Later this year, youngsters in the Manhasset area will be enjoying the benefits of brand new exercise and sports equipment. The equipment is a gift - the result of a grant from the Greentree Foundation totaling $10,000 and allocated by the Manhasset Community Fund to two worthy local organizations, the Manhasset PAL and the Mental Health Association of Nassau County's local group home.

Divided evenly by the Manhasset Community Fund on Jan. 15, the Police Activity League's $5,000 grant is earmarked for construction of a new batting cage at Valley Park Baseball Field. The other $5,000 will go to The Terrace, a group home for autistic youths in Plandome. The home is in dire need of new outdoor playground equipment for its 10 young residents.

The Manhasset Community Fund, a charitable organization that's over 55 years old, typically distributes more than $110,000 annually to about 18 local nonprofit organizations serving residents within the Manhasset Zip Code. The Greentree Foundation is a local philanthropic organization situated on the spacious Whitney Estate to the west of Shelter Rock Road, and its sizable $10,000 grant is unusual to our Community Fund in that it comes from one source. The foundation chose to fund Manhasset charities by relying on the knowledge and expertise of the Manhasset Community Fund to pinpoint the neediest cases and create the most positive impact on the community. Greentree's only request was that the grant go to the betterment of local children.

Thomas P. O'Malley and Sheila Brennan are the co-presidents of the Manhasset Community Fund. On Jan. 30, Mr. O'Malley introduced Greentree President Richard L. Schaffer to the group home's Director, George Wurzer, and showed Mr. Schaffer the two sites where the Foundation's grant money will be put to use. The basic mission of the Manhasset Community Fund is to redistribute donations gathered from residents and foundations to local organizations showing the most need. "For 55 years the Community Fund has quietly funded local charities and organizations that have an impact in the Manhasset community," says O'Malley. "Over the years the Fund has given millions of dollars to programs ranging from children's services to senior citizens' activities." Larger philanthropic organizations give the Community Fund substantial grants, such as Greentree's and the United Way, which is making a donation of about $8,800 this year. However, Mr. O'Malley stresses that gifts from individual residents form the bulk of the Manhasset Community Fund's assets and he recalls one donor who annually puts a dollar bill in the fund's return envelope. 'We are supported primarily by contributions both large and small from the community. We work on identifying the organizations that provide services to people of Manhasset."

The Greentree Foundation had made it clear that it wished that its grant be used for the children of Manhasset. Of the 18 local agencies invited to apply for funding from the Greentree grant, PAL and the group home were chosen.

Within the Manhasset Community Fund there are subcommittees such as the Budget and Admissions Committee which decides on the ultimate use of grant money. Chaired by Veronica Brooks, a teacher at the Munsey Park Elementary School, the committee is proud of its focus on unbiased, democratic conduct. In this case it was plain that the benefactor, Greentree, intended its gift for children and the committee narrowed its focus to PAL and The Terrace group home. "We serve Manhasset people," Ms. Brooks says, and one test is "how many people in Manhasset are being serviced by a charity? PAL does many sports in addition to baseball - basketball with the CYO, lacrosse, football, soccer - they're really servicing Manhasset residents."

PAL has estimated that about 1,400 local baseball and softball players, boys and girls alike, would benefit from an additional batting cage, especially since full scale baseball fields are in short supply in the area. "This gift is for children from all over Manhasset who participate in PAL," Mr. O'Malley says, "as well as helping these deserving children who live in a group home here; to give them some joy."

By way of contrast, The Terrace, commissioned as a group residence for autistic youths in 1989, is home to only 10 young people, but their need is disproportionately great. Their outdoor playground equipment comprises a dilapidated wooden structure with splintering rails that can no longer support weight. The structure was originally engineered especially to help kids challenged by autism to work on their balance and agility, increase their strength and to have fun, but its condition has rendered it off limits. Safe, longer-lasting playground equipment, including swings, slides and climbing apparatus, may now be purchased thanks to the Manhasset Community Fund and the grant from Greentree.

