The Butterfly Effect Project, a nonprofit empowering girls on Long Island, finds permanent home

Perched on a hill on Main Road in Jamesport, a nonprofit that empowers young girls has found a new home in an old farmhouse — and is ready to spread its wings.

A pair of local philanthropists donated the 1.4-acre complex at 1146 Main Rd. to The Butterfly Effect Project, which enrolls more than 600 children across 28 chapters in eastern Suffolk County, according to founder and director Tijuana Fulford.

For most of its 10-year history, the organization used space in the basement of the First Baptist Church of Riverhead. Fulford, 41, said she had been searching for a building to buy and instead got a campus, giving the group room to grow and one of its earliest chapters a permanent home.

Craig and Ina Hasday, of Laurel, bought the property for $950,000 last month and endowed it to the organization, which will be responsible for about $15,000 a year in property taxes and insurance, Fulford said.

“That they want to change the trajectory of the program is such an inspiration,” Fulford said during a recent tour of the site. “This will change the organization forever.”

With its own home, Fulford hopes to grow the nonprofit and offer more activities for kids. Butterflies in the program can participate in everything from gardening and theater to college tours and vocational training. Enrollment is typically $25 and there are scholarships available to offer the programs at no cost.

The property, known as the Daniel and Henry P. Tuthill Farm complex, includes a Greek Revival farmhouse built circa 1840, a partly underground potato storage barn and an 1884 barn that still has haylofts and a wooden basketball hoop.

The Tuthill family owned the farm for more than 200 years, according to a historic resource inventory document. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 and has since been used as real estate offices and a spa.

Three things stood out to Fulford when she first toured the site in July.

First, a row of deep purple butterfly bushes flanking the front entrance. Then, from the wraparound porch, a view of sunflowers in full bloom in a field across the street. And, the property’s historic significance reminded Fulford of her own mentor, the late Riverhead Town historian Justine Wells, who lived nearby and inspired Fulford to start the program to give back to other girls.

“I remember her and I coming to yard sales over here, at like 7 o’clock in the morning,” Fulford said. “I don’t believe in coincidence.”

In the main house, she envisions a welcome center with offices for her staff of 10 and a large, airy room for the Riverhead “KoolRah” chapter.

The group of 28 girls between ages 5 and 17 hasn’t had a reliable space for meetings since health concerns during the pandemic pushed them out of the town’s senior center. They’ve since bounced between other facilities, from community centers to libraries and the occasional pizza parlor.

“Now we don’t have to cancel a meeting because we have nowhere to go,” said Shablis Seymore, of Calverton. Her daughter Jamia Greene, 17, joined the butterflies when she was 7.

Seymore said the program appealed to her because it was affordable and a way for them both to meet new people after moving to the area from Southampton.

“I have really seen my daughter grow from this shy little girl to blossom into a beautiful young woman” and become captain of her step team, Seymore, 51, said. “You never know what door will open for them.”

Fulford also has plans to renovate the barns for community-focused programs, special events and a space for teens.

In an interview, Craig Hasday recalled the program's impact after attending a session of the group’s garden club.

“We were just bowled over by [Fulford’s] energy, her passion, by her success, because we could see it in the eyes of the kids,” Hasday, 65, said.

Hasday, the president of national employee benefits at EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, said he and his wife focus on children in their charitable endeavors.

“The effort and money you put into a developing child will hopefully pay dividends later in life,” Hasday said.

Renovations are already underway to create offices and put the butterfly stamp on the interior with a fresh coat of light purple paint. Fulford hopes to start moving in later this month.

In between the hectic moments, Fulford has started to reflect on a decade of the butterflies, which she started for her then-7-year-old daughter, Lexi.

“This program was really born out of my childhood experiences, what I needed, what I lacked and what I received,” Fulford said. “My ambitions have grown because I have a community of these incredible young people behind me.”