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Port Jefferson

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The Port Jefferson Board of Education will hold its vote on May 18 to elect three members to the board for a three-year term — commencing July 1 of this year, expiring on June 30, 2024. Four local residents are looking to take those spots. 

Shannon Handley

Shannon Handley has lived with her family in Port Jefferson for 22 years. 

With two children currently attending school in the district ¬— Port Jefferson Middle and Edna Louise Spear Elementary schools — she has become determined to maintain the success of the local schools.

An educator herself, Handley has been a high school English teacher at Bay Shore High School for the last two decades, previously working for three years in New York City’s public schools. 

“I have a passion for education,” she said in an email. “My unique position — as both a parent and a lifelong educator — would enable me to bring valuable input and insight to the board, as I will bring my parenting experience and high school teaching experience to the complex decisions necessary for continued educational excellence in Port Jefferson schools.”

Handley said that if she is elected, she plans to help maintain a strong organizational structure for the district while working closely with the public. 

“I believe I can help to contribute to a climate in keeping with our district’s mission, one that will promote integrity and mutual respect, allow our district administrators to manage the schools, that will allow the teachers to effectively teach, and will foster an environment in which the students can be supported and develop into responsible, independent, adaptable, lifelong learners,” she said.

“Because of my background, I understand how essential it is to serve the diverse values and needs of our community during these unprecedented times while promoting equity and inclusivity for our students,” she said. “My passion for improving public schools, my knowledge of public schools, my commitment to public education and to serving the students of Port Jefferson makes me an excellent candidate for our board of education.”

Rene Tidwell

Rene Tidwell has been a Port Jefferson resident for 20 years.

A mom to a high schooler, and a special education aide in another local district, she said her husband has been a big volunteer within the district.

The incumbent candidate said she is seeking reelection for her second term because the last three years had been “fulfilling.”

“I want to utilize my first term’s experience to help us move forward as we face some challenges,” she said. 

Her concerns, she said, are the declining enrollment and shifting demographics and how those could impact the district’s instructional programs. 

Secondly,  Tidwell mentioned the LIPA glide path. 

“From a budget perspective, ensuring that we maintain a conservative approach as our revenue from LIPA decreases over the nine-year glide path that we have with them,” she said. 

While these two issues are large and concerning, COVID-19 is also thrown into the mix. Moving forward, she said, she wants to continue to face the mandated safety and security protocols for students. 

“There’s so much uncertainty around it,” she said. “There are so many different changing guidelines coming quickly.”

She said she wants to make sure the district stays on top of everything and makes sure there is a safe and secure environment for students, teachers and staff.

Tidwell also has been pushing since before the pandemic for more resources to meet the social and emotional needs of students. 

“I want to make sure we have enough psychologists to support the students in our schools, making sure we have sufficient professional development for our teachers and, again, just making sure that we’ve got programs in place in all three of our schools to make sure that we are identifying and addressing any social emotional needs our students have, particularly now that we’re hopefully moving into more of a recovery period from COVID,” she said. “I think we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg right now. I think the impact is going to continue to play out over many years to come.”

Ryan Walker

Ryan Walker is running for reelection with the board.

A father of two, one who graduated from the high school in 2018 and another who is graduating this year, he and his wife moved to Port Jefferson in 2010.

“My wife actually grew up in Port Jeff, and graduated in 1986,” he said. “So, we live in the house she grew up in.”

Originally from Syracuse, Walker is a retired New York State trooper, who is currently working as a physical therapist assistant at Peconic Bay Medical Center. 

Three years ago, he was elected to the school board and he said this run is to continue his unfinished business.

“We’ve done so much,” he said. “We hired a new superintendent, we mitigated the COVID crisis we had the LIPA glide path in our way. The past three years, we’re managing all that, and we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us.”

Walker said he wants to tackle the LIPA glide path issue and its impact on local residents and businesses. He also is concerned about declining enrollment, and its impact on the schools’ staffing. 

“We have an award-winning [high] school,” he said. “So, we want to make sure we maintain that.”

He added that in continuation with the COVID-19 crisis, he wants to see it through the 2021-22 school year and keep families safe.

