Masks and Potatoes – Grateful!!!

We’ve mentioned our love of mask-makers before, and how grateful we are that in the face of a tremendous challenge so many have stepped up to hand-craft kind and often quite beautiful solutions. We’ve also been giving great thanks for all endeavoring to address other huge human service challenges, especially hunger.

Katie and her family got their own first masks as a gift from a fellow Scout parent, Haili Gao, the founder of “Masks and Beyond” in Syosset. Haili’s now partnered with others, including another Scout Parent, Donna Zaino who runs the food pantry out of St. Edwards Church in Syosset.

Now, they’re selling the masks for $10 a piece (2 for $15), and using the money to buy food to fill the Pantry!

“Thank you to BCW families, St Edwards Parishioners, and all others who supported our cause, we have reached $1000 sale as of today! We have delivered total of almost 400 pounds of food to the food pantry in three weeks! We now have masculine print masks!”

To purchase masks to support the St. Edwards Food Pantry, please email Haili at hailipt@gmail.com or text her at 516-668-1730.

The Need Is Great. Thank You to All Endeavoring to Serve.

We’ve got to be honest: We really wish we didn’t live in a society where a few folks have more than is, quite frankly, conceivable while most other people work ridiculous hours, can’t afford to save for rainy days and regularly feel like they have to decide between gambling with their health and paying their bills.

It would be nice if we could spend more time with our families, lay low for a while and focus on the essentials without being terrified of losing entire livelihoods, including so many small businesses that are keys to what make a community special.

We are grateful, at least, that while the system doesn’t seem prepared for a pandemic — and we’ve heard that many small food pantries have been shut down — a multitude of dedicated locals remain committed to making sure everyone gets fed.

Cooperation LI is a remarkable resource of local organizations that recently sprang up. It “brings together community-based organizations, base-building groups, service non-profits, jail advocates, immigrant rights groups, reproductive healthcare providers, faith organizations, and other community leaders to identify and support the diverse needs of the Long Island community, while centering the needs of traditionally marginalized communities..”

Then there are the major entities working to help keep people fed:

The INN (Interfaith Nutrition Network): “addresses the issues of hunger and homelessness on Long Island by providing food, shelter, long-term housing, and supportive services in a dignified and respectful manner for those who seek our help.” Here’s their COVID-19 Plan and how to help.

Island Harvest: “Providing food and services for people who are hungry, and a voice for people who are in need. Island Harvest is the largest hunger relief organization on Long Island.” Here’s a local pantry list they offer.

LI Cares: “Founded by the late Harry Chapin, Long Island Cares brings together all available resources for the benefit of the hungry and food insecure on Long Island and, to the best of our ability, provides for the humanitarian needs of our community. Our goals are to improve food security for families, sponsor programs that help families achieve self-sufficiency, and educate the general public about the causes and consequences of hunger on Long Island.” Here’s their food pantry list.

Then there are so many smaller groups that have a profound impact on their community. Here are just a few other endeavors we’ve seen. We encourage you to see what’s going on in your community!

Neighbors Supporting Neighbors in Babylon Which was founded in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and continues to help tremendously recently offered this on their Facebook Page: “Time spent this morning reflecting on the past 12 weeks, realizing tomorrow is June 1st!! In 12 weeks we have gone from feeding 250 people a day to feeding 1700 people a day!

With the support and dedication of Island Harvest, our amazing team and an even more amazing community, we have been able to adapt, grow and change to meet the growing need of the families in our community. Each week the need grows as more families and senior citizens from all over the Town of Babylon and beyond look for a little extra support. The team spends countless hours figuring out how make it all work. Fridays we all exhale, knowing we made it one more week, amazed that we were able to distribute groceries to 550 families in 2 hours!! Then the anxiousness builds as we all look around at our depleted supplies and try to figure out how can we make it through one more week.

Somehow we know we will be able to do it! We know we will be able to do it because of all of you!! Thank you to everyone that continues to support us. We can use non-perishable and perishable donations – sauce, canned meats, beans, rice, canned vegetables, fruit cups, snacks!! We can use gently used children’s and young adult books. Donations can be dropped off at the high school Monday- Friday 10-12. If you would like to make a cash donation, checks can be written to Neighbors Supporting Neighbors Babylon and mailed to 24 Gamecock Lane Babylon 11702 or Venmo @NeighborsSupporting-Neighbors

The Mastic Beach Ambulance Company has been an amazing page to follow. They’ve answered over 900 calls this year, figured out how to also help with food drives, and also manage to help folks prepare for other emergencies that won’t stop just because a pandemic has come to town.

We Repeat: Main Street News is a Must-Read

We’ve said it before, we’re going to keep saying it:

 

THIS IS VALUABLE AND IMPORTANT.

Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance publish the Main Street News. This is a grounded, productive, community-oriented force for those who care about the economic aspects of the COVID-19 crisis. It’s sobering, comprehensive and helpful.

While these issues are bursting with a broad range of information and resources, some key issues lately involve strong advocacy for local leadership, particularly in terms of local zoning, helping local businesses prepare for reopening, and focusing on the need and what’s being done to help folks meet basic human needs.

There’s some substantive good news in there, too.

Check out their website. Follow their Facebook.

Vision is one of our strongest advocates for Long Island downtowns, and has been generally connecting diverse local stakeholders to learn and work together for the betterment of our communities for over 20 years. We strongly believe they are a huge reason why there’s as much healthy communication and collaboration in the name of true public service and community development on Long Island as there is today. We are grateful to call them a sponsor.

Frontline Heroes Wellness Program

Images provided by Pal-O-Mine Equestrian

Please share this opportunity with first responders and medical professionals who could really use to experience a place of refuge with nature and animals!!!!

You can learn all about the work Pal-O-Mine Equestrian does on their website, or by checking out this article we wrote with them last year, “Pal-O-Mine Equestrian Harnesses the Healing Power of Horses.”

Honestly, we feel better just thinking about their loving, healing, caring farm! Now, they are offering complimentary wellness experiences for medical professionals and first responders on their 13-acre working farm.

Sessions may include reiki, mindfulness, and horsemanship. Every experience involves the horses and other farm animals. Sessions are run by licensed social workers, reiki masters, and certified equine specialists.

The well-known benefits of being in nature include reduced stress while providing a sense of calm, connection, and solace. It has been proven that animals and nature together help lower heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension.

For more information or to schedule a wellness session, please email Carol Ann at cguerriero@pal-o-mine.org or call her at 631-348-1389.

Synchronicity Picks: The Heath Brothers

We’ve got to be honest, we haven’t had the heart to crack open “Upstream” yet, mostly because it’s all about solving problems before they get out of hand and we happened to receive it just as we felt the current situation had already been left to get out of hand… Grateful to all who are working together honestly and earnestly to get things under control!

Meanwhile, the book on the right “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard” remains among our favorites. It’s filled with wonderful, evidence based, real-life examples of folks who identified what was working and did more or that.

It gets to a basic concept Kate learned a long time ago when she was a Psychology Major at SUNY Stony Brook: If you want to get animals to behave certain ways, the thing that works is Positive Reinforcement.

“Catch ’em being good!” as Professor Daniel O’Leary probably still says.

We were struck by the use of this at the Guide Dog Foundation not too long ago, too. As long as they were behaving, the dogs could have praise lavished. If they weren’t they simply got ignored. It was the quietest kennel filled with the happiest dogs we’d ever visited!

Still, this book takes that concept and goes a little bit beyond, adding a major focus on something those who teach sales often hit upon: No matter how cool we think we are, humans are essentially emotional beings. Our rational mind is like a rider on elephant of feelings. Any attempt by that rider to drive, or another to lead him had best take that into consideration…

The Heath Brothers do, and they do it well. The book is well worth reading and re-reading, especially by any who want to make a healthier, more sustainable world!!

In Praise of Local Crafters and their Kind Consideration

Mask crafted by Firefly Michele Miroff

While it is totally not cool that ANYONE has. had to scrounge for PPE – especially essential workers, ESPECIALLY healthcare folks! – We have decided to be grateful that out of that challenge has come a beautiful, thoughtful, heartfelt art form. 

We can hardly get close enough to look each other in the eye and yet now so many crafty people have found a way to lovingly hug our faces.

And…because, on balance, masks themselves really are more courtesy than personal protection, we immediately get to pay the care forward. 

And…it’s not a bad business. They’re fairly simple to make and yet imagination is the limit. People need lots of them….

So…talk about socially conscious fashion that is form and function!

Trudy has been busily making them for family and neighbors. In our Firefly Lights, you can read about Kirk Larsen and his #maskforce #teachersgettingitdone

Did you see this article about the Luchador in Mexico?

How about this much more local bit in The Observer about The Engeman Theater?

CBSN New York shows a 95-year old Floral Park seamstress who’s part of a volunteer corp founded in Huntington “Stitched Together Long Island” that has made more than 20,000 masks for essential workers.

The Mask Mavens of Huntington is a small team of volunteers that are sewing and giving away homemade masks for free to any and all who need them.

This article in the LIBN by Bernadette Starzee is about three entrepreneurial firms who created 5,000 masks a day to sell at cost to hospitals and first responders.

This News12 Article covers a Bellmore Fashion Designer who, with her remotely-working staff, churned out 1,000 masks in one week to donate to medical personnel.

