he’s the author of the book “Lost British Forts of Long Island.” He said there are plenty of lost stories and various interpretations of what happened on the Island when it comes to the Revolutionary War.
The historian said with the use of underground radar and metal detectors, field researchers will be able to find artifacts such as iron musket balls and jacket buttons that will tell a lot more about who was shooting at whom and in what direction. The research will also help to see how many people were engaged, and the size of a musket ball can determine to which side it belonged.
He said many times in cases like these, relics aren’t found too deep in the ground, with most being around 4 to 6 inches deep. As for the Setauket battleground, Griffin said no one knows for sure where the fort walls were, and with ground radar, they may be able to determine its exact location.
Griffin said he is looking forward to learning more about the sites and the forts, and he pointed out that the Loyalists who built them were Americans.
“It’s really an American story,” he said. “Even though we think it was the British that were here, it’s really the Loyalist Americans who built these and tended to them, and the Patriots, who were also Americans, were the people who were attacking the posts, so it really is a very local story of Americans.”
The project will be discussed at a future Three Village Community Trust Join the Conversation presentation with Elliott, Griffin and Sheldon Skaggs, assistant professor at City University of New York. Resulting interpretation also will be documented in a report available to the public on the Lamar Institute’s website, www.thelamarinstitute.org by September 2020.
Tim Kearon, left, instructs a student in golf at the Tsai Hsing Golf Academy. Photo from Mastro Communications
Golf’s off-season proved to be a hole in one when it came to life experience for one assistant golf professional.
Tim Kearon, an assistant pro at the Nissequogue Golf Club, spent four months in Taipei City in Taiwan, teaching students in third to sixth grades how to play golf along with the sport’s core values this past winter. The East Setauket resident said the golf program, Tsai Hsing Golf Academy, was established by Dominic Chang, a U.S. businessman and member of the Nissequogue Golf Club who founded the Family Golf Centers chain. John Elwood, the club’s head professional, worked with Chang to put the initial program at the private Tsai Hsing School together, where the businessman is board chairman of the school.
Tim Kearon, left, poses with a student. Photo from Mastro Communications
Chang said in an email that the golf instruction department was created in the fall of 2017 with a full-time Professional Golfers Association instructor and one full-time Taiwan PGA instructor along with several part-timers on hand. He credited Elwood with being instrumental in putting the initial program together, and Kearon with refining it further through his teaching.
Kearon, 25, said he thought it would be an opportunity of a lifetime when Chang invited him to teach there.
“I thought it was a no brainer,” he said. “As soon as it was given to me, I took it. I didn’t take much time to think it over, and it was a big step for me.”
While golf is popular in Taipei, Kearon said it’s not always easily accessible, and to have a golf program in a school is unusual. The program is a mandatory physical education class that lasts 45 minutes twice a week for four weeks. The assistant golf pro, who participated in a similar program called First Tee in Nassau County where he grew up, said the core values of golf — respect, honesty, sportsmanship, confidence, leadership, judgment, etiquette, responsibility and perseverance — create the main lesson plan. He said out of 1,000 students perhaps only 100 are good at golf but most will learn those values.
“At least with the core values, 100% of the kids are going to walk away with something positive,” he said. “If they don’t like golf, they have that which is a huge part of it.”
Chang agrees with the philosophy.
“Because golf teaches similar virtues on and off the golf course, Tsai Hsing School decided to incorporate a golf program as part of physical education for third- through sixth-grade students, as kids learn these important core values before they hit the first golf ball,” Chang said.
Kearon said that while teaching is second nature to him, being in a foreign country was outside of his comfort zone, even though he found learning about a different culture and food enjoyable.
While the students spoke English, he encountered a language barrier outside of academia, but he said the people of Taipei couldn’t have been more helpful and welcoming, and the students were extremely polite.
“For me, I appreciated that more than anything and that really got me through,” he said. “I don’t think I would have made it had it not been for the locals being so friendly and just everyone in general taking care of me and looking out for me,” Kearon said.