“The last three years while I’ve been there, I’ve been really pleased with how we’ve been able to get through the tough times so far and I’m confident moving forward we’ll be able to get through all of our challenges ahead,” he said. “I’ve been very active in the community and I’ve really grown to embrace Port Jeff as my home.”

Walker added he’d like to address the district’s aging infrastructure and find funding for repairs that can no longer be ignored. 

“I like to think our board is made up of a community with diversity,” he said. “So, what I bring is my background in law enforcement and security, along with health care. Everyone on the board, they bring in a little something else to it. And that’s the way boards were meant to be — sort of a cross section of our community.”

Tracy Zamek

Tracy Zamek is seeking a third term as a trustee on the Port Jefferson school board. 

A mom of two Port Jeff high school students — a senior and sophomore — she has been a resident for 25 years. Her husband grew up in the district.

For the past 22 years, Tracy Zamek has been an elementary school teacher in the Hauppauge school district. 

“My experience as a classroom teacher is paramount when it comes to making decisions about what’s best for a student’s education,” she said in an email.

Zamek has been a school board member for six years — two years as vice president — where she said she has gained significant knowledge about the district’s students, curriculum, facilities and finances. 

“I am running for the school board for the same reasons I ran six years ago,” she said. “The first reason being to stand up for the students of Port Jefferson, and the second reason being we need to make smart, responsible decisions when creating our annual budget, especially with the LIPA challenges we are currently faced with.”

Zamek said she has always been an advocate for public education. 

“At community forums I have spoken out against the privatization of public education,” she said. “I don’t believe big corporations should be making the decisions about what’s best for our students. Local school boards should be making these decisions. There is no one size fits all in education.”

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, Zamek said she believes the school board should stay focused during these turbulent times, and that all students should be in-person full time next year.

“We need to do what’s best for the students in Port Jefferson,” she said. “We need to preserve our programs and continue to provide a stellar education.”

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Photo from Lavender Fields

For two decades, one local shop has seen it all. 

Lavender Fields, located at 118 Wynn Lane in Port Jefferson, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. 

Known for its homewares, furniture, luxury bedding, gifts and interior design services, it officially opened on April 14, 2001 and has kept its doors open since. 

Owner Lori Ressa said it wasn’t always easy, but staying creative and innovative was the secret to her success.

“I think just being unique and passionate about what you do, instead of copying another store or just trying to be what you’re not is key,” she said. “Something I learned back in the day in business school is be open to change.”

Originally from Brooklyn, Ressa had a background in e-commerce, but always had a passion for design and antiques. She also always wanted to be an entrepreneur and opened her first antique store in New Jersey.

Ressa decided she wanted to change pace and landed in Port Jefferson. She and her then-husband saw an advertisement for a store being sold and immediately knew this is where she belonged. 

“We came here, fell in love with the town, purchased the store and 20 years later, here we are,” she said. 

Since opening, they had several different locations — starting off on East Main Street under Pasta Pasta, they moved to where the current space for Fame & Rebel is down the street. Six years ago, she found the current spot tucked away off the beaten path. 

Ressa and her 12-year-old daughter Ava Madrid run the store now, monitoring the e-commerce through their website, working the retail part of the store and helping clients with interior design. 

Lori Ressa’s daughter, Ava, inside their shop. Photo by Julianne Mosher

“Customers love the experience of just coming in,” Ressa said. “They walk around, they’ll see the candles, the home keeping stuff, the soaps, and then we have other clients that come in for the bedding and the rugs. We have a real mixed demographic.”

She said that for the anniversary, she will be remodeling the store. For now, the front door will feature a decorative flower arch, with their signature bundles of lavender outside for sale. 

Tucked away on the cobblestone-paved walkway of Wynn Lane in Port Jefferson, across from Ruvo’s. 

Inside the store is filled with a treasure trove of bedding, apothecary items, candles, artwork, luxe pajamas and lounge wear, gifts for children, kitchen wares, home decor, and more. Ressa and her staff are also able to create custom gift baskets.

“Many of our customers wander in before they go to a baby shower, birthday party, or bridal shower at a local restaurant, see all of the things we offer, and we end up creating a custom gift for them to take to their event,” she said. “You need to think outside the box.”

