From the CEO

spring 2013 bbbsli.org

big newsspring 2013

On Tuesday, April 23, we celebrated our Bigs at the Volunteer Appreciation Din-ner, generously sponsored by Sperry As-sociates FCU.

“Sperry Associates Federal Credit Union is honored to sponsor the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island Volunteer Appre-ciation Dinner in celebration of mentor-ing and making a difference in the lives of children in our community,” said Kevin Healy, CEO of Sperry FCU.

During the evening’s program, volunteer mentors (‘Bigs’) who have been matched for five or more years were recognized. BBBSLI also proudly announced the Bigs of the Year, those who have gone above and beyond in support of a child facing adversity:

College Big of the YearHofstra University Mentoring ProgramSean Williams

Big Sister of the YearLisanne Lange of Mineola, NYMatched since 2003

Big Brother of the YearJohn Murphy of Williston Park, NYMatched since 2005

Sean Williams’ Little Brother, 8-year old Mukesh, wrote in his speech, “I’ve known Sean for some time now and feel very comfortable around him. I do not ever feel that he judges me. Sean is always en-couraging me to do my very best. Sean is a very helpful person.”

Little Sister Nicole has been matched for 10 years with her Big Sister, Lisanne Lange, and wrote “Thank you for sup-porting me and helping me grow up. You have inspired me to be a Big Sister- every little girl should get to experience a rela-tionship like ours.”

Big Brother of the Year John Murphy’s Little Brother wrote a heartfelt letter, sharing “I remember John always tell-ing me that life is better than money and cars. He taught me that family is the most important thing in life. He has always been caring for my family and me and never once gave up on me.”From L-R, Big Sister of the Year Lisanne Lange, College Big of the Year Sean Williams and Big Brother of the Year, John Murphy.

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E Scholarship Four Littles in our program were awarded the Jeff Grant, Glenn Tro-vato and Michael J. Weisbrod Scholar-ship. Find out who on page 2!

Agency EventsWalk for Kids’ Sake Raises $70,000 p.2 and upcoming dates for our 2013 Golf Tournament, Presidential Gala on page 3

Kicks for KidsFormer Little Brother and Renarts Foot-wear donate 50 pairs of shoes. Photo Gallery on page 3

2013 Bigs of the YearVolunteer Appreciation Dinner, Celebrating Our Bigs

We are well on our way navi-gating through the tedious process of fully restoring our w a r e h o u s e which was de-stroyed by San-dy. Like many

Long Islanders, we eagerly await actual reconstruction to begin. Yet we look for-ward to a new and stronger facility in the near future.

Sandy didn’t stop us for long due to the extraordinary resilience and dedication of our Donation Center staff, mentoring program staff and volunteers and families in our agency.

With the end of April showers brings a bright 2013, and again we look to serv-ing more families and children in need of our services. With the continued support of all of our readers, we will climb to new heights.

Thank you, always, for your unwavering support of our Littles.

A publication of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island

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We are thrilled to announce the recipi-ents of the 2013 Jeffrey Grant and Glenn Trovato Scholarship and the Michael J. Weisbrod Memorial Scholarship Award, an opportunity open to all past and pres-ent participants in our programs who are pursuing higher education for the first time. The families of Jeffrey Grant, Glenn Trovato and Michael J. Weisbrod have g e n e r o u s l y made possible this scholar-ship opportu-nity in memory of their loved ones. Schol-arships are awarded to those who demonstrate high levels of motivation, responsibility and resiliency as well as financial need.

Congratulations to Jesse Dubrowsky, Brit-tany Heckman, Bryzeida Perez and Tetya-na Senchyshyn, each of whom received between $3,500 and $4,000 towards their college education!