While Kearon was there, Elwood was able to visit him for a week to see the school firsthand. Elwood said it was helpful for him to see how it operated in person, and he was pleased Kearon took the opportunity as many golf pros in the cooler weather head to Florida or sit it out.
“It was a nice opportunity for him to see a different culture,” Elwood said. “Also, it helps differentiate Tim from every other assistant pro in the area, something unique that’s going to stand out, I think, probably for the rest of his life.”
Setauket Fire Department Headquarters. File photo.
While the spring weather is signaling the near future completion of two anticipated Three Village construction sites along Route 25A, it also promises a vacant storefront on Route 347 will once again be filled.
Setauket firehouse
The Setauket Fire District will complete work on its firehouse at 190 Main St. in Setauket in the next few weeks. With completion in sight, the district will soon be choosing a date for the community grand-opening event that will most likely take place in the summer.
“We believe that our residents will view the new structure not just as a cornerstone at the crossroads of the Three Villages, but a restatement of our commitment to providing for the safety and well-being of our citizens,” said Jay Gardiner, chairman of the board of fire commissioners. “We are proud of the collaboration between the local groups and the fire department in creating a state-of-the-art facility that will allow us to continuously improve our fire and rescue services, while respecting the historic architecture and design which is the hallmark of our community.”
During the construction, residents have commented on the lights in the firehouse that have been left on at night. David Sterne, district manager, said the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and insurance regulations require lights be kept on in unsecured construction sites due to safety issues if someone were to break in. The district manager said the new firehouse has LED lights which use little electricity, but with doors and security access added this week, it will no longer be necessary to keep the lights on all night.
Stony Brook Square
The future Stony Brook Square shopping center on Route 25A across the street from the Stony Brook train station is set to be completed in the middle of this summer, according to developer Parviz Farahzad. Businesses such as Teachers Federal Credit Union, a coffeehouse, a Thai restaurant, a bubble tea place, Jersey Mike’s Subs and more are set to move in when the shopping center is completed.
Development was stalled last summer when the Town of Brookhaven Planning Board issued a stop-work order after significant field changes were discovered at the site by the town.
At the Dec. 17 planning board general meeting, the board members approved some modifications, including the location of the most western structure, known as building 1, toward the front of the shopping center being shifted a few feet from the original plan, widening of the curb cut onto Route 25A and driveway access from 24 to 30 feet. The board at the same time denied the revised building location of a second building, which was constructed a few feet back from its original planned position. The denial called for the developer to construct the structure, identified as building 5, at the location initially approved by the board, which will bring it in line with building 1.
“I disagreed with the decision, but I respected the decision,” Farahzad said, adding that the change won’t cause any further delays.
Former Waldbaum’s
The vacated Waldbaum’s building in Brooktown Plaza on Route 347, Stony Brook, will soon be a prime spot for those seeking exercise instead of groceries. Waldbaum’s was located at the site for decades.
Becky Zirlen, senior public relations manager with Planet Fitness, said the chain will open a new 18,000 square-foot location in the shopping center by the end of the year.
She said the gym will offer the latest cardio and strength equipment, also free fitness training. There will be a “black card” spa which will include hydromassage beds, massage chairs and tanning beds/booths for Planet Fitness black card members.
Joseph Scimone, managing member of Lighthouse Realty Partners from Valley Stream which manages the site owned by Serota Properties, said in addition to Planet Fitness, the discount home furnishings store HomeSense, which is owned by TJX Companies and operates Marshalls and T.J. Maxx, will also lease 27,250 square feet of the former Waldbaum’s space. TJX marketing specialist Hannah Bramhall said the company “has not announced a new store in the Stony Brook area.”
Scimone said there is approximately 12,000 square feet of the former Waldbaum’s store left to be leased.
The Three Village Chamber of Commerce is working with local businesses to ensure owners and employees are up to date when it comes to a new state law.
