Plain Talk: Finding hope and giving back
By Fr. Francis Pizzarelli
On March 15, I was honored to participate in the dedication of a roadway in front of the Port Jefferson Village Center on East Broadway to honor former Mayor Robert Strong.
Mayor Strong was an extraordinary public servant who loved the village of Port Jefferson and its’ people. He was a loving husband and father for more than 30 years and was a social studies educator in a school district on the South Shore.
As an educator he was outstanding; he always related social studies to public service, encouraging his students to be young men and women of integrity and service. I saw this first hand, as I spoke in his school district a number of times.
On the same day the Village of Port Jefferson dedicated a roadway to honor Mayor Strong, about 1000 feet away more than 100 people took part in the 2nd Annual Polar Plunge at Harborfront Park benefiting Hope House Ministries.
The significance of this annual event is not the money they raised and the fact that over 100 people came out to support this event; the real story is about the two young men who founded the Polar Plunge to support Hope House Ministries.
One man is a nurse working in a local hospital. The other young man is a professional entrepreneur who lives out East. These two young men became friends as teenagers while living at Hope House on Main Street in Port Jefferson Village.
A few years ago, they met after not seeing each other for more than 15 years. They started talking about the brotherhood they found living at Hope House and now they wanted to give back, That communication gave birth to the first polar plunge.
Their dedication, hard work and creativity with this event was inspirational to so many who gathered to support them. They drew on other alumni and friends they have made along the way who are now professional adults. These human connections made this event so successful and powerful.
As a nation, we continue to be so polarized. The disrespectful rhetoric and behavior on the part of so many in leadership is unconscionable. So, in the midst of all of our national chaos, it is refreshing to see hope in our midst.
These young men and so many others that they lived with have changed and transformed their lives despite the many obstacles before them. Today they are contributing members to the various communities they live in around the country. I am so proud of the men they have become and the things that they are doing for others.
They have strengthened my hope that we can do better, one person at a time.
Father Francis Pizzarelli, SMM, LCSW-R, ACSW, DCSW, is the director of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson.
