By Shoshanna McCollum
At the crossroads of the six-month anniversary of Hurricane Sandy and the eminent launch of the coming Memorial Day Weekend, now is a good time to take a look at the veritable ocean of charitable causes that have washed over Fire Island in the wake of the great storm that rocked our Island and caused heavy damage to many New York Beaches.
While all were born, or at least largely defined by the same bitter seed that came to Fire Island’s shores late last October, this may be the only affinity that the groups share. Each organization has evolved with its own set of target interests. Some of which overlap, others that self-compete and some even contradict with one another. In addition multiple causes are making appeals to the same narrow audience sector of Fire Island residents who have become inundated with requests, which can lead to confusion and a dose of apprehension about the sudden proliferation of start-ups.
As a public service, FireIsland.Com has reached out to a few of the organizations that have come on the scene in recent months. This listing is not intended to endorse nor discourage support towards any of the mentioned groups, but rather clarify who’s who and what they’re about. The summaries include highlights of their mission statements and the positions they take on key issues that effect Fire Island, so that our readers can make educated decisions on where they want their donation dollars to go.
All profiles are based on an identical 19-point questionnaire sent to all organizations that agreed to participate in this article.
Concerned Friends of Fire Island, Inc.: The prevention of economic, rather than coastal erosion is the primary thrust of Concerned Friends of Fire Island, Inc. Also known as Revive Fire Island as a result of its signature red and white logo, the collective “has been formed in order to raise funds that will be used to promote public awareness about the rebuilding and reestablishment of Fire Island’s beaches and communities before the 2013 season” according to their mission statement.
Key directors of this merchant driven organization include James Mallot, Mayor of Ocean Beach and owner of Albatross Restaurant; Scott Hirsch, owner of Island Mermaid Restaurant and Whitney Pantry Market of Ocean Beach; and Tim Mooney, President of Fire Island Ferries of Bay Shore, NY. The organization was founded in January of 2013 and has New York State 501 (c) (3) Type B status. Collected donations are used to fund the PR and advertising campaign to dispel rumors of Fire Island’s demise that Concerned Friends of Fire Island attests were being perpetuated by the local news industry in the moths that followed Hurricane Sandy. Since their inception, the organization has expanded to include the membership of additional business establishments located between Kismet and the Ocean Bay Park communities.
As an organization focused on commercial interests, Concerned Friends of Fire Island takes no position on environmental issues such as the breach at Old Inlet. However they do cite lack of beach replenishment as one of the greatest shortfalls of Fire Island’s recovery effort to date. They speak of the rebuilding efforts of Fire Island’s commercial districts in less than seven months as its greatest success.
Visit the website: www.revivefi.com or the Facebook page: Facebook.com/revivefi for further information.
Protect Long Island: Working on the premise that Fire Island is not a standalone issue, but rather its destiny and that of greater Long Island are very much intertwined, Protect Long Island has become a newly prominent voice on the beachfront advocacy issue. This should not come as much of a surprise as Protect Long Island’s President is Susan Barbash. In the early 1960’s her father, the late Maurice Barbash was the Chairman of the Citizen’s Committee for a Fire Island National Seashore, a grassroots organization that helped pave way to the creation of FINS. Thus the Protect Long Island is a direct link to the barrier island’s activist heritage.
The first paragraph of Protect Long Island’s Mission Statement reads:
To advocate for the adoption and implementation of pro-active measures that will protect Long Island from catastrophic storm surges; and to initiate, sponsor, aid and assist the formulation of programs that will stimulate public and governmental interest in this cause.
Components of education, mobilization and lobbying are further outlined in the statement, including raising public awareness about the consequences of inaction, environmental as well as economic factors. Founded in December of 2012, other key people of the organization include Jeanne Edwards, an Agent with Douglas Elliman Real Estate; and James Taylor, a Partner with Rogers and Taylor Appraisers; and J.F. McCarthy, a Real Estate Developer with Site Selection Advisory Group of West Islip, NY.
Protect Long Island is organized as a 501 (c) 4 nonprofit with New York State. Donations are welcome, but not tax deductable. Donations are used for developing a campaign to mobilize support for the restoration and protection of the barrier beach, and lobbying elected officials and agencies for a long-term Coastal Management Plan.
Their logo of a semi-submerged simplified map of Long Island gets their message across in stark terms.