George Wurzer says the group home has a staff of about 24 people including PhD students and direct-care workers and all are trained to "maximize the strengths that these kids have. The purpose of The Terrace is to provide specialized treatment for autistic children. It's a treatment center that improves their ability to live independently," he says, adding that skills for everyday living are also emphasized.

Mr. Wurzer has been with the program since 1990 and has literally seen some kids grow up in the home. He hopes to find a playground equipment provider that is sympathetic to The Terrace's mission and limited funds, and he intends to rely on donated labor to help assemble it all adding, "It was a very nice gift!"

Nassau County Police Officer George McLaren is brand new to his post as director of the PAL unit assigned to the Manhasset area. And Officer McLaren is well aware of the legacy of his predecessor, Officer Richie Reichert. Officer Reichert, well known to the Manhasset community as director of the local PAL for over 13 years, retired from the force on Jan. 23. "The Manhasset unit is very appreciative of the funding that is available through the Manhasset Community Fund," says Officer McLaren, "in addition to the annual monies that they provide for us. The much needed batting cage will be an additional asset to the program. The Manhasset Community Fund is unique. Through their efforts we will continue to provide quality programs and venues for their children of the Manhasset community. I'm looking forward to meeting everybody and getting involved," he says of his new position, adding, "It should be great!"

Richard Schaffer also found himself in a new role recently when he was named president of the Greentree Foundation upon the retirement of his predecessor, Robert Carvin. The foundation is headquartered in Manhattan, but its focus is the large preserve and estate that was home to Jock and Betsey Whitney for many decades. Mrs. Whitney first set up the Greentree Foundation in 1982, the year Mr. Whitney died, naming the organization after a giant fir tree that once grew on the property, Mr. Schaffer says. As now, her original aim was "to advance human understanding" by hosting meetings of world leaders and diplomats at the estate's secluded, retreat-like-setting.

Mrs. Whitney died in 1998 and her Will called for the foundation to take over the management of the 408-acre property. Her daughters, Sara Wilford and Kate Whitney, became Greentree trustees and, Mr. Schaffer says, "they are very involved and provide good continuity."

Today Greentree's goals offer "three tiers of benefit," says Mr. Schaffer, global: meetings for UN delegates; local: helping different Long Island philanthropic organizations with grants; and environmental: the preservation of the estate's 408 acres and the deep aquifer below it. The Whitney family has a history of generous donations to local charities and Greentree is continuing that tradition. Greentree has also provided grants to the Nassau Partnership for After School Education. The Glen Cove Boys and Girls Club and the Lake Success-based Institute for Student Achievement. The estate occasionally hosts meetings of local charitable organizations which may invite current or prospective donors.

Greentree's charitable goals make a good fit with the Manhasset Community Fund's mission. "It's a privilege to partner with the Greentree Foundation," says Mr. O'Malley, "and to have them trust the Community Fund to know where the need is so as to put their grant to good use. We're thrilled that Greentree is continuing the Whitney family tradition of contributing to the Community Fund and we're very grateful for such a generous donation."

In 2000, the Foundation started making key renovations to the estate's main buildings to accommodate its global mission: on an ongoing basis, Greentree brings in United Nations officials, "a low number of high level people," as Mr. Schaffer phrases it, wishing to conduct high level talks in a serene, secure place. To do this, enough bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate about 30 guests had to be renovated. The estate's infrastructure, electrical power, air conditioning, Internet and telecommunications service and security all had to be implemented or drastically updated as well, all without altering the tone and style of the estate's main buildings, nor their footprint.

To date Greentree has successfully hosted a number of meetings, two as recent as last November. During such meetings, high-level UN diplomats - including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan - have stayed as guests at the estate for a night or two. The aim, Mr. Schaffer says, "it to promote human understanding. Greentree is close to New York, but large enough to provide security and seclusion."

Some local residents had initially raised questions over what plans Greentree might have for all that property and today Mr. Schaffer is careful to add, "We're very conscious of being a good neighbor."