Ava, who has grown up in the shop, said she loves Port Jefferson and the community where she helps her mom every day.

“I love the environment here,” she said. 

Her plans? It might be to take over Ressa’s store one day, but she said the customer service skills she’s learning as she works alongside her family might lead her to run for village mayor one day.

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Sonny Stancarone will be hosting a new piano relaxation program in Port Jefferson. Photo by Julianne Mosher

What do you get when you combine meditation, mindfulness, yoga and pianos? A new piano relaxation center in Upper Port.

Vic “Sonny” Stancarone, owner of Sonny’s Pianos at 1500 Main St., decided to open another spot right across from his store, that will be beneficial to the community — especially after a stressful 2020. 

On Friday, April 30, a dozen people gathered at his new Piano Relaxation Center, now located at 6 North Country Road. The idea behind it, he said, was to give people a new space to learn piano in a stress-free way. 

He said that this has been something he’s wanted to do “forever.”

“I love buying and selling pianos,” he said. “But I love working with people and now I circle back to doing what I’ve always wanted.”

Photo by Julianne Mosher

At his other shop, Stancarone buys and sells refurbished pianos. From Steinways to Young Changs, he cleans them up, tunes them and helps them find new homes. He is also known for his art case collection — often vintage pianos with decorative artwork painted throughout the instrument.

But on top of selling pianos at wholesale prices, he had an extensive career in health, fitness and wellness — while also being a piano performer. 

Stancarone is a former health and fitness director for big-name corporations, adjunct professor and yoga practitioner. He said learning breathing exercises, relaxation and meditation techniques, yoga and marital arts helped cure him of crippling childhood asthma at 11 years old. That experience always stuck with him and, with whatever career path he followed, he always tried to help others the way he was helped, before. 

His piano playing and teaching methods are based on breathing with the diaphragm, relaxing with emphasis on enjoying the playing rather than playing perfectly. He calls his method “piano yoga.”

“I feel that piano playing is wonderful, creative, therapeutic, life-enhancing, stress-reducing vehicle that everyone can enjoy,” he said. “The biggest problem with the piano is that people are intimidated by it, they think, ‘Oh, I don’t have talent,’ or ‘I can’t play it,’ but it has nothing to do with talent.”

He added that interested people just need to sit down and try. The way to success is approaching the keys like one would for meditation or mindfulness.

“I want them to read, relax and clear their heads of everything,” Stancarone said. “To just kind of connect to what I call the musician with them, so that they could just get into the flow.”

So, the new relaxation center is a new way for people to learn piano, learn how to decompress or just jam out. 

“People are looking to get out of the house,” he said. “They’ve all been cooped up. So, something like this is very nonthreatening. It’s very relaxing. It’s very easy and my approach is just now sitting down to play.”

The main thing is just to relax and enjoy the instrument. 

Sonny Stancarone instructing two piano players at his new space. Photo by Julianne Mosher

“My mission is to let people see that everyone can do this,” he said. “And show someone that the piano is the most accessible of all instruments — you can just sit down and you’re making music.”

The space will offer classes of 10 people — each receiving their own spot at a piano. 

“I teach them breathing techniques, stress management techniques, relaxation techniques,” Stancarone said. “We do a little sitting chair yoga … so, it really incorporates a lot of different things.”

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Photo by Julianne Mosher

Loretta Criscuoli keeps herself busy as the new owner of Port Jefferson’s The Spice & Tea Exchange. But there is more to this local entrepreneur than just owning a business.

When the store located at 106 W. Broadway closes at night, Criscuoli heads home to Kings Park where she starts her second shift as a volunteer EMT ambulance driver and 1st lieutenant for the Kings Park Fire Department. 

She said she has been with the fire department for 12 years.

“So, I’m here all day, and there all night,” she said. 

Loretta Criscuoli in full gear volunteering with the Kings Park Fire Department at the height of the pandemic last year. Photo from Loretta Criscuoli

Criscuoli was furloughed from her full-time real job during the COVID-19 pandemic and that’s when she realized she wanted to start something new. A fan of the brand, she found out through the franchise there was an opportunity in New York where the doors to the village’s spice and tea shop had been closed for about a year. She decided to take over as its newest owner.

