In my dream, a Newsday headline reported "Farmingdale Opens a Center for Day Laborers." The story was about how elected officials and the United Force, a Hispanic advocacy group, teamed up to open a hiring hall. The building includes English classes, bathrooms and chairs for the workers, who previously had to stand outside, whatever the weather, at the railroad station.

Workers must apply for membership and use their photo identification cards. Contractors must agree to pay at least $10 an hour. Thousands of people benefit from the arrangement: documented workers and their families, as well as the customers of the landscapers, builders, farmers, restaurants and others who hire them. Such a calm quality of life is not as obvious in Sachem.

Alas, what Newsday actually reported was a hiring center in Glen Cove. Funded by government funds and donations, it represents one giant step for Long Island. Mayor Suozzi and the city deserve congratulations. They broke the problem into two parts - the documented and the undocumented workers - and have already made great progress on the first.

Such progress is still a dream (and a challenge) for Farmingdale and Farmingville. We believe, with the Farmingdale Committee for Viable Solutions, Methodist Pastor Elvin Simpson and the late Msgr. Charles Swiger that there are people of good will in these communities who want and are willing to work for and pay for a similar response. Our heart goes out to today's immigrants, who are little different from many of our ancestors, the poor who ask only for a chance to work hard for their families.

When we die, God and/or Lady Liberty will not ask Long Islanders how we welcomed the rich and famous coming to the US Open but how we treated the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Deacon Don Zirkel

St. Kilian Church