In October of 2018, New York State passed a law that requires all businesses, including churches and nonprofits, even if there is only one employee, to have a written sexual harassment policy and post it in a highly visible area, as well as provide each employee with a copy of the policy. All employees must be trained once a year and new employees soon after their start date, according to Christine Malafi, a senior partner with Ronkonkoma-based law firm Campolo, Middleton and McCormick.
Recently, Malafi led a discussion at the chamber’s March meeting titled “What the Sexual Harassment Law Means for Business.” The attorney shared insight into the new laws with local business owners and how they impact workplace policies and culture.
The discussion kicked off a new service where the chamber will sponsor two sexual harassment training workshops for employees of member and nonmember companies led by Malafi. The workshop will discuss what sexual harassment is, what one is allowed and not allowed to do and what to look for if harassment is suspected.
Malafi said she has found that many businesses aren’t up to date when it comes to their sexual harassment policies.
“It’s very important because it’s the MeToo era, and if someone makes a complaint against you or an employee, if you can’t check the boxes — yes, complied with this, yes, complied with that — you may find yourself facing liability,” she said.
Andy Polan, the Three Village chamber president, said the goal is to make the mandated training more accessible and affordable for members. An alternative for business owners, he said, would be to work directly with an attorney or insurance carrier who specializes in the law or take an online course. He said he has heard such services could cost $1,500 or more per business or practice, which he said can be a big hit for a small business or nonprofit.
“We want to help our members, and it’s adding value to their membership,” Polan said.
Malafi said the new law now covers independent contractors and other contracted workers.
In the last few years, Malafi said she has seen an increase in sexual harassment cases.
“The number of cases filed with the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] and similar agencies have doubled in the past few years,” she said, adding she doesn’t think actual occurrences have doubled, but people are more likely to report offensive language or action.
Workshops are scheduled for May 10 at 9 a.m. at the Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s Educational & Cultural Center and May 21 at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express at Stony Brook. Rates for chamber members are $15 per employee and $25 per person for nonmembers.
Preregistration is required and can be made online at www.3vchamber.com or by check to Three Village Chamber, P.O. Box 6, East Setauket, NY 11733.
After Rockland County declared a countywide state of emergency last week banning any person under 18 who is unvaccinated for measles from public spaces, Suffolk County issued a recommendation.
In a press release, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) and Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken urged county residents to make sure they are immunized against measles. Despite the recent ban in Rockland County due to a reported 157 cases of measles since October 2018, there is no immediate public concern in Suffolk.
“In light of recent reports, residents should make sure to receive their measles shots to protect themselves,” Bellone said in the press release. “While there is no immediate public health concern in Suffolk County, this should serve as a reminder to do what is necessary out of an abundance of caution.”
Stony Brook Children’s Hospital’s Dr. Sharon Nachman, division chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and professor of pediatrics, said early symptoms of measles, which is a virus, can be mistaken for the common cold with a patient suffering from a runny nose, fever and red, watery eyes. She said even doctors can miss the signs of measles, that is until the typical rash of flat red spots appears.
The best protection against measles is the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, the doctor said, and two doses of the MMR vaccine is needed. Measles is highly contagious, and a person could infect others even 60 feet away. She said an unvaccinated person can potentially catch the measles even if they were in the same supermarket or airport as an infected person.
“The reason for the isolation is to keep the kids who are at risk from the kids who are incubating the illness, or they don’t know they have measles,” she said, adding there are those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.
The doctor said anyone born before 1957 more than likely had measles. After 1957, three different vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella were given, and now all are combined into one immunization called MMR. She said one should find their immunization records to see if they received two rounds of each when it was split, or two doses of the MMR vaccine. Once a person gets the measles or the proper doses of the MMR vaccine, they are immune to measles.
Nachman said it’s important to get the full doses, and if a person isn’t sure if they got two rounds of MMR, an extra dose will not hurt them.
