- Editor's Note: The following letter to the editor was written in its entirety by the Yorktown Teen Center. If you'd like to send you letters to the editor, email Plamena Pesheva at plamena@patch.com
The children’s story Stone Soup is a perfect illustration of how the teens of Yorktown where given a beautiful, generous, caring gift from this wonderful community we are proud to call home.
The “soup” was started late last summer when we asked Rick Cerrone, a public relations expert, to speak at our fundraising dinner. When Rick came to our site he was shocked at the condition of the room and asked our President what she felt we needed for the room to make it more inviting, the response was simply “while we have the tiles for half the room, we could use a rug for the other half.”
Rick had a greater vision for the Center and set about making, what we could only dream of a reality. For those of you who do not know, the Teen Center has no money, no grants (we are not operating long enough to apply), no salaried staff, we run the Center entirely with volunteers. We did not have the money to purchase a new rug or do the much needed renovation.
While the vision was wonderful without money how could we go forward?
Enter the Jack DeVito Foundation and the Yorktown Lions who from their hearts added a much needed ingredient to our pot of soup --- money. As this pot of nothing started to become this wonderful “heart”-y pot of soup, these wonderful organizations decided they had another ingredient to add --- the manpower needed to do the work. During the course of two, yes two weeks, this past April, they took a drab room in need of much repair and turned it into a state of the art facility for the Teens of Yorktown.
To say the room is beautiful does not do it justice. As the “Soup” started to get warm the following people, companies, individuals, added an ingredient of their own --- those who were able, at no cost to the Center, the others at only their cost. This project was a completely wonderful coming together of community; it is a major example of why we live in Yorktown.
We ask the community to support the following entities that have supported our Center through their generosity, hard work and dedication:
- Jack DeVito Foundation
- DeVito Builders
- A. DeVito & Sons Construction
- Yorktown Lions Club
- Harrison Apar Foundation
- Rick Cerrone Communications
- Atlantic Appliances
- Hudson Marble
- Best in Service
- PC Lee Computer
- Sam’s Ceramic and Stone
- Locksmith on Wheels
- Freight Liquidators
- Best Plumbing Supply
- Harrison Apar Field of Dreams
- Mr. Jim DeSiena
- Photo File
- Talent Show of Mildred E. Strang Middle School
- Jilco
- P&M Electric
- Mr. Robert Pisano
- Mr. Paul Port
- Rosh Family
Yorktown Teen Center
Yorktown, NY
