The proof is in the giving. The Community Foundation of Oyster Bay has a great reputation and the result is that they get the support of local residents. Last year they went over goal, said Mrs. George O'Neill, as she addressed volunteers gathered in her gracious living room for the start of this year's fund raising. Last year they needed to raise $145,000. They raised $166,000: the annual giving appeal raised $132,000 and the annual garden party held at the O'Neill's raised $27,000. Charles Dolan again underwrote the event.

This year the goal is for $155,000. The money donated goes directly into programs in town that counsel the troubled, assist the poor and make the world more accessible for the elderly. Donations are tax-deductible and eligible for matching gifts.

Mrs. O'Neill credited Ethel Roosevelt Derby, a woman with great wisdom and political instincts worked in a group of six ladies who, knew everyone and knew their needs, and were "The safety net of Oyster Bay."

In the 1960s Mrs. Derby recognized the community was growing so fast something more was needed. She contacted 30 leaders of Oyster Bay and for two years they debated on how to proceed. In 1965, the community foundation was formed. It provides primary support for the Youth & Family Counseling Agency and fully funds the Parent-Child Home Program.

It was created with two boards, one for the Community Foundation and one for YCA, and still operates that way. Through the boards, they are able to get a community overview. They supplement and enhance the work of other groups such as the VNA and Rotary.

"We are the stop-gap foundation," said Mrs. O'Neill.

Dr. Nancy R. Douzinas, president of the Rauch Foundation, and the invited speaker, congratulated those gathered saying, "This is exactly what Long Island needs." That was identifying the most vulnerable members of the community and giving where needed.

"Not many places do what you do. You are lucky to have the O'Neills and other leaders that allow Oyster Bay to blossom."

The YFC has a stable pattern of leadership, said Mrs. O'Neill, with only two directors Lynn Bullock for 15 years and since then, Peter Thompson.

Mr. Thompson explained the concepts that have made YFC the respected organization it is. "I believe in quiet, strong support. One should help and not be seen." The help lets people see themselves as self-effecting. He said YFC itself feels empowered by the continued support of the Community Foundation.

He gave an overview of their programs. Their newest project is S.T.O.P. (Students Teaching Others Peaceful Solutions) a program started at the Vernon School to encourage conflict resolution, then called Peacemaking.

YFC is the lead agency, and hires the staff. They are working with the Boys & Girls Club of OB-EN and the school district.

The Interagency meetings are another way the community keeps on top of issues. Community leaders meet monthly, and share what is going on in their groups.

In the fall, he said, the tragic news of a youngster who died of an overdose showed the need of the original program of 30 years ago. "We are still working on recovery and drug abuse," he said. Today, there is a major push for parents in the community to reorganize and learn how to struggle with the problems of alcohol and drug abuse.

It's amazing that a major problem remains, he said. "We seem to be maintaining and not eliminating/erasing as they have done with polio."

There have been changes in dealing with mental health. It is possible there, to manage and live with mental illness. With the help of many agencies now working with such things as aging and stress, mental health has become part of the landscape, he said.

The Youth Advisory Board used to meet once or twice a year, but now has become a regular arm of the agency. The BOB program, Teens for a Better Oyster Bay came out of that board. It is at the crossroads now, he said. Mary DiSario who gave about six years to the program (three in trying to set it up and three volunteering for it) has said she will not be with it next year.

Mr. Thompson said it will continue. The details have not been worked out as yet, except that the leader will be paid. There is a hope that the Boys & Girls Club might take over the program for which Nassau County is now providing $5,000 a year.

Mrs. O'Neill said every few years the young people have to re-invent the program so that they own it. They may need to see if a new group of teens want to get involved in the concept of having a place to go in the summer.

The kickoff speaker Dr. Nancy R. Douzinas called this an exciting time on Long Island. Her uncle and father, who were doing well in business, started the Rauch Foundation in 1961. The foundation offered an opportunity to put appreciated assets away and to allow them to grow and then for them to give them to institutions like Lehigh University, Friends Academy and hospitals, over the years.

In 1990, as the assets grew they decided to staff the foundation. With $32 million in assets, she said they give about $1 million per year on Long Island and Baltimore.

Their focus is vulnerable young children and their families. They noticed that a lot of people were giving on Long Island but that the giving was fragmented.

They could see benefits in working together that would result in better solutions.

They believe if they help young people they can do the most. Help them at the beginning and you are helping the future. To do that, they have chosen the same Parent-Child Home Program the YFC does. She said the program had been well researched and shows that it increased the high school graduation rate and decreased behavioral problems.

They did more research and discovered that Manhasset and Great Neck have the program funded through their school districts. Manhasset used start-up funds for the program the first year, which was reimbursed the next year by BOCES reducing the cost by half.

Her group determined it could happen elsewhere and after skilled negotiations got Hempstead, Freeport, Westbury and Roosevelt involved. The foundation gives the start-up money and the school district puts in funds.

After four years the programs run with 2/3 of the funding from BOCES and 1/3 from the local school district. They are now working with Farmingdale, Central Islip and Brentwood. The program is spreading to Massachusetts where Boston University is putting $13 million into the program because of the powerful effect of intervention in homes.

She told of more success stories of getting business involved in helping.

For the past two years she has been the founder and chairperson of Sustainable Long Island which deals with environmental issues on Long Island. It brings together a cross section of groups - business, labor, clergy, funders, nonprofits to build a collaboration to change how development takes place on Long Island.

Many groups have been working on transportation issues separately. Working together they can reach better solutions. Especially since transportation affects so many other issues such as economics, air quality and livability.

She commended Mike Deering of Friends of the Bay, the local environmental group for his work with Smart Growth that is concerned with community and downtown revitalization.

At the end of February they will be meeting to form specific recommendations to bring to the state legislature. "He has been a positive asset to us and to Oyster Bay," she said.

"The opportunity I see for Long Island - for philanthropy - is what's happening here," said Dr. Douzinas.

Dr. Douzinas also talked of the Mainstreet Program which is run out of the National Trust which David Lamb is leading. It asks that stakeholders in the community be contacted to help fund a program of re-vitalizing the downtown area. "In Oyster Bay, we have tried for many years to get something like this," said Mrs. O'Neill.

David Lamb is also on the Smart Growth committee.

Dr. Douzinas is also the acting chair and founder of the Long Island Funders Group. It is a philanthropic foundation to find funding for projects. "There's amazing networking going on," said Mrs. O'Neill.

The Community Foundation is on the cutting edge of the movement to make Long Island - and the Oyster Bay area - a better place to live.

To become part of the solution you can send a check payable to the Community Foundation of Oyster Bay to: 200 Sunset Road, Oyster Bay, NY 11771.