By Jonann Brady
It has been three months since the organization has paid its $2,300 rent, its heat or phone bills. The staff hasn't seen a paycheck for four pay periods. Starting the year with no money is nothing new for BCADA's executive director, Claudia Rotondo, but the group is quickly approaching a record dry spell. In 2001, BCADA didn't receive funding from the county until March 16.
BCADA, a nonprofit organization that provides substance-abuse treatment and prevention services, receives the bulk of its $229,000 budget from state funding, which is funneled through the Nassau County Department of Drug and Alcohol Addiction. As a nonprofit, the group must start the year with a zero balance and is supposed to receive a "January advance" as the year begins and be reimbursed for any outstanding bills.
In the past, Rotondo has written fiery letters to former County Executive Tom Gulotta, and when she calls to hector the agency about her overdue funding, she has been told to be patient, because she is dealing with a 21-step process. Though she knows all the steps in this dance for dollars, it still wears her out.
"All I know is I don't have my money and it's February 28," said Rotondo from BCADA's offices at 950 Church St.
BCADA opened its doors in 1970. Rotondo started as a part-time secretary with the group in 1986. After returning to school to get a master's degree in social work, she became the executive director in 1994, after the departure of Ellen Silberman.
Rotondo, who lost her husband, Louis, to cancer in 2000, is a warm but no-nonsense straight-talker. She is known in her middle school rap groups as the "purple lady," for her sartorial penchant for that color, from lavender to eggplant. Besides talking to middle-school kids about the dangers of experimenting with drugs and problems in their everyday lives, Rotondo sees patients from Baldwin and surrounding towns individually and in group sessions. As executive director, she is the face of BCADA and frequently talks to community groups about the group's mission.
"Substance abuse knows no socioeconomic delineation...nobody is immune," she says. "When people feel threatened, they have a tendency to medicate. That's the message we get from society...when something's wrong, take a pill."
Over the past few weeks, Rotondo engaged in a protracted letter-writing battle in the pages of the Herald with the proprietor of a recently opened head shop on Sunrise Highway called Daze. While she said the store has every right to operate, it "facilitates drug use," and she says she has an obligation to speak out.
Aside from Rotondo and office manager Jacquie Martello, BCADA employs two full-time psychologists, two full-time social workers and nine part-time clinical doctoral interns who see about 100 clients over the course of a year.
Besides government funding, BCADA receives money from the United Way, and BCADA has seen its donations from that group drop from $20,000 a year in 1986 to $5,000 this year. The group also holds its own fundraisers, including an annual St. Patrick's Day Run, which raises about $2,000. This year, BCADA was also dealt another blow as it was forced to cancel the run -- which would have been the 20th -- because an outside organizer was unable to meet his obligations on time.
The cancellation of the run is a huge disappointment to BCADA, but, said Rotondo, "We'll figure out something else."
BCADA did get some relief in the form of a $9,000 donation, raised at the first annual Community Leaders' Softball Game last summer. But no matter how tight the budget, Rotondo says, BCADA is there for people struggling with drugs or alcohol or simply overwhelmed by life.
"People don't know we're here until they need us," she said, adding, "We don't turn anyone away if they can't pay."
