LONG ISLAND COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

HEMPSTEAD: Long Island Council of Churches (LICC) receives $20,000 grant from Nassau County Bar Association to serve the poor.

The Nassau County Bar Association's charitable arm, the WE CARE Advisory Board, awarded the Long Island Council of Churches (LICC) a $20,000 grant to help the LICC feed individuals and families in crisis and provide other essential social services for poverty-stricken residents in Nassau County. The LICC, our region's largest ecumenical and interfaith organization, operates an emergency food center located at 450 North Main Street in Freeport, and provides other social services from its Hempstead facility.

"We are delighted and profoundly grateful for WE CARE's latest grant," said Rev. Tom Goodhue, the LICC's Executive Director. "It was one of the largest they have given us. WE CARE's support helps us to keep up with the ever growing number of our neighbors who are in need. Our Freeport Food Center, for example, fed 331 more seniors in 2011 than in 2010. Without WE CARE, we would not be able to feed all the families who depend on us to eat. We are profoundly grateful for the Nassau County Bar Association's faithful support and compassion for the hungry Nassau residents we feed."

Freeport Food Center manager, Walter Merna, noted, "The additional families and seniors we served last year are indicators of underlying problems such as unavailability of jobs with living wages and the lack of affordable housing." He added, "The rising number of seniors suggests to me that we can expect continuing foreclosures, downsizing, and a consequent growth in extended families with multiple generations living in the same households."

The LICC unites diverse Christians to work together to serve people in need on Long Island and promotes understanding between Christians and non-Christians. Through partnerships with several hundred congregations and more than 50 public and private health and social service agencies the LICC provides emergency food, housing, medical assistance, transportation assistance, chaplaincy services in the jails, disaster relief, advocacy and education for a wide range of social issues including affordable housing, adequate health care, the environment, social, racial and gender equality, anti-poverty and anti-bias programs, prison reform, substance abuse and domestic violence programs.

For further information, please contact
the Rev. Tom Goodhue
516-565-0290, ext. 206
tomgoodhue@optonline.net
or
Wally Merna
516-868-4989
liccfreeport@optonline.net