When she talks with parents who are hesitant about the immunizations, Nachman said she tells them not to be fooled by what’s written on the internet, and to make sure any website they visit has a review process by professionals as anyone can write anything on a blog without checking facts.
The doctor also said it’s important to remember diseases such as measles are still in the environment, and just because we don’t have an outbreak right now, it doesn’t mean it’s not possible. She calls immunization “community protection” instead of using the common term “herd immunity,” which describes when the majority of the population is vaccinated, there is less likelihood of an unvaccinated person being infected.
“You have to do the same thing for your entire community that you expect your community to do for you,” she said. “That’s what community protection is all about. You don’t want your kid getting into a car unless the driver is wearing a seatbelt and your kid is wearing a seatbelt. That’s what a community does. It protects everyone in the community.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, cases of measles have been confirmed in 15 states and is still common in many parts of the world. Measles has been brought into the United States by unvaccinated American travelers and foreign visitors, according to the website. Worldwide, an estimated 20 million people get measles. Out of those infected, 146,000, mostly children, die from the illness each year.
More than 100 people showed up at the Islamic Association of Long Island March 28 to lend their support for Muslims around the world and pray for the victims of the New Zealand mosque shootings. Photo by Rita J. Egan
More than 100 people showed up at the Islamic Association of Long Island March 28 to lend their support for Muslims around the world and pray for the victims of the New Zealand mosque shootings. Photo by Rita J. Egan
More than 100 people showed up at the Islamic Association of Long Island March 28 to lend their support for Muslims around the world and pray for the victims of the New Zealand mosque shootings. Photo by Rita J. Egan
More than 100 people showed up at the Islamic Association of Long Island March 28 to lend their support for Muslims around the world and pray for the victims of the New Zealand mosque shootings. Photo by Rita J. Egan
On March 28, North Shore residents of various faiths gathered in Selden to show their support for Muslims around the world.
In response to the March 15 terrorist attacks in New Zealand mosques, a prayer vigil was held outside the Islamic Association of Long Island where more than 100 people, including members from the Three Village Interfaith Clergy Association and Building Bridges in Brookhaven, held hands and formed a ring around the mosque during a moment of silence. The symbol of solidarity took place after a brief prayer led by Rabbi Paul Sidlofsky of Temple Isaiah of Stony Brook.
Syed Rahman, current president of the Islamic Association of Long Island, said he was touched by the number of attendees.
“I’m glad so many people made the time to come over with busy workday schedules,” he said. “This is a big turnout. I think this is the biggest turnout since I’ve been president.”
Tom Lyon, a member of Building Bridges in Brookhaven, said more than half a dozen people from the organization attended. One of the group’s founding principles, he said, is based on a motto the members adapted when it was formed — “The most radical thing we can do is to introduce people to each other.”
“Sadly, on Long Island today, developing a diversity of friendships requires far more effort than it should,” Lyon said.
Rev. Steven Kim, pastor of Setauket United Methodist Church, who is also part of the Three Village Interfaith Clergy Association, attended the event.
“It was a night for Three Village residents to stand by the Islamic community regardless of our religions or persuasions in the wake of the tragedy in New Zealand,” he said. “It would be beneficial for us to pursue further opportunities in enhancing the mutual understanding and assuring the same humanity among the different ethnic and religious groups in our community.”
After the prayer vigil, the Three Village Interfaith Clergy Association hosted a discussion held inside the mosque titled “Belief and Truth from a Multifaith Perspective: Finding Unity in Diversity.” Professor Chris Sellers of Stony Brook University’s history department and director of the Center for the Study of Inequality and Social Justice moderated the discussion.
Micayla Beyer, center, with teammates Luke Solak and Melanie Young at a recent fundraiser. Photo from Micayla Beyer
A team of Stony Brook University students is preparing for the journey of a lifetime to help those in need, all while bringing awareness to the lack of access to clean water in impoverished villages around the world.
