Take a peek inside CAST’s new building in Greenport
Community Action Southold Town (CAST) hosted an open house Sunday to showcase its new location.
CAST executive director Linda Ruland said the move to 316 Front Street in Greenport, which is located across the street from its previous location, benefits the nonprofit in terms of safety and accessibility.
“We started to look for a place with better parking — and we didn’t have to look far,” Ms. Ruland said. “We love it here.”
CAST’s former location didn’t have a parking lot. Now the organization has seven spaces.
In addition, delivery trucks can park near the back door that leads right to the nonprofit’s pantry.
The room in the middle of the building is what Ms. Ruland calls the “sharing room,” which is stacked with donated clothing.
CAST celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and has helped thousands of families. Throughout that time, the group has provided food for needy children. More recently, they have assisted non-English speakers with learning the language and offered computer learning programs.
[Related story: Not just surviving, but CAST is thriving on North Fork]
The organization was founded in 1965 through an alliance of concerned citizens and local church leaders as part of the “War on Poverty” movement launched a year earlier by President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address.
Through CAST’s program, volunteer teachers also visit the homes of young children across the town to help them with reading, writing and other skills as part of the Parent-Child Home Program.
“Whatever people need we will try and do for them,” Ms. Ruland said. “We want to try and meet everybody’s needs.”