“Wide spread destruction to the south shore of Long Island caused by Sandy which demonstrated the importance of a stable barrier beach,” replied Susan Barbash when asked about the impetus behind Protect Long Island’s formation. “Without Fire Island, much of the south shore of Long Island would have suffered the fate of Long Beach, the Rockaways and Breezy Point.”
Much like The Concerned Friends of Fire Island, Protect Long Island mentions the rebound of merchants on both sides of the Great South Bay as being one of the most encouraging signs of recovery after Sandy. However in contrast, they believe the handling of the mass debris cleanup overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with its numerous delays due to bidding challenges was among the greater shortcomings of the recovery effort so far.
“I am also discouraged by the polarization caused by the Old Inlet Breach debate,” Barbash writes. “Protect Long Island recognizes the benefit of flushing the bay but believes that the ever growing breach is starving the beach to the west of sand… A breach is not a long-term viable solution to pollution caused by mainland runoff. It is like running toilet – constantly flushing but not addressing the problem at its source.”
Protect Long Island offers are variety of bonus incentive merchandise to would-be contributors. Visit www.protectli.org or checks may be mailed to PO Box 699 Babylon NY 11702.
Save the Great South Bay, Inc.: Founded only months before the storm hit, Save the Great South Bay is not post-Sandy cause by definition. The opening statement marking the organization’s founding on August 18, 2012 reads:
“After 35 years of living away from Long Island, I moved back last year to raise a family in Manhasset. One summer day my son and I were in Sayville, where I grew up. We went to the town beach, as I had at his age, and I was appalled. Dark brown and warm as tea. Nothing much alive here.”
The young organization found itself thrust into the center of one of the most heated of Long Island’s post-hurricane debates when the breach broke through Fire Island National Seashore jurisdiction territory at Old Inlet, separating Smith Point 1 ¼ miles due east from the rest of Fire Island proper.
“The storm obviously made the breach the chief issue of the moment,” writes Marshall Brown, President of Save the Great South Bay. “[The breach] also gave people on the Great South Bay – people on the South Shore and on Fire Island – a chance to see what the Great South Bay could look like if we started to take care of it. The breach will go, either via nature or via man. In the end it is up to us all to fix this bay, or all that we treasure will go with it.”
Board Members of Save the Great South Bay are a mix of lifelong baymen and fisherman, as well as Marine Biologists, including Dr. Arthur Kopelman, Professor of Science in the Department of Science and Mathematics at Fashion Institute of Technology and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Marine Sciences at Dowling College. Kopelman is also co-founder of the Coastal Research and Educational Society of Long Island (CRESLI).
Turning the tide of public opinion and policy making in the wake of the storm to keep the breach open in the interests of bay health is what Save the Great South Bay believes is the greatest achievement of the post-Sandy recovery effort, and describes “fear mongering from our leaders” as its biggest downfall.
“Fire Island and The Great South Bay really can’t be separate,” says Brown in his written statement. “[It] is where most of us grew up in a sense… We’ve been studying the science of the breach day by day, and had the data shown that the breach at The Old Inlet / The New Inlet was increasing flooding, all the scientists involved from all the various entities who are in our group would have sounded the alarm. These are scientists who respond only to data, where results are independently verifiable… We are reaching out to other non-profits and research institutions, as well as local groups, in other that we can form a broad coalition through which we can address the bay’s many problems.”
Save the Great South Bay is Incorporated as a New York State Nonprofit and is working towards federal 501 (c) 3 status. Donations are welcome and one can learn more about them by visiting www.savethegreatsouthbay.org as well as their Facebook page.
Keep in Mind: It generally takes over a year for a newly organized New York State Charity to earn their federal 501 (c) 3 status with the Internal Revenue Service. For newly formed organizations to have their applications in a pending state is in no way unusual.
It is interesting to note that while over $70-million dollars has been generated by the well publicized 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief last December, none of it has found its way to the people of Fire Island so far.
“Robin Hood has not provided any grants to organizations on Fire Island directly,” wrote Patty Smith, Managing Director of Marketing & Communications for the Robin Hood Foundation.
As the designated primary recipient of funding from the benefit concert, The Robin Hood Foundation has in turn redistributed that money to over 400 smaller non-profits located to regions throughout the Tri-State area impacted by the great storm.
“We provided a $2.5 million grant to the Long Term Recovery Committee for Long Island which Fire Island could access if they qualify,” Smith’s e-mail continues. “I don’t believe any organizations from Fire Island applied for funding.”
We thank all the organizations that agreed to participate in this article and wish them well.