theFarmingdaleObserver.com Calendar

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theFarmingdaleObserver.com Calendar

Friday, 03 August 2012 00:00

St. Kilian Players 25th Anniversary Show
Friday, August 3

Open House BBQ
Friday, August 3

Over the Hill Gang Fundraiser
Friday, August 3

Friday, August 3

St. Kilian Players 25th Anniversary Show

Co-directed by Brian McKenna and Nora Bardak with tunes from Les Miserables, Wicked, Hairspray, Phantom of the Opera, and others. Additional shows: August 4 at 8 p.m, and August 5 at 3 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the rectory and at the door for $12. St. Kilian’s auditorium, 50 Cherry Street, Farmingdale.

Open House BBQ

Congregation Beth-El of Massapequa will have an open house BBQ followed by outdoor services. The BBQ will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by services at 7 p.m. The cost is $10 per person and $35 for a family of 4 or more. Please RSVP by July 30 to the Beth-El office at 516-541-0740. All are welcome!

Over the Hill Gang Fundraiser

The Over the Hill Gang softball league is raising funds this year to benefit Jimmy Ossenfort and his family. Jimmy was in a very serious auto accident while serving as a designated driver for friends. Fundraiser begins at 7 p.m. at Allen Park. Raffles, music and free refreshments...all for a fantastic cause!

Saturday, August 11

Veterans Appreciation Breakfast

Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. will be sponsoring a free breakfast for veterans to thank them for their service to our country and communities. The breakfast will be held from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Seaford Knights of Columbus, 2183 Jackson Ave., Seaford. All veterans who live in Senator Fuschillo’s Senate District are invited to attend. The breakfast is free for veterans. Veterans who would like to attend must RSVP by calling Senator Fuschillo’s office at 516-882-0630 prior to the event.

Friday, August 17

Long Island MAIN W&W Dance

Long Island MAIN W&W Dance from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Massapequa Elks, Veterans Boulevard in Massapequa. All are welcome. Cost is $14. DJ Ray will be playing. Call Maureen at 516-781-4763 for information.

Sunday, August 26

New Member Open House

Farmingdale Wantagh Jewish Center is having an open house for new members from 6 to 8 p.m. Free religious school for 1st year. Reduced membership dues for new members. Farmingdale Wantagh Jewish Center is located at 3710 Woodbine Ave., Wantagh. Call 516-785-2445 for more information and a personal tour or visit www.fwjc.org.

Upcoming Events

Village of Farmingdale Board of Trustees

Meetings held at the village hall:

•Aug. 6: 7 p.m. work session. 8 p .m. BOT meeting with counsel.

•Aug. 13: 7 p.m. work session.

•Aug. 20: 7 p.m. work session with counsel.

•Aug. 27: 7 p.m. work session.

•Sept. 4: 7 p.m. work session. 8 p.m. BOT meeting with counsel.

•Sept. 10: 7 p.m. work session.

•Sept. 17: 7 p.m. work session with counsel.

•Sept. 24: 7 p.m. work session.

St. Thomas’ Fellowship Café

An outreach program that is open to everyone no matter what age who would like to have a good meal and get together with other people in the community. There is no charge for this and it is open the last Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 298 Conklin St., Farmingdale. At the end of every café take home meals are offered. Sponsored by Episcopal Charities of Long Island and St. Thomas’ Church. Call 516-752-9254. Schedule: Aug. 25, Sept. 29, Oct. 27, Nov. 24, Dec. 29.

Holiday Craft Fair Vendors Wanted

The Friends of the Farmingdale Library are seeking crafters and flea market vendors for their Holiday Craft Fair to be held on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Table space is $40 and may be reserved by calling either 516-454-6813 or 516-244-0829. Space is limited.

Village Green Events

Events take place at the Farmingdale Village Green. Guests should bring a blanket or lawn chair and a picnic dinner. All movies are preceded by a short cartoon and start at dusk. Free popcorn, ice cream and juice are provided at movie nights. It is also advisable to arrive early:

•Aug. 8: Pops: music of WWII. 7:30 p.m.

