North Amityville nonprofit aims to rebuild after losing supplies in spring flood

A basement can amass a lot of items over the course of eight years.

So emotions were raw when the North Amityville nonprofit Keep Your Change, which provides after-school and summer programs for children and teens, sustained flood damage over the spring. The nonprofit lost eight years of supplies. 

Everything from crates of notebooks and binders to baskets of costumes and toys were thrown out. There were books, basketballs, folding chairs and tables. Supplies used to teach children skills — a dozen bicycles and sewing machines — are gone. The group also lost items it collects all year for its Blessings in a Box initiative, where shoeboxes are filled with toiletries and gifts for homeless families at Christmas.

The loss was immeasurable to a nonprofit that serves many economically disadvantaged families and helps children both academically and socially, said Pam Allen, director of operations for the group, which is run out of the Town of Babylon's Irwin S. Quintyne Community Center on Commerce Boulevard. "It was devastating," she said. "This flood took away eight years of our supplies."

After discovering the flood in April, Allen called the Town of Babylon. Town employees went to clean out the basement and threw everything out. The nonprofit could not afford flood insurance, Allen said.

Town spokesman Ryan Bonner said employees disposed of all basement items in order to prevent mold from growing. He said the town tested the basement and determined there was no need for mold remediation.

'New things that we lost'

Keep Your Change offers schoolwork help, Regents exam and GED tutoring. It also offers a range of other activities, from sports and music to crafts and life skills. Lessons include sign language, chess, sewing and cooking.

Allen said because she wasn’t allowed to go into the basement to take pictures, she doesn't have a master inventory of everything the town disposed. "Every day we keep realizing new things that we lost," she said.

The nonprofit charges $50 a week for the after-school program and $125 a week for their summer program. But few families can afford to pay the full bill. None are turned away, Allen said. Often the children have sponsors in the community.

The nonprofit will hold its first-ever fundraiser to rebuild its inventory. It will host a "sneaker ball" on Oct. 18 where individuals and organizations can purchase sponsorships ranging from $500 to $7,500.

Last Thursday, after finishing up their homework, a dozen children sat around tables for a cooking lesson with Louis Daniels, Jr., 38, of Huntington, the nonprofit's executive director. Daniels had the students prepare a stir-fry. First they learned to hone their knife skills, mastering techniques with three different types of knife cuts — a large dice, a julienne and a brunoise — before cooking up the meal.

Daniels, who grew up homeless in Wyandanch and graduated from Yale University, said after-school programs "are what kept me together." He said he started cooking because kids living in homeless shelters often "couldn’t get a decent meal."

"This way we’re not only providing them with a meal, but we’re teaching them some basic skills that they can’t learn in school," he said.

'A safe place'

Tiffany Cunningham, 16, of Copiague, is a volunteer with the after-school program. She called the loss of supplies "very upsetting."

The flood resulted in the loss of boxes of yarn she used to teach kids how to crochet, she said. But the volunteers have worked to find other ways to stimulate that side of the brain.

"We don’t want them to lose that creativity," she said.

Keep Your Change has had a major effect on the children who attend, parents said.

"It’s a safe place, somewhere they can go to after school and learn," said Trecia Victor, 52, of Amityville.

Allison Jonas, 48, of Amityville, said after hearing about the flood, parents "were just praying that the program wouldn’t be closed as a result." She said because paper was lost, the volunteers at Keep Your Change couldn't print SAT practice tests there for her son. He went to the library instead.

Despite the minor inconvenience, the program continues to help her children in big ways, she said. She pointed to her son Andrew, 17, who started cooking at home and is taking a sign language course in school after learning both skills at Keep Your Change.

"They help prepare them for life beyond their home," Jonas said. She is confident, she said, that the program will survive the setback.

"We need the community to come together to build it back," she said.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.