Keeping kids safe and active

Having young people involved in educational and recreational activities and wanting to create a positive environment for them, longtime Inwood resident Ilyassha Shivers founded the Five Towns Far Rockaway Arts and Sports Alliance last year.
Shivers, along with several others and the backing of the Inwood-based Wings of Faith OutreachMinistries is looking to offer low to no cost athletic and educational programs such as baseball, wrestling, creative writing, art, dance and drum. The dance and drum programs already exist as part of the Wings of Faith church, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
A graduate of Lawrence High School who has worked in special education for more than a decade, Shivers was an aide to former Queens Councilman James Sanders Jr. now a state senator, and a coach for the Inwood Buccaneers Athletic Club.
“The change in demographics crosses into both [the Five Towns and Far Rockaway] where you have a lot single parent homes as well as homes with both parents who are struggling to make ends meet,” said Shivers, whose family includes wife Karen, the Alliance’s artistic director, and three children, Shelah, 16, Elijah, 3, and Judah, 1. “It’s a difficult choice when your child wants to play organized sports and you have to pay rent or a mortgage, and keep food on the table.”
Lifetime Far Rockaway resident Cheryl Murray remembers when recreational youth services were more plentiful and served to keep children off the streets by offering “wholesome activities.” Sitting on the alliance’s board, Murray said she will assist in obtaining support for the organization’s programs through community resources such as the police department and charitable donations from companies such as Nike.
“I believe the organization is important as a way to empower youth, culturally, socially, educationally and spiritually,” said Murray, a mother married of two adult children. “The services offered will attract youth and provide a venue to teach the importance of unity in the community, and the avoidance of black on black crime.”
One of the alliance’s more ambitious programs is establishing a youth baseball program that will play 10 to 15 games starting this spring. Inwood resident Robert Dowling, the organizations director of operations and lifelong friend of Shivers, is in charge of setting that up, along with an adult summer softball league.
Dowling said flyers are being sent out to publicize the baseball program, which plans to play its games at the renovated field in O’Donohue Park in Far Rockaway. It was one of many New York-area fields the Mets and Major League Baseball helped to repair after Hurricane Sandy.
“Our ultimate goal is to be a mentor for children and create place where kids stay off the streets and receive the necessary tools they need for adulthood,” said Dowling, who will be asking Nassau County businesses to help underwrite the baseball program to help relieve the financial burden from parents. The program will also use fundraising drives to assist in offsetting costs. “We are trying to create an environment where kids can receive positive influences.”
The alliance has a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pages/Fivetowns-Farrockaway-Arts-and-Sports-Alliance. Dowling said the organization is working on creating its own web page. He said the baseball program is seeking coaches; call him at (516) 784-7667 to volunteer.