•Aug. 9: Movie: The Lorax.

•Aug. 23: Movie: The Mighty Macs.

Ongoing Event

Christmas in July Food Drive

The Eve Foundation announces its 9th Annual Christmas in July Food Drive. During these difficult economic times, many households have found that the purchase of food as well as many items of necessity have become a significant problem. Hunger exists in our area throughout the year. Your assistance is requested in donating food to the collection following collection sites. Additionally, gift cards to local supermarkets and stores such as Wal-Mart and Target may be donated directly to the Foundation. Thank you for helping your neighbors in need:

•Farmingdale Library, 116 Merritts Rd. 516-249-9090.

•Dr. Shari Eskin, 47-3 Boundary Ave., S. Farmingdale. 516-694-1590

•Village Pops Concerts, Main St., Farmingdale - Wednesday evenings in July.

Weekly Events

•Bingo every Monday to support Deborah Hospital. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the game starts at 7:15 p.m. at 110 Bingo Hall, 585 Broadhollow Rd., Melville. Call Pam 631-730-8021.

•Free Support Group for divorced or separated meets every Monday except holidays from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at St Kilian’s RC Church Parish Center (basement), 485 Conklin St. (Route 24). Widowed welcome as well. All singles needing support. Call 516-753-0923 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

•Therapeutic Movement Group. Bodies in Motion is a therapeutic movement group for children ages 5 to 1 who need that extra special attention to promote coordination, strength, balance, fine and gross motor skills, social skills, attention and focusing. This group meets Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. at Hot Shots Xtremes Gymnastics Center, second floor, 127 B. Carmans Rd., Farmingdale. Call 631-249-3127 or 631-249-3126. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Facilitators are licensed therapists specializing in pediatrics.

•Overeaters Anonymous. Are you a compulsive overeater? Undereater? Overeaters Anonymous can help. There is a meeting on Tuesdays on the corner of Salisbury Park Dr. and Carmans Rd., East Meadow, across from the firehouse from 7:45 to 9:15 p.m. Call for directions 997-4534. For information about the meeting call Nancy 798-2547 (between 7 and 9 p.m.) or Ed 845-5423.

•Caregiver Support Group offered by the LI Alzheimer’s Foundation at Brandywine Senior Living at Huntington Terrace, 70 Pinelawn Rd., Melville. This professionally facilitated group meets on Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. and allows participants opportunities to share feelings and strategies related to caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Call 767-6856 and speak with group facilitator Alana Rosenstein, LMSW, before attending for the first time. Those who are financially able are asked to contribute $10 to the LI Alzheimer’s Foundation for each session they attend.

•Senior Pops Orchestra is seeking string players, especially string bass. The orchestra meets every Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Melville. Join a fun group. Visit www.seniorpops.org, to find out more about the orchestra.

•Mid Nassau Jewish Retirement Club meets every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Temple Emanuel 123 Merrick Ave., East Meadow. New members are welcome. Call Marty Fein 485-3171.

•The Scrabble Club meets on Thursdays from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. at the Plainedge Library, 1060 Hicksville Rd., Massapequa. All ages. Scrabble players wanted. Call Judy 827-9506.

•The Relationship Journey, a group for widow, widowers, divorced and singles 45+. Meets every Thursday at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 449 Stewart Ave., Bethpage. Fee $7. Facilitated by TV talk show host of The Relationship Journey. Refreshments. Call 395-8303 for room location.

•Mastering Life – Conversations. Do you experience frustration in relationships, career, health, confidence? Conversations produces a permanent, positive shift in all areas of life. Led by Stefan Deutsch, human development expert. Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon and Sundays from 6 to 8 p.m. in Melville. Call 631-692-0986. $10.

