Good News

The former South Huntington Public Library currently home to the Rise in Spirit Community Arts Center will be converted into a program/service hub serving the growing population of individuals with special needs and veterans with peer support, education, arts, music, mental health and job training.

Two Long Island nonprofits were named Neighborhood Builders and will receive a total of $400,000 in grants from Bank of America.

Federal and state agencies announced grants totaling $2.8 million for nonprofits and community groups to improve the health of the Long Island Sound.

The four recipients will be Make-A-Wish, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Island Harvest, and the Family Service League and Teachers Federal is asking its members to decide how to allocate the money.

Between March 2020 and March 2021, the Mary Brennan INN soup kitchen served a total of 239,599 nutritious meals to nearly 56,431 guests and 15,898 pantry bags of groceries were given out to families.

The grant will allow the Family Service League to help reduce the emergency housing stays of households by streamlining access to housing relocation assistance, affordable housing, case management and support services.

The PSEG Long Island grant will help furnish the Girl Scouts of Nassau County new “Traveling Trefoil” van with hands-on STEM equipment, outdoor activity gear and supplies.

Island Harvest Food Bank and Long Island Cares’ Harry Chapin Food Bank each received 1,000 turkeys with an assist from the hockey team.

The Entenmann Family Campus at South Shore University Hospital will be the new name for the hospital campus in Bay Shore, in recognition of a huge donation from the Entenmann family.

It’s expected to offset 90 percent of the building’s electricity needs and is estimated to save the school more than $3,000 on electricity costs each year.

The new 89,000-square-foot facility will be known as the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence.

The multi-year grant will be used to support rehabilitation of the home where the Coltranes lived in the 1960s and where they created some of their most treasured music.

Tritec Real Estate Company officially opens its new apartment community called The Wel on Thursday, Oct. 7 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. and a tasting event at 4 p.m.

A bright sunny day and the lure of old fashioned food and fun drew several hundred visitors to Greenlawn last weekend for the annual Pickle Festival.

Paws for a Cause, which raises money for the Long Island Against Domestic Violence nonprofit, invites families to bring their costumed pets and compete for awards.

The Long Island Native Plant Initiative celebrated the completion of a new nursery and seed production facility at the Sisters of St. Joseph campus in Brentwood this week.

The lifeguards were honored for their rescue of a 4-year-old boy at the Syosset-Woodbury Park pool earlier this month.

The matching grant for the maintenance facility is part of Nassau’s efforts to ensure the county’s museums and cultural institutions rebound from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.