Here’s a North Fork Patch article “Iconic Sail Makers, Brewery Make Face Masks for Hospital Heroes”

To make them yourself, and get good advice on using them, here’s a good article in Popular Mechanics.

Main Street News is a Must-Read

We’ve said it before, we’re going to keep saying it:

THIS IS VALUABLE AND IMPORTANT.

Vision Long Island and the Long Island Main Street Alliance continue to release daily issues of their new Main Street News.

This is a grounded, productive, community-oriented force for those who care about the economic aspects of this crisis. It’s sobering, comprehensive and helpful.

There’s news about what’s happening, what’s open, resources, proposed legislation and whatever else they can find to help folks weather the storm. They have also added a “Good News” component that highlights folks doing the right thing.

Check out their website. Follow their Facebook.

Vision is one of our strongest advocates for Long Island downtowns, and has been generally connecting diverse local stakeholders to learn and work together for the betterment of our communities for over 20 years. We strongly believe they are a huge reason why there’s as much healthy communication and collaboration in the name of true public service and community development on Long Island as there is today. We are grateful.

Main Street News is a Must-Read: What’s Open, How Folks Are Doing, What You Can Do.

THIS IS IMPORTANT. Vision Long Island, one of our region’s strongest advocates for Main Street is now releasing daily issues of their new Main Street News. as it endeavors to keep up with events as they unfold. Check out their website. Follow their Facebook.

It’s a sobering, comprehensive review of important, information that includes a range of local initiatives, resources and ways you can help.

There’s news about what’s open, how folks are doing and whatever they can find to help folks weather the storm.

So go there and get informed. In general, some updated ideas that have seemed good to us include:

  1. Find your favorite local businesses on social media. Call them on the phone See what they’re doing. Buy their stuff.
  2. Buy Gift Certificates. Consider simply sending a donation to your favorite local business
  3. Restaurants are closed, but many can still do takeout/delivery. This article, which seems very well resourced, helped us feel informed and a lot safer about doing that!
  4. Realize many of these places care about their own health, your health and the community more than most ever realized. Know that many local shops are going out of their way to safely keep on keeping on — Much of Main Street — not just the eateries — are now offering curbside service and even delivery. Look up their website/social media. Even if they aren’t advertising it, call them to inquire!
  5. Special events are hugely important for organizations. Had an event cancelled? Send a donation! You can check our newsletter archives to find 100s of great local organizations
  6. Strongly consider supporting policy proposals that directly support individuals, small businesses and local governments. While they are going out of their way to come up with creative means of keeping going, there is only so much they can do,
  7. Just be kind — Especially to the cashiers, service providers and others working through this. Just. Be. Kind.

Now: Get Counted! The Census is SO Important!

This is the bottom line! TEN YEARS of federal funding and other investment will be determined by this count! Image provided by the Health & Welfare Council of LI

You can do this from home really easily!!!

The 2020 Census affects how much federal dollars our region will receive for the next decade. We’re going to keep on linking to this feature because it is SOOOOO IMPORTANT to ALL OF US that we get an accurate Census count.

These numbers matter, especially to children, the region’s most vulnerable, and to everyone who wants to make sure we get an appropriate FEMA allocation!

Long Island already pays a lot more in taxes to the Federal Government than it gets back. Undercounts make that worse!!! Plus, this impacts all sorts of planning, at all levels.

PLEASE SHARE THIS, Especially with folks who reach folks in traditionally undercounted demographics..

On the Human Services Front

A lovely piece from Firefly Kate Sydney’s Compassion Collection

One of the many folks on the Human Services front that we’ve long appreciated is Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds of the Family & Children’s Association in Nassau County. He suggest that this press update from NYS Senator Kaplan is a good resource for those who care and/or need services during this challenging time, be they senior services, hunger, housing, healthcare, domestic violence, drug addiction, or legal services.

We were heartened to hear that caring LIers crashed the LI Cares website trying to make donations. Still, food banks are facing significant challenges, especially with everyone rushing the grocery stores!

They are running an “Essential Drive in Response to COVID-19 School Closures, which you may donate to here. You can check out their Facebook Page for information on what they’re doing to serve our most vulnerable, including mobile food pantries!

From The INN: What You Can Do to Help Right Now

Housing Help has been offering info on legislative and other matters that impact housing and more

Mental Health: We don’t know where this “Waves of Wellness” is based, save Facebook, but it’s been helpful

For Veterans: One of the better sources of information we’ve come across aimed directly at vets is Patchogue VFW Commander Dave Roger’s personal Facebook Page. We are grateful for his service.

For Seniors: Stop and Shop will be open exclusively to folks over 60 from 6-7:30am starting Thursday. This lets them get there when it’s the least touched and the best stocked. We are grateful.