Community

Not just surviving, but CAST is thriving on North Fork

CAST board president Denis Noncarrow (left) stands in CAST's food pantry with incoming executive director Linda Ruland (center) and current executive director Sarah Benjamin, who will become coordinator of the North Fork Parent-Child Program. About 300 families benefit from the food donations. (Credit: Paul Squire)
CAST board president Denis Noncarrow (left) stands in CAST’s food pantry with incoming executive director Linda Ruland (center) and current executive director Sarah Benjamin, who will become coordinator of the North Fork Parent-Child Program. About 300 families benefit from the food donations. (Credit: Paul Squire)

One year after it was incorporated, CAST earned additional federal funding through Head Start. The early childhood education and health program helped many in the community, including Bessie Swann, who later joined the organization as a volunteer.

“Head Start changed the life of me and my family,” said Ms. Swann, a Greenport native. “Having come out of a very devastating kind of marital breakup with children, I had no skills, I had no employment, I had no real income. I was able to build skills and build my self-esteem.”

Ms. Swann worked with Head Start, which soon grew large enough to expand outside of CAST. She remained a CAST volunteer and, in 1979, became the organization’s director. That was a rough year for CAST, she said, because the county had just cut off funding for various “War on Poverty”-style community organizations.

So CAST turned to donors and grants, which helped keep the group afloat even as others failed, Ms. Swann said.

“I was very blessed to get the support from the community,” she said. “It’s so wonderful to know that I had a small part in helping that to happen.”

During this time, the North Fork Housing Alliance, which was implemented by CAST’s collection of Housing and Urban Development funds for Section 8 housing, was created and soon spun off from CAST.

“[Those civic organizations] become their own thing,” Ms. Benjamin said. “They get enough funding to stand on their own, which is significant for the families in poverty on the North Fork, that’s for sure.”

CAST has also led the way on issues like drug abuse treatment.

In 1983, the group created a substance abuse committee to address the growing problem within the town. This year, it partnered with Southold Town government to bring farm stand produce to local senior citizens.

Thousands of families have been helped by CAST. Throughout that time, the group has always helped provide food for needy children, and, more recently, assisted recent immigrants with learning English and applying for legal documents.

According to a 2012 estimate by the American Community Survey, about 3.4 percent of all North Fork families still live below the poverty line. And Ms. Benjamin said that’s too many.

“They’re here and they’re struggling,” she said.

The organization’s incoming executive director, Linda Ruland of Mattituck, a CAST board member, said she hopes the nonprofit can bring back programs like English as a Second Language for adults in 2015.

“We’re always just looking for new ways to serve the community,” said Ms. Ruland, who is currently director of the North Fork Early Learning Center, a state-certified preschool/day care. She will assume her new role at CAST Jan. 1.

Ms. Ruland said she looks forward to knowing her efforts there will go toward helping her neighbors.

“This is my home,” she said. “I thought I could do some good here.”

Unlike previous executive directors, Ms. Benjamin will stay on as a paid CAST employee, serving as coordinator for the North Fork Parent-Child Program.

“In a way, it’s an expansion, because I’m not leaving,” Ms. Benjamin said. “I love this program. I’ll do it as long as I can because I love making a difference in the lives of people.”

Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski said the group is “such a part of the community” on the North Fork.

“You look at the services that government provides and it’s never going to be perfect,” Mr. Krupski said. “When you have an organization like this, I’m sure they’ve made a big difference over the years.”

From time to time, the Rev. Burns said he still runs into people who have been assisted by CAST, including a local policeman.

“The people who were helped by CAST were multitudinous and from all walks of life,” he said. “I’m very proud of the fact that we were able to found something that’s become so important to the community.”

Ms. Swann, who now works with the Wheeler Creek Community Development Corporation in Washington, D.C., said she’s proud of what CAST has become in Southold Town.

“CAST was the network that helped so many people overcome serious conditions and poverty in that community, not only through financial help but through advocacy and political support,” she said. “I’ve been happy to see that in the 15 years I’ve been gone, it still exists. It’s got a good board … a good staff and I think it’s on solid ground. I think it’s an organization that has the credibility it deserves.”

[email protected]

Fundraisers like the former Corcoran Cares 5K have long helped CAST fund initiatives. (Credit: Jay Webster, file)
Fundraisers like the former Corcoran Cares 5K have long helped CAST fund initiatives. (Credit: Jay Webster, file)