Jesse Dubrowsky, a senior at Hampton Bays High School, is a Big Brother in our Hampton Bays site-based mentoring pro-gram for a second year in a row. Jesse is passionate about giving back to the com-munity and volunteers as a junior EMT, at his local animal shelter, and is a member of the Key Club and H.O.P.E Club. An ex-cellent student, Jesse is a member of the Robotics Club, the National Honor Soci-ety and received the AP Scholar Award. He will attend Virginia Polytechnic Insti-tute this fall to pursue a career as an aero-space engineer.

Brittany Heckman, a senior at William Floyd High School, was matched with Big Sister Maureen in 2004. Brittany grew up in a single-parent household as the eldest of three siblings- all of whom have little or no contact with their father. A dedi-cated, creative young woman, Brittany has enrolled in many art classes including painting, photography and sculpture and

dreams of pursuing a career as a stylist in a New York City salon. She will be study-ing cosmetology this fall.

Bryzeida Perez, a senior at Sacred Heart Academy, was a Little Sister in our former Bridgehampton/Southampton College program. A dedicated and driven stu-

dent, Bryzeida is a member of the Nation-al Honor Soci-ety and won first place in a sustainable home design competit ion in 2012. She came to the United States with her fam-ily at the age of one and is

a reporter/photographer for Voz Latina, a performer in a Mexican dance group and is a member of the League of Women Voters. She looks forward to Architectural Studies at one of her top choice universi-ties.

Tetyana Senchyshyn, a senior at Hamp-ton Bays High School, is a Big Sister in our Hampton Bays site-based mentoring pro-gram. From the Robotics Club to Math-letes, to the Thespian Society and Band and Chorus, Tetyana is a well-rounded and dedicated student. A National Honor Society Member, Tetyana is also a vol-unteer at the Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance Corps. She plans on studying chemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University this fall with a dream of working for the FBI.

Nature’s Bounty (NBTY) has also award-ed three of the applicants an additional scholarship of $10,000 each. Congratula-tions to Jesse Dubrowsky, Daniela Gutier-rez and Tetyana Senchyshyn.

Additionally, Sean WIlliams, our College Big of the Year, is the recipient of the Ed-ward and Lillian Woycik Big Brothers Big Sisters Endowed Scholarship at Hofstra University for $1,193.

Scholarship WinnersFour BBBSLI Participants Receive Financial Aid for College

Photo from left to right: Scholarship recipients and Bigs in our Hampton Bays site-based program Tetyana Senchyshyn, Jesse Dubrowsky and Daniela Gutier-rez.

On Saturday, April 27th, 400 partici-pants took part in the Walk for Kids’ Sake, raising more than $70,000 in

support of mentoring. Board Members joined sponsors GEICO and Capital One Bank in kicking off the event at Eisen-hower Park. Visit Facebook.com/bbbsli or bbbsli.org for more details and pho-tos!

(Photo L-R) Jeff Schwartzberg (Board Chair), Michael Paley, Joy Watson, CEO Bill Tymann, E. David Woycik, Michael Thomas (GEICO), Andrew Sherry (Captital One), Regina Schilling, Daniel Greenburg and Thomas Slome.

We are proud to announce and welcome our newest member of the Board of Directors.

Regina Schilling is the Operations

Coordinator for Steve Madden Ltd. Ms. Schilling graduated with a BA from Mol-loy College and is an active participant in events run by the Association of Fun-draising Professionals (AFP) as well as a longtime supporter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island.

“I am fully supportive of the mission and vision of the agency and I look forward to continuing my involvement, as well as expanding my efforts in my new role,” remarked Ms. Schilling. “I’m committed to generating support on behalf of an or-ganization I truly believe in.”

Ms. Schilling resides in West Islip with her husband, John.

Board Update

WFKS Raises $70,000

Kicks for KidsThe 30 year-old Long Island based footwear retailer Renarts Footwear hosted ‘Kicks for Kids’, benefiting our “Littles”, at their East Northport store on April 6th. This was the second ‘Kicks for Kids’ event, created by former BBBSLI Little Brother Chase Ceparano, providing Littles in our mentoring program with brand new sneakers.