•Clutterers Anonymous, a 12-step self-help group, offers help and support to those who have clutter problems in their homes or workplace. Meets weekly on Thursdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the United Methodist Church, 265 Asbury Ave., and also the 1st and 3rd Friday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the School of the Community Reformed Church, 90 Plandome Rd., Manhasset. There are no dues or fees. For more information, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , call (866) 800-3881 or visit www.ClutterersAnonymous.net.

•Massapequa Singles and Massapequa Couples holds dances every Friday from noon to 4 p.m. Couples and singles tables. Professional Dance Lesson at 11:15 a.m. Dance starts at noon and a full-course hot buffet luncheon is served at 1 p.m. $15 donation. Singles are introduced and partners are encouraged at Manor East Catering Hall, 201 Jerusalem Ave., Massapequa. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 332-7825.

•Massapequa Singles and Massapequa Couples hosts a workshop to Learn To Dance. All Social Dances, American and Latin. Partners are encouraged but not necessary at 11:15 a.m. every Friday at Manor East Catering Hall, 201 Jerusalem Ave., Massapequa. $10. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 332-7825.

Monthly Events

•Island Photo Group, a group of photographers working together to advance each other’s photographic skills and to be an exciting force in photographic education on LI. Meets the 1st, 2nd, 4th Mondays of every month at 7:30 p.m. (except legal holidays) in the Community Center in Allen Park, 101 Motor Ave. Check our calendar of events at www.islandphotogroup.com or call 516-450-LENS.

•Farmingdale Columbiettes #2204 meets the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Farmingdale Knights of Columbus Hall #2204, 1 Morton St., Farmingdale (off Route 109 behind 7-11). This wonderful faith-filled Catholic women’s organization is based on charity with emphasis on helping our local community. We would love it if you would think about joining us. If interested in learning more call Diane at 631-293-4290 or Lyn at 516-753-0923 or even better, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

•Farmingdale Knights of Columbus meeting at 8 p.m. at 1 Morton St. (off 109). New members always welcome. Call 1-631-755-2204. Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.

•Speak Easy: A Toastmasters Club. Can help you conquer your fear of public speaking. In Bethpage, Northrop Grumman Toastmasters meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 5:45 p.m. in Northrop Grumman Building 5, South Oyster Bay Rd., Bethpage. Call Brian 346-7516.

•Farmingdale Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Veterans of Foreign Corp. George Benkert Jr. Post of Farmingdale is actively recruiting veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq, Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea and WWII. Membership requirements include active participation in a foreign conflict. For membership qualifications contact membership chairman Bob Fullam at 516-694-5539. The VFW building is at 635 Main St., Farmingdale, and members meet there on the second Tuesday of each month at 8:30 p.m.

•Farmingdale American Legion, Hugh C. Newman Post #449 is looking for new members who have served in the Armed Forces during various wars and conflicts such as WWII, Korea, Viet Nam and the Gulf War. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month at VFW Post #516, 635 Main St. (just south of the railroad crossing), at 8:15 p.m. Call Commander Thomas Taylor 752-9613.

•LI Junior Chamber of Commerce regularly has the Meet and Greet on the first Thursday and the monthly meeting on the third Tuesday of each month, along with a variety of other events throughout the month, For more information on the LI Junior Chamber, visit WWW.LIJC.com. Contact: Martin Dekom, Chairman, 850-2717 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Julie Dekom, Membership Director This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Steven Eiselen, Community Development VP This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

•South Shore Hand Smockers meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, Main St., Babylon. Beginners are welcome. Call Marie 631-277-1096.

•Italian Culture Society at Farmingdale meets the last Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at Ellsworth W. Allen Park, Motor Ave. Italian lessons are given by a native Italian teacher. For lessons in Italian come early at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments are served - ample parking. For private lessons call Francesca at 249-4543.

News

Rebuilding Together Long Island

Thursday, 16 May 2013 00:00

After Massapequa resident Sol Goldstein and several friends helped finish building a house for a family 20 years ago for Habitat for Humanity, they had a question: “What do we do now?” They were all retired, had enjoyed working together and accomplishing something for a family in need, and wanted to do more.

“I was looking for something [to do] hands-on,” said Joe Botkin, of Williston Park, a retired principal, who had worked with Goldstein in building the home.

Soon, Goldstein, a retired technician and technical manager for ABC television, learned of a national volunteer organization based in Washington, D.C., that offered free home repairs for low-income seniors, persons with physical handicaps, veterans, and families with small children.

After sending $12 for a handbook, Goldstein and his friends began “Rebuilding Together Long Island,” now one of the 189 affiliates of “Rebuilding Together” around the country.

“It exploded,” Botkin said, attracting both people who needed home repairs and volunteers eager to do the work — everything from fixing a faucet to installing wheelchair access ramps to undertaking major repairs on homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

The group, based in Massapequa, is working on opening an office in Farmingdale. They will celebrate their 21st anniversary at their annual dinner, May 22, at Stuart Thomas Manor, Farmingdale. For information, call 516-541-7322.

“There has been a greater demand for our services since Superstorm Sandy,” noted Bob Ellis, director of Rebuilding Together Long Island, their only paid staff member. The organization has made major repairs on seven houses devastated by the hurricane, including three in Massapequa.

“We average about 100 homes a year,” Goldstein, president of Rebuilding Together Long Island, said. “We have about 300 volunteers” working on houses around Long Island, especially in Western Suffolk and Nassau.

“The experience of helping people is fantastic,” said Botkin. “We’ve all had good lives and we’re happy to give back. Besides, it beats sitting inside the house and watching the boob tube.”

“Our volunteers are mostly retired and they get a lot of joy in the good they do and in working with each other,” Ellis said.

Rebuilding Together relies on financial donations as well as donations of materials, supplies, equipment, and time from contractors and craftsmen, and others.

“We wish we could do more,” Botkin said.

Organizations like The Long Island Board of Realtors and the Nassau County Bar Association work with Rebuilding Together, offering donations as well as recruiting volunteers to work alongside them.

Rebuilding Together receives referrals from social services agencies, churches and other houses of worship, and veterans’ organizations.

Their projects vary. The organization does light carpentry, plumbing and some electrical work, but for any new electrical work, they hire an electrician. “We also do sheet rock and spackling. We paint only what we repair.”

Their biggest projects have been hurricane repairs. “That might take us two weeks,” Goldstein said. “On one of those homes, we had to put in 50 sheets of sheet rock.”

Others have noted the organization’s accomplishments.

“We are engaged in a joint endeavor with them to help people who can’t afford home repairs,” said Elaine Leventhal, director of We Care, the charitable arm of the Nassau County Bar Association. “Our members, especially our Young Lawyers Committee, receive a lot of satisfaction working with them.”

Rebuilding Together also receives appreciation from those they have helped.

Cindy Johnson noted that Rebuilding Together built a ramp for her 93-year-old mother’s Massapequa Park home.

“It is a fantastic organization,” said Johnson.

Having the ramp has helped immensely for them to get their mother in and out of the house for medical treatment and even socially and recreationally.

“We took her outside for Mother’s Day and she said: ‘How wonderful it is to be in the sun,’” Johnson said.

“We also receive a lot of letters,” Goldstein said. “Many of them are heartwarming.”

“I’m very grateful for those wonderful people coming into my home and giving me the help that I needed very badly,” one Levittown woman wrote.

“Without your help, sometimes I think I would go under,” an Old Bethpage resident noted.

An 89-year-old Massapequa resident and her 92-year-old husband appreciated the work on their home, including a wheelchair ramp, which has helped her get safely in and out of their home for a doctor’s appointment, and also the installation of pull bars, which have helped him take showers without assistance.

“They did a magnificent job,” she wrote. “I cannot say enough to express my gratitude.”