Greentree Foundation gives $186K to North Hempstead orgs

Amelia Camurati
Greentree Foundation President Nicholas Gabriel welcomes the 23 grant recipients to the former Whitney Estate where the foundation is headquartered. (Photo by Amelia Camurati)

Surrounded by portraits of the Whitney family, whose members focused so much of their time and wealth on philanthropy, 23 organizations received $186,600 in Good Neighbor Fund grants Monday for their work with the North Hempstead community.

The organizations, honored by Greentree Foundation of Manhasset, stretch from New Hyde Park to Bethpage and from Great Neck to Freeport, focusing on after school programs, mental health services and food pantries.

“One way to look at this place is backward, but another way to look at it is forward,” Greentree Foundation President Nicholas Gabriel said. “What this place is about, and what the legacy of John and Betsy [Whitney] was to leave this place to do something good into the future, and that’s what we do today.”

Manhasset Community Fund Trustee Tom O’Malley said the grant program has been attempting to address priority needs in North Hempstead since 2003 and has given about $2.7 million in Good Neighbor Fund grants to 97 organizations since the program’s inception.

“Thank you for the outstanding work you’re all doing throughout the Town of North Hempstead,” O’Malley said.

The Manhasset Community Fund is the organization Greentree Foundation selected to oversee and distribute grant funds.

Six Manhasset organizations were among the 23 grantees, including Adventures in Learning, Manhasset Coalition Against Substance Abuse, Manhasset-Great Neck EOC, Manhasset school district, the Science Museum of Long Island and the Shelter Rock Church Food Pantry of Plandome Heights.

Adventures in Learning plans to use its $10,000 grant to expand its after-school STEAM education programs for at-risk children. The school district has designated the $6,600 grant to the Manhasset High School Model UN, which toured the main house as well as the estate’s conference center that is frequently used by United Nations committees, including the Security Council, for meetings and retreats.

Shelter Rock Church will use its $6,000 grant for new equipment in the food pantry, and CASA will use its $10,000 to expand the student mentor drug and alcohol prevention program.

Mineola’s Family and Children’s Association $8,000 grant will go toward providing services to elder abuse victims.

In Port Washington, Littig House Community Center was granted $10,000 to expand its intergenerational programming, Port Washington Parent Resource Center was granted $5,000 to expand the preschool program to twice weekly and the Port Washington Senior Center will replace the center’s flooring with its $10,000 grant.

The Community Organization for Parents and Youth in Great Neck, also known as COPAY, will use its $10,000 grant to provide drug prevention, treatment and education services.

In Roslyn, Child Abuse Prevention Services is expected to use its $5,000 grant to expand the anti-bullying in-school program to preschoolers through first-graders, and in Roslyn Heights, the North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center received $7,500 to support Good Beginnings for Babies, which provides support, counseling, advocacy and education for pregnant and parenting teens.

Reach reporter Amelia Camurati by email at acamurati@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516-307-1045, ext. 215, or follow her on Twitter @acamurati.

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