This special event featured tents set up outside the storefront where 50 Littles and their Bigs received VIP treatment from Renarts staff on a gorgeous spring day. Addi-tionally, TCBY Ice Cream in East Northport donated gift cards to every Little thanks to Theresa Kaplan.

“I can speak for all of us at Renarts and proudly say that having the opportunity to team with Big Brothers Big Sisters and help out the special ‘Littles’ in their organization is absolutely amazing,” says Chase. He, along with Renarts owners, brothers Ankur and Nick Amin, rallied support from vendors for the event. “We’re truly happy to play a part in this program along with our vendors and are already looking forward to the next ‘Kicks for Kids’ event coming this Fall.”

Over $14,000Raised for BBBSLIBBBSLI held its annual “Poker Night” sponsored by the Edward Smith Lions Club at Social Sports Kitchen on Tuesday March 12th.

This tournament was once again sold out with 100 players and raised $14,000 in support of mentoring.

Just before midnight, Jeremy Ecker took 1st place as well as the grand prize, a trip for two to Las Vegas, including air-fare and hotel stay, compliments of Pete Maniscalco of the Courtyard Travel Ltd. in Great Neck, NY.

Second Place was once again taken by Victoria Mink with Tim Sheerin right be-hind in third.

Thank you to our generous Table Spon-sors!CHIPS Technology GroupExecutive Business Association (EBA)Harry BackrachIron Cove PartnersMerrick MadmenCourtyard Travel Ltd.The Whitmore Group, Ltd.

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JUNE 3RD17th Annual Golf TournamentJoin us for the 17th Annual Golf outing to be held at Mutton-town Country Club, East Nor-wich, NY

OCTOBER 3RDPresidential GalaMark your calendars for our most prestigious event of the year! Crest Hollow Country Club, Woodbury NY

UPCOMING EVENTS

Donate Your Tickets!If you or someone you know has tickets they cannot use, please consider donat-ing them to BBBSLI for our Bigs & Littles.Contact our main office at 516.731.7880

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Pictured left to right: Paul Moran (BB), Mara Schwartz (Case Manager for BBBSLI), Andrea Papp (BS), Jean Cohen (Executive Director of the Mentor-ing Partnership of LI), Laura Schroff (author, Invis-ible Thread), Franca Floro (Director of Programs & Training for the Mentoring Partnership of LI), Susan Samaroo (COO of BBBSLI), Suzette Morgan (BS), Courtney Chase (BS), Schenelle Henry (BS).

BBBSLI Bigs and Staff Attend the Mentoring Partnership Conference

In the aftermath of Sandy, the National Grid Foundation provided BBBSLI with a grant of $10,000 to support those in our program who were affected by the Hur-ricane.

“Like so many other Long Islander’s, BBBSLI suffered devastating losses during the Hurricane. With its warehouse damaged and a major source of its income lost, the National Grid Foundation was pleased to help support the Mentoring Program -- which means so much to youth in need here on Long Island,” said Bob Keller, President of the National Grid Foundation. The much needed financial support bolstered our agency’s ability to continue to provide for our Littles, volunteers and their families during this difficult time.

In Support After SandyNational Grid Foundation

Our TeamBoard ChairJeffrey Schwartzberg

CEO William Tymann

COOSusan Samaroo

CDOMark Cox

Newsletter EditorJamessina Hille

Contact UsNassau 516.731.7880Suffolk 631.273.1469East End 631.287.0086Donation Center 631.234.0000Email volunteers@bbbsli.orgWeb www.bbbsli.org

Pictured left to right: Bill Tymann, CEO of BBBSLI and Robert Keller, President of the National Grid Foundation.

Let us help with your spring cleaning! Bag all your unwanted clothing and household items and schedule a pickup online at bbbsli.org, call 631-234-0000 or visit one of our conveniently located bins by using our bin finder online!

Spring Cleaning?Schedule a Pickup Online