Photo: The Bellport Boys and Girls Club’s Second Annual Give Back Bellport Day (Credit -Office of Legislator Thorne)
A community’s strength can be gauged by many metrics, but none quite as important as its ability to give back. From addressing common issues to rendering help to those who most need it, a community can find utmost strength by directly addressing challenges and uncertainties those within it might experience.
Bellport put such a display of generosity and civic-mindedness last week at the Boys and Girls Club on Atlantic Avenue. The Second Annual “Give Back Bellport” Day was a massive success, delivering services, information, outreach, and even prayer to three hundred people from the area.
The Boys and Girls Club of the Bellport Area (BGCBA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides children ages five to nineteen with a safe environment for preschool, after-school care, and teen programs. According to the BGCBA website, the club offers programs that “impact the lives of our members in vital areas, such as academic success, good character, citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. Young people need to know that someone cares about them and we are here to support them in every aspect of their lives.”
The BGCBA mission statement reads: “To inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most in the Bellport Area and increasingly from the South Shore, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.”
The Club was founded in 1965 as the Bellport Area Community Action Committee Inc., and affiliated with the Boys and Girls Club of America in 1996.
Give Back Bellport Day consists of services from various charities and nonprofits to deliver food, clothes, backpacks, and other essentials to children and families of the South Country area. Additionally, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department was on hand to issue child ID cards, and True North Community Church offered ministry services as well.
The event was held in tandem with Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) and State Senator Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue).
“We have three goals that we work on within the organization: academic success, character development and leadership, and healthy lifestyle. So, those are really our core,” Kim Livingston, Executive Director for the BGCBA, told The Messenger. “But as an organization, we also work with the community a lot, because we know that just working with our kids isn’t enough. We want to work with the community and our families as well.”
Livingston stresses that while being a beacon of aid safety for the community’s children is one priority, making an indelible mark on the community at large is another important objective of the Club.
“The community Give Back Day gives us an opportunity to host the families in the community, work with our representatives, offer resources and anything that our families need, and really put a face on who we are,” says Livingston.
Livingston says that while the Bellport Give Back Day is a great opportunity for those to obtain essential commodities, services, and information, it’s also an opportunity for the community to simply come in and get to know the organization and the people behind it.
“The community can come into the building and they can meet all of us. They can also learn that we offer childcare and get out other resources that are needed in the community,” says Livingston. “We also get our representatives out here to meet the constituents in the community.”
Livingston is a licensed social worker and has concentrated her career on children and families, as well as housing developments for homeless and disabled youth. Livingston is a resident of Brookhaven hamlet. She graduated from Bellport High School and currently has a student enrolled in the school. She became Executive Director for the BGCBA in May 2022.
“This was a day to bring every possible resource you can need into the community itself,” Legislator Thorne told The Messenger. “That’s what this day is about. A couple hundred people came in tonight, made contact with our County services and with the nonprofits who were here. Some immediate needs were handled and more importantly, we serve the community in the community.”
Thorne says that immediate needs such as “food and clothing insecurities” were addressed.
“Sometimes people just need a bottle of shampoo, which was provided here today by Serve All New York,” said Thorne. “Immediate needs of Social Services were also addressed. Some people here needed to get to Social Services but they don’t have cars, so they got those services here.”
Thorne said that the Bellport Give Back Day was not only a product of the BGCBA, but also multiple divisions of Suffolk County government.
“We pulled in the Suffolk County Departments of Labor, Health, and Social Services, as well as other agencies like the Adoption Center, Angels of Long Island, True North Church,” said Thorne. “True North Church of Bohemia gave out free clothing, Angels of Long Island gave out free food.”
Thorne also said that the Suffolk Police and Sheriffs were on hand to “increase communication with the neighborhood with our brave men and women of law enforcement.” The Sheriff’s Department and the Community Oriented Police Engagement (COPE) Officers were also present to issue child ID cards, which function similarly to driver’s licenses, with photos, fingerprints, and details to assist law enforcement should a child go missing or be involved in an accident.
“We had numerous people here to put their resources together to help the community,” said Thorne. “Bringing this here is vital to revitalization.”
Senator Murray shared sentiments similar to those of Legislator Thorne.
“I’m always happy to join in to bring all these different community services together,” Murray told The Messenger. “The fact that there was such good turnout is both good and bad. It’s good in the fact that so many people got help, but it’s bad because so many people need help and there’s so much more that we have to do.”
Inside the center, tables lined the perimeter of the auditorium, with so much attendance from the community that more tables had to be set up to create a center aisle. The children present also had the opportunity to befriend and learn about an ignitable liquids detecting dog, Chuck, handled by Fire Marshall Ryan Fischer.
“Chuck will sniff around to see if there are any ignitable liquids present after a fire, such as gasoline, diesel, or fuel,” said Fischer. “And if there’s nothing there, Chuck can determine or eliminate those as possible causes of a fire or arson.”
Chuck, who is two-and-a-half years old, is the only canine of his line of work in Suffolk County. Nassau County has two. Chuck has been with Fischer for two years. Fischer says that Chuck thrives in community environments, not only because of his innately friendly nature as a black Labrador, but because he gets rewarded with food instead of attention.
“He doesn’t bark at anybody, he loves everybody,” said Fischer.
While insurance fraudsters likely don’t like Chuck very much, children love him, and Fischer said Chuck loves children as well.
With about three hundred people served by the second annual Give Back Bellport Day, true community strength and optimism was on display at the Boys and Girls Club in Bellport. Going forward, it’s safe to say that local legislators, local stakeholders, and charitable organizations across Long Island won’t let Bellport down any time soon.
The Bellport Boys and Girls Club is located at 471 Atlantic Avenue in Bellport and can be reached at 631-286-9090.