Oceanside cafe offers treats, and work experience for people with special needs

Harvey's Cafe is positioned in an auspicious location at the Barry and Florence Friedberg JCC in Oceanside: right in front of the entryway, where cookies, bagels, croissants, muffins and salads are on prominent display.

But it's more than just a place to get a tasty treat. It's a vocational learning opportunity for 10 to 11 volunteers with special needs, some are on the autism spectrum or have another developmental disability, who staff the cafe, which was formally opened Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"These are individuals with disabilities," Marcy Hallerman, senior program officer of social services, said in prepared remarks to a cluster of supporters gathered around the cafe. "They're working here at the cafe. They are getting valuable vocational experience that can help them find future employment. Their enthusiasm and positive energy brighten our space every day and they play a vital role in serving our members in the cafe."

In an interview, Hallerman, said employment was an area where "people with disabilities struggle greatly. They come out of high school and there's not a lot of opportunity for them." The cafe, she said, provides the volunteers with an "opportunity to learn food service prep, customer service skills, making change, all kinds of skills they could use elsewhere to get a paid, professional job."

The cafe is open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. The volunteer staff shifts vary according to ability.

"We are looking for funding in order to get them onto payroll," Hallerman said. "But right now the budget doesn't support it."

The volunteer staff are under the leadership of the Jewish Community Center's Peter Lora, cafe manager.

"We get them through the whole process of making sandwiches, to making change properly," Lora said. "And cleanliness is our number one priority."

Among the cafe volunteers were sisters Andrietta Calderone, 36, and Dana Calderone, 33, both of Lynbrook, who made chocolate chip cookies, using what they said was a recipe from "Chef Paula," who is the JCC's special needs cooking instructor.

"We've been volunteering since July, we've been training," Andrietta Calderone said. "It brings out the independence for me."

Her sister Dana Calderone added, "I enjoy every minute of it." 

Roni Kleinman, the JCC's CEO, called the cafe's opening a "true heart mission," one that she said JCC officials had "dreamed" about for several years. She said it was a "huge challenge for us to put this together. Had it not been for the generosity of Harvey Weisenberg, our advocate and friend and everything, and the Fanning Foundation, who also understood ... today would not have happened," she said in prepared remarks.

The cafe is named for Weisenberg, who attended the ribbon-cutting. A former state assemblyman from Long Beach, Weisenberg, who donated to the cause, was known for his advocacy in government securing funding for disabled New Yorkers. He talked about his late son, Ricky, his "special child," who had cerebral palsy.

"God gave me an angel. This special child changed my life and I changed the lives of thousands of people," Weisenberg told the crowd. 

Weisenberg, 90, called for values that focus on "love and caring." And he praised agencies like the JCC to "show what our people can do, not what they can't do. Today's an example of an opportunity of a training resource for people to be able to have a job at this cafe here ... to be able to come here and have an opportunity [for] socialization."

Ashley Gazes, a JCC volunteer who is part of the center's special advocacy coalition of "differently-abled" people to make changes in their community, said in remarks at the ribbon-cutting, "We are not just opening a cafe ... but together we're helping to build a more inclusive community."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie