Kevin Meyer isn’t difficult to find. You can easily spot him at one of the many local sports fields, volunteering at a charity event, participating in a school board meeting, standing in a supermarket listening to a concerned resident, or driving kids to sports games all over the island. He’s a person who enjoys being in the mix of the community and doing what he is able to in order to make it a better place. Kevin’s life has been undoubtedly marked by much service.
Kevin had a notable high school basketball career at Eastport High School. He was awarded as an all-Suffolk County player while playing against some of the best players on the island. After high school, he studied special education at Dowling college and went on to get his master’s degree. He also received a master’s in administration on top of the one in special education. By degree and by profession, Meyer is an educator and loves children. He has eight of his own at home.
Shortly after that, the FDNY had their test approaching. An older gentleman who he had befriended kept suggesting that Kevin should at least take the test. Meyer started looking into the test and the job despite the fact that he was already working and moving up in education. While education was his profession, and he was currently a Dean at MS 202 in South Ozone Park, there was something about the city fire department that was intriguing. He took the test, and the rest is history.
“The FDNY really taught me how to put others’ before myself, literally. You pretty much have to forget about your own safety,” said Meyer. “You’re working as a team unit for a greater goal. Your goal is ultimately that child, that person inside, whoever they may be.”
Meyer worked for years at the 320167 Firehouse on Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens. There he gained a second family of brothers who cooked together, ate together, worked out together, and talked a good amount together.
“You become pretty close to the guys in the firehouse because of the nature of the job and how much time you spend together. You basically live together half of the week.”
Along that part of his journey there were losses as well, losses that have also both driven and shaped him into the person he is years later. He briefly spoke about an early morning call of an unresponsive four-month-old. Meyer was one of the first to arrive at the apartment in a high-rise building. The elevator wasn’t working so he had to dart up several flights of stairs. He arrived to frantic parents who woke up to check on their child to find him not breathing. Kevin and the first responders began working on the baby immediately while knowing that they had to get the baby to the ambulance unit.
“We were basically working on the baby as we rushed down flights of stairs. It’s a call that you never really forget, especially for me because my wife just had our first son Kevin a few weeks prior. I couldn’t stop thinking about my own baby boy at home during this call. It was a tough one.”
Now, his son Kevin is a sophomore at William Floyd High School where he wrestles and plays soccer. His daughter Kayden is graduating this June and going on to play lacrosse at Mercy College. Kevin and his wife Amy spend their evenings bouncing from one field or gymnasium to the next. Their eight children keep them busy and with full schedules from sunup to sundown. Kevin helps coach girls’ lacrosse clinics and leagues for the youth. His fifteen-passenger van has a nearly permanent parking spot at the gymnasium in the winter and lacrosse field in the spring.
Besides that, he is training prospect firefighters for the academy, but that’s certainly not where his service in the community ends. He ran for a seat on the school board back in 2021 and has been there since.
“I love being on the board and the phenomenal group we have working together to better the lives of each student,” said Meyers. “We are making a difference for every student in the district. The scholastics, the programs, the learning center, Floyd Academy, and the many opportunities that William Floyd is now able to offer. I love being a part of it.”
Being a part of the board reminds Meyer of the FDNY in a way. It’s a team of dedicated individuals who have come together to work for the greater good of the kids in the area. What happens around that table has an impact on many lives for years to come.
Meyer attributes his wife Amy to being the source of inspiration behind him. The couple will celebrate two decades of marriage soon. They met as fourteen-year-olds at the campsite at Smith Point Beach. Despite going to different high schools, the teens saw each other at mutual friends’ gatherings. A few years later they became exclusive and now almost twenty years married, with eight children, three dogs and much service to multiple communities in Brookhaven Town.
“Amy is the influence behind me and really the bed rock of our family. Much of what I’ve done is because she’s been behind me through every stage of life.”
Meyer will run again in the William Floyd School Board elections coming up soon. He’s excited for his daughter’s senior year on the lacrosse field, her college career quickly approaching, and of course Kevin’s soccer season this fall. He plans on continuing to make a difference every day in every way he’s able to, whether they be big or small ways, seen or unseen.
