Vendors participating in Three Village cancer fundraiser ticketed by Health Department

Vendors participating in Three Village cancer fundraiser ticketed by Health Department

Three Village Dads Foundation held a fundraiser April 16 to raise money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Food trucks were available during the event. Photo from Three Village Dads Foundation

On April 16, the Three Village Dads Foundation organized a fundraiser to raise funds for childhood cancer research for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Representatives from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services interrupted the event, saying that the proper permits had not been purchased.

David Tracy, chairman and CEO of Three Village Dads, refused to shut down the event.  He was upset by the disruption and contacted several news outlets to seek some answers and hopefully an apology from the county.

On April 17, a spokesperson from the county told Newsday that the citation given to the Three Village Dads Foundation did not carry a fine, but on May 2 the Department of Health Services did send out summons to two different vendors that had donated their time at the event: Chico’s Tex Mex and The Long Island Airstream Experience.

“We were thinking that, with not hearing anything after the public pushback, they were willing to just kind of forget about it,” Tracy said in a phone interview. “Maybe they realized, ‘Maybe we kind of kicked the wrong hornet’s nest here,’ and they were just going to leave it alone. And then all of a sudden here we are getting these letters to appear in court.”

Tracy’s biggest frustration is the lack of communication and clarity from the county. “Nobody from the county at any level called to even tell me that I was wrong,” Tracy said referring to the permits that were not secured prior to the event. “It was pure ignorance; it wasn’t negligence. We weren’t trying to avoid paying a $100 permit.”

Tracy said that they raised over $25,000 for childhood cancer research and that paying a small fee for permits would not have been an issue. He wishes that someone from the Health Department had contacted him prior to the event.

“Why not just pick up the phone and rectify it there if it was truly all about educating us?” Tracy queried, referring to the fact that a spokesperson from the county told Newsday that their purpose was to educate the event organizers about regulations for future events.

An email from the Department of Health’s media relations department said that on April 10 it became aware through a Facebook advertisement that Long Island Airstream Experience would be operating at the Three Village Dads event. “The Facebook post contained no contact information for the sponsor or organizer of the event,” the email stated. “As a result, [Bureau of Public Health Protection]was unable to contact the organizer in advance to discuss SCDHS requirements for food service.”

The Three Village Dad’s website is the first search result when googling “Three Village Dads,” and contact information can be found on that website.

Tracy expressed that Airstream Experience and Chico’s Tex Mex both were donating their time for the event and were doing this as a favor to Tracy and the Three Village Dads.

“My organization will be paying any fines,” Tracy said. “I even have people that are ready to start a fundraiser if need be.”

Tracy believes that the Health Department was primarily targeting The Long Island Airstream Experience after some complaints from food truck vendors on Long Island that airstreams are not scrutinized as heavily as food trucks are. Tracy said the county may have used this event as an opportunity to fine the airstream business and that the Three Village Dads and particularly Chico’s Tex Mex got caught in the crossfire.

“They’re just going after the airstream business and they used our event to get to him,” Tracy said.

Another email from the Department of Health’s media relations department states that Chico’s Tex Mex will not face a fine since they do not have a history of non-compliance, but that “LI Airstream Experience has a history of non-compliance with the department and faces a possible fine.”

The email also added that Long Island Airstream Experience “has previously been informed that the operation meets the sanitary code definition of food service and requires department permits.”

 “I’m ready for this to be over,” Tracy said. “I was hoping that it was already over. It’s unfortunate this has to be dragged out again … I don’t want the county to look bad … but they need to understand that there’s different ways to go about things and this was handled poorly.”

Thomas Francis of The Long Island Airstream Experience and Vinny Galan of Chico’s Tex Mex are scheduled to appear to answer for the alleged permit violations on May 31. The summons state that penalties could be up to $2,000 for a violation.