This West Broadway location is the first and only store in the state.

“I jumped right on it and it happened very fast,” she said.

After signing the paper work in October, she officially opened up her doors on Nov. 13. The Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce — of which she is a member — hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony April 15.

The Spice & Tea Exchange franchise was founded in 2008 and offers 140 spices, 85 exclusive hand-mixed blends, over 40 exotic teas, naturally flavored sugars, salts from around the world, gourmet gifts and accessories. It also houses a tea bar serving dozens of hot and iced teas with classics like chai, and unique flavors with names like the Berry Bouquet, Chocolate Caramel Candy Bar and Hazelnut Cookie. There are more than 70 franchises across the United States.

“Our blends are made in-house and we have over 75 of them,” she said. “We do everything including peeling the lemons, oranges, limes, we dehydrate them, and we grind them and add them to all the different recipes.”

Criscuoli said she always loved to cook and was always a tea lover. This opportunity was a perfect fit. 

“I love it all,” she said. “Our guests are wonderful — it’s everyone who is into cooking and it’s working out really well … I am enjoying it.”

Part of the shopping experience there is to enjoy the aromas of the different smells. 

“All the jars are here to be open and to smell,” she said. “That’s an important part of it. It really goes to all your senses. So, you have to come and experience it. It’s like a field trip coming through here where you get to smell all the fragrances and see the ingredients.”  

The store will be open now Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

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Photo by Julianne Mosher
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Photo from Port Jefferson EMS

By Leah Chiappino 

Port Jefferson EMS announced they will be scheduling in-home vaccine appointments Wednesday, after receiving 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine from New York State.

This comes after a delay due to the department not receiving what they said were promised doses from the county. Appointments will be available May 4, and can be scheduled online. Patients will then receive their second dose June 1.

“Our ability to administer vaccines in the home allows us to help the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Deputy Chief Micheal Presta. “Our paramedics are ready, willing and able to take on this new role and enhance the services we provide to the community.”

Photo from Port Jefferson EMS

To qualify, patients must be “homebound and have limited mobility,” which is defined by FEMA as “any individual that cannot get to and from vaccination sites without transportation assistance (due to physical disabilities, economic hardships, or other factors that may hinder an individual’s ability to get to and from a vaccination site without assistance).”

To receive a vaccine from the program, residents must reside in Port Jefferson, Miller Place, or Mount Sinai (11777, 11764, and 11766 zip codes).

Moderna does present logistical challenges in distribution. In following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a vial of vaccines, which generally contain 10 to 11 doses, cannot be left unrefrigerated for more than 12 hours.

As such, the EMS department is scheduling  appointments one day at a time. To make an appointment, visit https://calendly.com/portjeffersonems/in-home-covid-19-vaccination-5-4-21?month=2021-05&date=2021-05-04/ or email questions to [email protected].

 

 

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The Dyett Sand-Lime Brick Factory is shown along the west shore of Port Jefferson Harbor at the former site of California Grove and Pavilion. Above photo by Arthur S. Greene; Photo from Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

The Port Jefferson Post Office Building, now the Regency condominiums at 202 Main Street, was unlike any other structure in the village’s downtown.

The Dyett Sand-Lime Brick Factory is shown along the west shore of Port Jefferson Harbor at the former site of California Grove and Pavilion. Above photo by Arthur S. Greene; Photo from Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Completed in 1911 and remodeled over the years, the former Post Office Building was constructed of sand-lime brick, rather than common clay brick.

Prized for its natural white color, strength and durability, the attractive sand-lime brick was manufactured nearby at the Dyett Sand-Lime Brick Company.

The corporation was named for its founder, James H. Dyett (1864-1944), who served as the firm’s general manager and had invented a machine for pressing bricks.

In 1908, the company purchased acreage in Bay View Park on the west side of Port Jefferson Harbor and started building its factory.

Located at the former site of California Grove and Pavilion at the foot of Washington Street in today’s Poquott, the property was considered ideal for Dyett’s operations.

To make a sand-lime brick, a mixture of silica sand and hydrated lime is moistened, molded into the desired shape and cured under high pressure steam.

