As community leaders gathered last Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of Special Treasures Child Care Center, which shares a building with Grace Cathedral International on Jerusalem Avenue, the ribbon-cutting represented more than the arrival of a new business in Uniondale.
The event also marked one of the first public appearances of the newly formed Hamlet of Uniondale Chamber of Commerce, whose founders say they are working to support local businesses, encourage economic growth and help establish a stronger identity for the community.
With chamber representatives welcoming Special Treasures’ owner, Linda Anderson, of West Hempstead, as their first member businesses, organizers said the event reflected the type of investment they hope to encourage throughout the community.
The chamber is led by President Mike Capillo, a veteran and the commander of Uniondale American Legion Post 1273, and Vice President Ronnie Williams, who is also president of the Uniondale Little League. Williams’s wife, Stacey Richardson, is president of the Uniondale Empowerment Resource Center, and was among the community leaders involved in discussions that led to the chamber’s formation.
“What we’re doing is in hopes that Uniondale gets its own identity,” Capillo said. “Do you know how many people have come to us and said, ‘Gee, why don’t you join Hempstead?’ Because this isn’t Hempstead.”
The Uniondale Chamber of Commerce was originally founded in 1955, and later dissolved before being re-established under new bylaws in 1984. The Uniondale commerse remains active without a social media presence, Mariano Ugalde president said which he hopes will change this year. However, according to Capillo the chamber dissolved in the recent years.
Williams also claimed he heard there was no chamber of commerce in Uniondale, influencing him to come up with the idea to start one.
"We're here for all businesses, not half," he said. "We're looking high and low and hearing there was no chamber, Mike and Stacey got to discuss that we need a chamber – it's important."
The Uniondale commerce planned on partnering with the Sands Casino at Nassau Coliseum in 2024, Sands New York published on their Instagram page. The proposal of the casino drew criticism in many civic organizations and eventually, in 2025 Sands pulled out of their $6 billion persuit.
“You’re not limited to just one chamber — you can have more,” Capillo said. The new one goes by a different name, the Hamlet of Uniondale.
The idea of reviving the organization, he explained, emerged after conversations with Williams and Richardson. When Capillo learned that the existing chamber was largely dormant, he offered to help create a new one and host meetings at the American Legion post, on Uniondale Avenue.
Since then, organizers have secured operating credentials, assembled a board of directors and begun reaching out to local businesses. The only step left is to fill the board with two more members.
Rather than focusing entirely on membership recruitment, leaders of the fledgling organization said they have spent much of their time introducing themselves to business owners and learning about their concerns. “Just to say this is what our hopes are,” Capillo said. “This is what we want to do.”
Those conversations have centered on issues such as beautification, economic development and business support. Many of the hamlet’s businesses, Capillo said, are independently owned, and could benefit from a collective voice when dealing with local government and other agencies.
“Most of them are mom-and-pop businesses,” he said. “They have no spokesman as far as the towns and stuff like that.”
Saturday’s ribbon-cutting was an opportunity to showcase one of those businesses. Anderson was surprised and excited to find out she would be the first business to join the new chamber. Capillo and Williams presented her with a plaque.
“It’s amazing, because I heard there was no chamber in Uniondale,” Anderson said. “I’m excited for new beginnings. It’s a new beginning for Special Treasures and it’s a new beginning for the chamber.”
Anderson said she created the business years ago in her home in West Hempstead, inspired by a desire to help children develop confidence and a strong educational foundation.
“I love children, and making sure they have a strong foundation and be confident in who they are and what they know was important to me,” she said.
Unlike many home-based child care providers, Anderson said she started the business after her own children were already grown. Over time, the program expanded, and she began searching for a larger location. Although she initially hoped to stay in West Hempstead, suitable space was difficult to find, and she eventually learned about a former day care facility in Grace Cathedral that had been vacant for several years.
The building underwent extensive renovations before reopening as Special Treasures. Now it can accommodate nearly 70 children, and offers programs for a wide range of ages.
For chamber leaders, the opening represented the kind of community investment they hope will become more common across Uniondale.
Capillo, Williams and Richardson stressed that one of the organization’s immediate challenges is simply making people aware that it exists. They plan to continue visiting businesses, attending community events and recruiting members in the months ahead.
As Special Treasures welcomed children and families into its new home, chamber leaders said the opening offered an encouraging glimpse of what they hope the future holds for Uniondale.
“We’re creating something that can help businesses grow and help the community grow,” Capillo said. “That’s what this is all about.”
The goal of the year, Ronnie said is to have 200 busineeses in Uniondale. His target is the RXR Plaza and Omni building in Uniondale.