Micayla Beyer, 21, a senior who is majoring in physics and German, is heading up a group of 14 SBU students. The team will climb up the 19,341-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, stopping along the way to help villages with limited access to clean water. The trip is in conjunction with WaterAid, an international nonprofit dedicated to improving access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. Beyer said she learned about WaterAid through the organization Choose a Challenge, which pairs student travelers with a cause. To be eligible for the week-long Kilimanjaro trip, which begins May 29, each team member has to raise $6,000.
Nearly 100 SBU students attended an information session held on campus to learn more about the trek and the charity. Photo from Micayla Beyer
Kaylie White, engagement and support care associate for WaterAid America, said the organization has been working with Choose a Challenge for more than a year now, and the philanthropic treks can be a learning experience for students.
“Often on adventure trips like the Kilimanjaro one, students will be faced with lack of access to clean water and modern toilets as well, which is an opportunity for them to think more critically about how important those basic necessities are,” she said.
White said the trip challenges students both physically and emotionally, as they learn about the problems that are caused by a lack of access to clean water, dependable toilets and good hygiene.
“We hope that after participating in this trek, students will continue to be advocates of our work and spread awareness for the global water crisis,” White said.
Beyer, a 2015 Harborfields High School graduate, said she feels it’s important for people to know that there are areas in the world where residents don’t have access to clean water, and who sometimes have to travel miles to the nearest water source. Many times children will also help to retrieve the water, she said, and therefore are unable to attend school.
The college student said the trek, which will be her first trip outside of North America, is something that can be done with minimal training as the students only need to carry a personal backpack while guides and porters help to carry heavier items such as tents. She said she and the others will be grateful for the help as she admits, “we’re probably not as fit as we should be.”
To help students prepare, White said she and her colleague Elena Marmo, help students with their fundraising goals. They encourage efforts like bake sales and on-campus events, and in the past, some students ran 5ks for donations. She said Beyer has been an incredible advocate for WaterAid at SBU.
White said the plan is to have eight students from SBU participate in the trek, which will raise $25,000 for the organization and fund projects at two schools overseas to install clean water technologies, bathroom facilities, handwashing facilities and hygiene programming.
“That will make an incredible difference in the lives of children — allowing kids to grow up healthy and strong, staying in school so they can pursue their dreams,” White added.
Team member Mary Bertschi
Mary Bertschi, 22, a SBU marine biology major, plans to join Beyer on the mission. She said she was excited to participate because she studied in Madagascar in the fall of 2017 where she learned how many poor villages have limited access to clean water and toilets. During that trip, she and other students tested the parasite loads in young people in five different villages and found 85 percent of those tested had at least one waterborne parasite. She also learned that one in nine people doesn’t have access to clean water.
“That stuck with me,” Bertschi said.
While in Madagascar, Bertschi said SBU students had ways to clean water, including LifeStraw filters, but they did have to bathe at times in the dirty rivers and streams. She said the mild introduction to limited access to clean water was eye-opening for her.
Both students are near their goals of raising $6,000, and March 30, Greenporter Hotel in Greenport, where Bertschi works, will hold a fundraiser for the nonprofit.
Bertschi said the students will have to be realistic about how much ground they can cover on the mountain and will have to watch for altitude sickness, but she said the challenges during the trip will be worth it.
“I hope people recognize what a large issue this is, the lack of access to clean water, and the lack of access to toilets and sanitation and hygiene education,” Bertschi said. “I feel like that is something that a lot of people don’t really understand the severity.”
Beyer said she and her teammates are already learning from the experience.
“This path from signing up for the trek to reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro is the hardest thing any of us have gone through — it requires incredible time management, self-discipline, a positive attitude, insane creativity and networking skills, all to fundraise the 6K each and summit the third tallest mountain in the world,” Beyer said. “The best part about this whole thing so far is that we’re making an impact on so many people’s lives and bringing awareness of this water crisis to Long Island where we have some of the best water imaginable.”