The abundant deposits of the superior quality sand found in and about Port Jefferson provided Dyett with a near inexhaustible supply of the main raw material needed at its plant. In addition, the company’s factory was located directly on Port Jefferson Harbor, enabling Dyett to ship its heavy pallets of brick by barge to waiting markets, easily and cheaply.

Despite this rosy picture, the corporation became embroiled in a fight with Brookhaven Town, which sought to dispossess an intrusive Dyett from unlawfully operating on a portion of the beach fronting the company’s property.

In 1912, the Supreme Court, Suffolk County Special Term, affirmed Brookhaven Town’s title to the land in dispute. The corporation considered its options, but an appeal was never pursued so the decision of the court stood.

The Port Jefferson Post Office Building, now the Regency condominiums, is pictured at 202 Main Street. The building was constructed of attractive sand-lime brick, prized for its natural white color, strength and durability. Photo by Arthur S. Greene; Photo from Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Dyett’s honeymoon on the harbor over, the brick company was sold in 1914 to John A. Gibson of Far Rockaway, New York. The following year, Dyett opened a sand-lime plant in New Orleans, Louisiana.

During World War I, the former Dyett complex was taken over by O’Connor-Bennett and the Union Ship and Dock Company, which built four wooden coal barges for the United States Navy before moving the yard’s operations to Flushing, New York. 

Beginning in 1921, scows were moored and maintained at the old Dyett dock, which had been leased by the Great Eastern Gravel Corporation.

Alarmed by the growing industrialization of their community, the residents of Bay View Park formed an association in 1927 and voted to buy what was once the site of Dyett’s sand-lime brick factory, thus “forestalling the further encroachment of commercial interests.” The property was later purchased by the Incorporated Village of Poquott and is known today as “California Park.”

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A look inside the new Sue La La Couture on E Main Street. Photo by Julianne Mosher

Originally located at 1506 Main Street in Upper Port, Sue La La Couture decided to move down to E Main Street for a new opportunity.

Although the East Main location is a bit smaller, owner Sue Gence said the new space will give her more exposure and have a different atmosphere than her former spot.

“I was waiting for uptown to change,” she said. “But after four years, nothing was done and my landlord was selling the building.”

Gence said she had the opportunity to stay at the old store, but she took it as a sign for her to make a change, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I was closed for nine months,” she said. “I survived somehow.”

Known for selling dresses for prom, Sweet 16s, homecoming, flower girls, bridesmaids and mothers of the brides, the pandemic hit her business since all of those events were cancelled.

But Gence is feeling hopeful now that the vaccines are here and things are beginning to open back up.

“I feel like everybody wants to get out of the house and wants to celebrate something,” she said. “This season is actually really, really, really busy — especially down here.”

The old Sue La La Couture closed on Dec. 31 and reopened next to the former Max & Millie storefront in mid-January. 

Gence, a Rocky Point resident, said she opened the store when she was just 33 because she loved glitter and making other women feel beautiful. 

“Eventually I want to design my own clothes and create my own brand,” she said. 

Sue La La Couture is open five days a week — closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays — by appointment only.

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A snapshot of North Shore Youth Council from back in the day. Photo from NSYC

April 13 was a special day for the North Shore Youth Council. The nonprofit, which provides programs and services to enrich the lives of local children, celebrated its 40th anniversary.

According to a press release from the organization, on that day in 1981, founding member Betty Hicks signed the certificate of incorporation. Their goal was to establish and implement educational, cultural, recreational and social programs for youth across the North Shore, encourage youth to participate in community activities, stimulate efforts to resolve issues and problems concerning youth, foster interaction and communication amongst other existing youth programs, and develop family life education programs to support the changing needs of families.

For four decades, NSYC has been at the forefront of youth services with a holistic prevention model that encourages children and teenagers of all ages to stay out of trouble and develop the life skills necessary to become responsible, successful adults. 

Based right next door to the Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School at 525 Route 25A in Rocky Point, NSYC services over 1,200 individuals annually, while offering programs in school-age childcare and middle school drop-in, enrichment, recreation, counseling, social skills and mentoring services that adapt to fit the changing times and needs of families. 

