From The Desk Of Farmingdale Village Mayor Ralph Ekstrand

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From The Desk Of Farmingdale Village Mayor Ralph Ekstrand

Written by Donna Duffy Friday, 11 January 2013 00:00

While Long Island is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, I wanted to share with you what is happening in our village. Power has been restored to all residents and, for the most part, debris has been removed. We continue to progress with leaf pick-up and are in the process of catching up with all that was neglected as we focused on the aftermath of the hurricane.

Part of our typical preparation for the holiday season is the installation of lights across Main Street and the hanging of lit candy canes along Conklin Street and Route 109. For the past several years, this work has been done by personnel from the Town of Oyster Bay and prior to that by outside electricians hired by the village. Because of the hurricane devastation, TOBAY personnel have had to concentrate their efforts restoring power to streetlights and municipal facilities in Massapequa and Bayville. Private electricians are also committed to working on restoration efforts. For this reason, these entities were not available to the village to put up the holiday lights – understandably so. The trustees and I felt that this was a small sacrifice considering all that others are experiencing.

We are very grateful to the members of the Village Beautification Committee, under the direction of Deputy Mayor Pat Christiansen, who gathered together on several Saturday mornings to prepare our village for the holiday season. They began with hanging lit garland at the gazebo, fresh green roping and bows along the fence and decorated the lampposts at Village Green all in time to celebrate the Bi-Centennial Tree lighting.

For the next project, members of the committee hung roping and bows at the train station and placed fresh greenery at all the signs throughout the village. Members could be seen standing on ladders placing festive decorations in the baskets located at the street signs on Main Street as well as hanging our wreaths on the lampposts. Gerngras Park is surrounded in lights and festive wreaths. Northside Park is aglow with lit wreaths on the lampposts and lights on the evergreen trees. “Kissing Balls” look very festive at the entrance to the parking lot and the gazebo and sign located at the Melville Road triangle is decorated in the true holiday spirit welcoming all to Farmingdale Village. Candles can be seen in all the windows of Village Hall and the firehouse.

At darkness looking at the three trees in the gazebo with their white lights truly captures the beauty of the season. All of this was made possible through the time and effort of people willing to give of their time and talent to our village.

We are extremely grateful to the members of the Beautification Committee and the volunteers who joined them; members of the Farmingdale Women’s Club; junior firemen; Girl Scouts; Boy Scouts; our superintendent and members of the village’s department of public works; village trustees and Amityville Village for lending us their bucket truck to hang the lights on the Bi-Centennial Tree.

Despite the turmoil resulting from the hurricane, the spirit of the season is very evident in the Village of Farmingdale! The trustees and I wish everyone a very joyous holiday season and a healthy and happy New Year.

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.”