To learn more about the Kilimanjaro trek, visit us.wateraid.org/team/185472.
The Tinker home that once stood in Poquott. Photo from the Three Village Historical Society archives.
A suffragist and philanthropist, who summered in the Village of Poquott, continues to help women nearly 100 years after her death.
Annie Rensselaer Tinker was the daughter of banker Henry Tinker, who bought a mansion in the Village of Poquott in the late 1800s, according to the village’s historian Christoper Ryon. Despite her death in 1924, just short of her 40th birthday, Annie Tinker’s inheritance from her father in 1914 would go on to establish a charity to aid retired women who no longer had adequate means of support.
“She died early, but she had a very rich life,” Ryon said.
Annie Tinker, shown right with a friend, was an accomplished equestrian. Photo from the John and Betty Evans Collection
Tinker, who was born in 1884, spent her younger years in Poquott swimming, sailing and horseback riding and went on to be a champion for women. She became a suffragist, Ryon said, and Tinker, an accomplished equestrian, formed and trained a women’s cavalry in 1911 that protected other suffragists when they participated in parades.
Tinker enlisted in the British Red Cross during World War I, according to Ryon. During her time giving aid to soldiers on the front lines, her father died and left the Poquott home to her. After World War I, she decided to stay in Paris, and in 1924, died due to complications from tonsillitis surgery in London.
Catherine Tinker, who is not a descendant of the Poquott family, has done extensive research on Annie Tinker’s life. She believes the suffragist saw the horrors of World War I when she was a member of the Red Cross on the front lines in Belgium, France and Italy.
“I think she was truly independent and could have lived a life of luxury in any way she chose, but she put herself in service of others and had this compassion for the fight for women’s right to vote, to nurse the wounded during World War I in Europe and to leave her money to help older working women who could no longer work for a living,” Catherine Tinker said. “That’s kind of amazing.”
A charity first called the Annie R. Tinker Memorial Home was established in 1924 shortly after Tinker’s death following wishes detailed in her will. In later years the name was changed to the Annie Tinker Association for Women Inc., according to Tinker, a former president and CEO of the foundation. The charity operated out of an office in Manhattan until 2018 when it was dissolved.
The mission of the organization was to provide small monthly stipends to retired women who applied for grants so they could remain in their homes. In 2017, the foundation provided assistance to 25 women, according to Tinker.
The former foundation president said last year the board of trustees decided to dissolve the foundation, and the remaining assets were donated to similar charities while the bulk of the money was transferred to the New York Community Trust, which created a new fund named the Annie Rensselaer Tinker Fund. The intent of the new fund is to support projects and policies that maintain the independence and dignity of aging women in New York. Tinker said the hope is that the general projects through the trust will help more women.
“It should go on in perpetuity, so the legacy of Annie Tinker is there,”
she said.
Tinker said Annie Tinker had hoped the Poquott home would one day be a retreat for older women; however, it eventually was inherited by her brother after a long probate case. While Tinker had bequeathed her estate to her friend Kate Darling Nelson with the property being donated to the charity for retired women, her mother fought for half of her daughter’s money and won. However, her friend still inherited half of the fortune and established the charity as Annie Tinker wished.
Through the decades the foundation helped women who lived alone and may not have had the support of family, Catherine Tinker said. She said women who received funds from the foundation were encouraged to mingle with each other with book clubs, holiday and tea parties, which many times the board members would attend, and the get-togethers formed what she called a “Tinker family.” The former CEO said many of the women enjoyed careers as artists and didn’t have pensions or substantial Social Security payments. During her days as a suffragist, Annie Tinker had met many female artists from Gramercy Park.
“When the foundation really tried to reach out to women artists, I think that was natural, because I think they were women Annie herself would have liked to help,” Tinker said.
For more information about Annie Tinker, visit https://lihj.cc.stonybrook.edu/#articles_4692 for a Long Island History Journal article written by Catherine Tinker.
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