“We’ve been a unique agency from the start, but our ability to adapt and even expand our services during this pandemic made us even more of a critical resource,” Robert Woods, NSYC’s executive director, said in a press release. “Families, children especially, have been in desperate need of stability, socialization, and mental health support, so it was important that we found every way possible to continue to be that system in place.” 

Woods said the organization started off in someone’s home at a kitchen table. 

In spring 1980, a group of Rocky Point and Sound Beach parents met in Hicks’ kitchen to address the problems facing young people in the North Shore communities — and the lack of available services and substance abuse education necessary for their health and wellbeing.

With rising drug abuse and teenage runaways becoming a problem on Long Island, one thing in particular became obvious to parents in the Rocky Point School District — issues with substance abuse, mental health and juvenile delinquency did not discriminate. 

Problems happened in any town, in any neighborhood, to anyone. Those original six parents saw the need for community cooperation and recognized that prevention programs and strategies could help youth delinquency before it became more challenging.

And now, 40 years later, their mission statement stays true. Despite a global pandemic impacting nonprofits across the country, NSYC has been able to keep its head above the water and still provide assistance to whoever might need it. 

The organization has moved many of its programs online, offered free tele-therapy, started community support workshops and even provided virtual recreation before returning to in-person services.

NSYC’s team worked with local elected officials, school district administrations and the local Rotary Club early on in the COVID crisis to bridge the gaps by providing schoolwork printing services, laptop and earbud donations, food donations, and offering its main office and recreation room as a safe and supervised place for students without Internet to work. 

They successfully ran a summer camp free of COVID-19 cases, and at the start of the new school year, resumed before and after school childcare and drop-in services with numerous health and safety protocols. 

NSYC and its Youth Advisory Board continue to develop youth-based initiatives that benefit the whole community, including safe trick-or-treating Halloween events, holiday fundraisers, virtual talent shows, and open mic and game nights. Like other nonprofits facing funding cuts, NSYC and its diverse staff rely on community support. 

“We’re rolling out a new platform for fundraising and charitable giving,” Woods said. “We work hard to cultivate relationships with our communities and keep them engaged with us because many of these kids come back year after year and grow with us. The more we know what’s needed or wanted, the better we can prepare and provide for youth and families.”   

Woods, himself, began coming to NSYC when he was just five years old. Now, he’s trying to help kids with their programs the way it helped him 30 years ago.  

“I literally grew up and have just never left,” he laughed. “You know, it’s interesting to be the director of a program that helped you grow up, and I think that’s pretty unique amongst our organization.”

Right now, most of its students come to the Rocky Point location from Port Jefferson through Wading River. Woods said they’re hoping to expand. 

“There’s this amazing legacy of people that have come through us,” he said. “And we want to keep it going.”

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Marianne Hennigar inside her new office on E Main Street in Port Jefferson. Photo by Julianne Mosher

There’s a new approach to releasing trauma and alleviating pain management. 

Marianne Hennigar, a pain specialist with certification in clinical massage and specialist in guided focus therapies, is making it her goal to give people support on their emotional journeys and simply feel better. 

The owner of a new space, located at 156 E Main Street in Port Jefferson, her office is tucked away on the busy main road. Through the gates, walking down toward the door of Insight Healing Ministries, visitors are greeted by Hennigar, who’s energy immediately makes them feel at ease. 

Her job as a health and wellness coach is to heal her clients and help make changes in their lives. 

“I collaborate with the client so that I’m not telling them what to do, because we want them to comply,” she said. “It’s a very non-bossy way of helping people.”

Hennigar has had an interesting career. Since 1994, she had been a clinical and orthopedic massage therapist. Although she doesn’t do massage anymore, she is still a pain specialist who is able to target different ailments through talk therapy and hands-on work.

“You have your general practitioner doctor, and then you have your surgeon who does something very specific,” she said. “I’m the surgeon in that case.” 

She said that she can help combat things like chiropractic care gone bad, or issues that aren’t being resolved through physical therapy.

“I’m really able to mobilize people’s tissues and help them get back into alignment, and live a more painful and free life,” she said, “But also give them instruction, and guidance on how they might want to use their body differently, so that they keep themselves out of pain, and they gain the strength they need.”

