By LARRY MAIER
At one point, Mr. Sheehan looked out into the storm and saw a solitary figure, soaked to the bone and clad in bright yellow rain gear, emerge from the midst of the squall. It was Kevin Kamen. He had come to help.
"It's amazing," Mr. Sheehan remembered thinking to himself. "The guy is always there."
Truer words have rarely been spoken. Whether he is patrolling the streets of Baldwin as an auxiliary police officer, attending community meetings on behalf of the library board, or out cruising on his bicycle, meeting and greeting the good people of Baldwin, Kevin Kamen is always there.
This past year, Mr. Kamen's service to the Baldwin community has been especially noteworthy. As president of the Library Board of Trustees, Mr. Kamen has spearheaded the Baldwin Public Library Expansion Project. From the very beginning, he and fellow trustees have endeavored to make the project a grassroots, community-based effort. Under Mr. Kamen's leadership, the board has successfully faced the challenge of involving the residents of Baldwin in every facet of the expansion project, and in the process brought the community together in an uncommon way.
Whether the January 17 library bond-vote passes or fails will not take away from what Mr. Kamen's efforts and enthusiasm have meant to Baldwin. For that he has earned being named Person of the Year 2000 by the Herald.
Making library history
Kevin Kamen was a fresh-faced 20-year- old when he first ran for and won a seat on the library board. Today, at age 43 and with his wife Cheryl by his side, he is still going strong and in the midst of serving his fifth consecutive five-year term. According to Library Director Barbara Hopkins, Mr. Kamen has served as board president "any number of times" during his 23-year tenure, and always when the library needs a decisive leader.
"Kevin is generally elected at crucial hours of need when we need his expertise the most," said Ms. Hopkins.
Mr. Kamen's expertise in gathering and disseminating information was invaluable in informing the people of Baldwin about the proposed expansion, discovering what kinds of changes to the library people would be most interested in seeing, and letting residents know how they could pitch in and get involved. However, Mr. Kamen's greatest asset to the project may be the tremendous network of friendships in Baldwin that he has developed as a result of years of community involvement. When Mr. Kamen asked the people of Baldwin for help in the planning process, they responded. Residents joined library expansion committees in droves and worked together in the hopes of making, as Mr. Kamen is fond of saying, "library history." He is a very persuasive man.
"When Kevin asks for something, it is hard to refuse him," said Ms. Hopkins. Those who worked with Mr. Kamen and the board on the project are unanimous in their praise of his leadership.
"These were not show committees. They were the real thing," said Doris Duffy, who chaired the Outreach to Community Organizations Committee. According to Ms. Duffy, what has made Mr. Kamen such an effective community leader is his ability, and his genuine desire, to listen to others.
"Not all [community leaders] have the confidence that Kevin has to remain open to what other people have to say," said Ms. Duffy. "Kevin has a very down to earth, open approach to people."
Jennifer Ryley, who describes herself as a "typical Baldwin mother" admits that when she first got involved in the library committee process, she was a bit skeptical. Ms. Ryley wondered if the board would really listen to what she and others had to say. She was pleasantly surprised. "They genuinely wanted our opinions, and Kevin, as the leader, set that example for the board," said Ms. Ryley.
Mr. Kamen estimates that about 95-percent of committee suggestions have been incorporated into the project.
"With the input we have gotten from the community, the project has reached new highs," said Mr. Kamen, who felt all along that rallying the people of Baldwin together was the only way to go with the library project. "I believe that communities build good libraries and good libraries build wonderful communities."
Leading by example
Why are others so willing to follow Mr. Kamen's lead?
"Because it is personal to Kevin," suggested Ms. Ryley. "He has what is best for Baldwin in his heart."
"I think he brings his sincerity and hard-working nature to everything he does," said board of education member B.A. Schoen. "The things that Kevin does are things he believes in."
"He takes the term volunteer to the highest degree," said Mr. Sheehan. "You cannot give more of yourself than Kevin does."
The year 2000 was also a milestone year for Mr. Kamen in another important way. On May 2, after 25 years of service to Baldwin's Auxiliary Police Unit 123, he was promoted to the rank of Inspector. Officer Louis Bell, Nassau County liaison to the auxiliary police, the man who granted the promotion and who calls Mr. Kamen the "eyes and ears" of Baldwin, is not surprised by any of Mr. Kamen's successes.
"Everything Kevin does he is totally committed to," said Mr. Bell. "Kevin doesn't drop the ball. Nobody picks up the pieces for him."
Baldwin is truly indebted to you Kevin Kamen, Library Board President, Auxiliary Police Inspector, and man in yellow.
