By Matt Hampton
The program, run by Patrick Boyle and the nonprofit organization, was facing harsh budget decisions this summer, after Nassau County Youth Board cuts cost the group between 35 and 40 percent of its operating funds. Boyle sent a letter home to parents in June saying that summer activities had been canceled due to a lack of incoming cash.
Some last-minute heroics on the part of District Attorney Kathleen Rice and local legislators helped Gateway stay open. “It wasn’t even an 11th-hour save; it was more like the 12th hour,” Boyle said. “I was thrilled that we were able to put this together. I was happy, because I felt really bad that parents were going to have nowhere to put their kids this summer.”
According to Boyle, the money came from a criminal settlement stemming from last Thanksgiving’s Black Friday incident at Walmart in Valley Stream. In addition to paying the family of Jditmytai Damour, who died as customers rushed into the store, the retailer was forced to pay a criminal settlement as a result of its failure to provide protections to the community as a whole. Rice decided that the money would be used to help programs associated with the county Youth Board.
“It was supposed to be $500,000 this year, $500,000 next year and an additional $200,000 in 2011,” Boyle said of the funds distributed among threatened Youth Board agencies. “But the county Legislature worked to make it happen all in one lump sum. Basically, Youth Board agencies were given a reprieve until the end of August.”
For Boyle, those weeks represent a new lease on life for his organization’s summer program, and for more than 200 local students who depend on Gateway Youth Outreach. “This is one that was out of my control,” Boyle said. “I needed the legislators to make this one happen, and John Ciotti really stepped up to the plate.”
Boyle said he was loath to make the program a political issue, but wanted to give credit where it was due, and said that Ciotti, the 3rd District’s legislator, played a huge role in creating Walmart’s lump sum payment that helped save the summer programming.
Once the payment was organized, it was up to the groups themselves to put everything in place. “We had about three days to pull together a summer program, and we did,” Boyle said. “We launched it on July 6.” After Gateway sent a letter to parents, more than 170 students were registered on the first day.
Ordinarily, the program is open to as many as 250 students. Registration has slowed, Boyle said, but continues as community members discover that it is open after all. “I think we’re up to about 220 kids, so we still do have a little bit of room,” he said, adding that he expected the program to be full by the end of its second week.
It will run until July 30, which Boyle admits is less time than he usually has, but based on school schedules and the economic situation, he said, he is happy just to be able to provide services to local parents. “Parents have been so thankful,” he said. “Everybody was really thrilled.”
Comments about this story? MHampton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 214.