With certification from the Mayo Clinic, Hennigar helps build a plan that can work to the client’s individual needs. Some topics she’s successfully helped others with are cutting down on or stopping smoking, increasing nutrition and losing weight, changing toxic habits and getting more movement in their daily routine.

Hennigar uses guided focus therapies, including Somatic Experiencing and Brainspotting — both body-based modalities which support the client harnessing their own internal wisdom through focus to discover healing — to help people deal with trauma. 

“Basically, I’m  a one-stop shop for wellness,” she said. “And I will do a mix of all those modalities.”

If that wasn’t enough, she said she’s also working on her master’s in psychology from Liberty University.

But this isn’t a new hobby, she said. 

Since childhood, Hennigar has been fascinated by how people work. A speaker of several languages, Hennigar moved with family to Europe at 8 years old. Raised on the Island of Crete and in Spain, she realized early on that she wanted to help people feel good and live their lives to their fullest. 

When she came back to the states in her teenage years, she began working toward her practices, gradually adding more services and certifications, while raising her family.

She had a practice in Atlanta for 13 years, and then moved to Arkansas. This past summer, she and her husband moved to Coram and chose Port Jefferson village as her new office space in January.

“I love that we’ve been able to build the energy in here,” she said. “I love how it feels down here, and I needed to be in a population center where there’s a lot of people coming in and out. I wanted to be a part of a community and Port Jeff just felt right.”

Hennigar said the space is designed for play. Inside the office are dozens of different stations where the client can focus on objects through vision or touch, or a place where they can meditate. 

“The sky is the limit with this work,” she said.

Right now, many of Hennigar’s clients are utilizing telehealth, but she is accepting in-person appointments. First sessions are free, and payments are made through a donation box in the front.

“I accept donations, because people will come with all different economic abilities,” she said. “I offer them to go ahead and just make any type of offering that’s comfortable to them … The most important thing is that we get you to feeling better.”

Hennigar said that anyone who can use a little support, and who could use a peace of mind can seek her services.

“I love seeing people grow,” she said. “And even though a lot of this work is based on trauma models, what you really often want to see is people growing and blossoming, and for certain people, they come to a greater sense of their spiritual self, which really makes them happy because they feel connected.”

For more information, visit insighthealingministries.com or call Marianne at 404-944-8397.

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Above: Mayor Margot Garant with Timmy McNaulty, Brier Fox, Blake Wlischar and Grant Welischar pose for a picture while cleaning up the beach. Photos by Julianne Mosher
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Above: Mayor Margot Garant with Timmy McNaulty, Brier Fox, Blake Wlischar and Grant Welischar pose for a picture while cleaning up the beach. Photos by Julianne Mosher

The community came together to make sure the Village of Port Jefferson’s shoreline is squeaky clean.

Hometown Hope, a local nonprofit made up of local residents who love, support and want to do good within the village, hosted its first annual beach cleanup event at all Port Jefferson-area beaches.

On Sunday, April 18, more than 200 volunteers, in conjunction with Sea Tow, Sheep Pasture Landscaping and Maggio Environmental, gathered (safely with masks) at the private beaches outlining Port Jeff. Starting at Centennial Beach, through Belle Terre Beach, McCallister Park, West Beach and East Beach, families and local groups gloved up to fill dozens of garbage bags on the warm and sunny day.

Diane Tafuro, a board member with Hometown Hope, said creating an event like this was a “no brainer.”

“We’re trying to get back to the community and keep our beaches clean,” she said. “Which is one of the best things about Port Jefferson village.”

Tafuro said this isn’t just a one-time thing the group plans to do. 

With the mission statement to provide and connect resources and support in times of need to all Port Jeff Village residents by promoting a movement of spreading kindness. Hometown Hope strives to uplift through wellness, resilience and compassionate understanding within the community.

The local Cub Scout troop took one section, while varsity athletes cleaned up East Beach. There, they found a large, heavy tire filled with sand. 

“This is exactly the type of thing why we love to live here,” Mayor Margot Garant said. “Our community comes together, and they teach their kids to start loving the place that they live … That’s why we call ourselves Port Jeff Strong.”

To find out more about Hometown Hope visit their website at hometownhopepj.org.

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