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Grasing retires after four decades of service seniors. The agency also distributed 1,500 air filtration units to seniors in Rockville Centre and nearby areas, provided After more than four decades of dedi- through a grant from United Way. The cated service to Rockville Centre’s His- Brotherhood worked with local mayors panic community, Margarita Grasing has and community centers to ensure older retired as executive director of the His- residents had access to clean indoor air. “I really think it helped because it at panic Brotherhood, leaving behind a legacy of advocacy, resilience and compas- least put their minds at ease, because nobody knew what to do,” she said. sion. Beyond emergency response, the Grasing, who began her work as a Hispanic outreach coordinator for the village Brotherhood has been an advocate for fair in 1979, helped establish the housing, supporting tenHispanic Brotherhood in ants facing eviction. The 1984 in response to the organization has taken growing needs of Dominilocal landlords and the can and Latino immigrants Rockville Centre housing settling in the area. authority to court. “There was a large com“The biggest achievemunity moving in the area, ment, as far as I’m convery Dominican, and they cerned, is that we helped a needed help with housing, lot of families that would employment,” Grasing have never survived in this said. “The kids in the area, and we did it by going school were a whole new court in many cases,” MARgARITA gRASINg to crowd in there that they Grasing said. “We had to Former executive director, just go by the law and make didn’t understand because they didn’t speak English.” Hispanic Brotherhood sure they were respecting What began as a grassthe law for everybody, not roots initiative has evolved into a compre- only a few.” hensive social service organization, supAmong the organization’s most notable porting seniors, families and youth across success stories are the students who the area. From helping families navigate receive homework help, support and menhousing laws to feeding hundreds of torship from Brotherhood staff. seniors each year, she said that the orga“They did their homework because nization became a cornerstone of support that’s very important to be at the same in Rockville Centre — thanks in large level with the other kids,” Grasing said of part to Grasing’s leadership. Today, she the importance of the homework help said the Brotherhood, located at 59 Clin- program. “You have to pay attention to ton Ave., serves over 400 seniors and dis- that homework, otherwise the school tributes more than 1,700 meals annually. starts looking at it in a different way.” During the height of the coronavirus While funding remains a big challengpandemic in 2020, Grasing and her team es, particularly in light of grant cuts to delivered meals directly to homebound COntinued On Page 5
By KELSIE RADZISKI
kradziski@liherald.com
Courtesy Reine Bethany
donald Franklin, left, Steve Haddock, second from left, and Bill Johnson, third from left, shoveled soil around the new grave marker for 1812 veteran Joseph dorlon, while Wayne Haddock kept the marker level, on Sept. 20 St. george’s episcopal Church on Front Street.
Commemorating veterans buried at historic St. George’s Wayne and Steve Haddock replace outworn cemetery headstones By REINE BETHANY rbethany@liherald.com
Musket balls whizzing past soldiers’ ears, canons hurling lead balls across muddy fields, the glint of bloody bayonets in the sunlight. These are the sounds and sights of wars fought for American freedom. War veterans’ burial sites exist all over Long Island. Right here in Hempstead, 25 veterans are interred among the 500 graves in the churchyard of St. George’s Episcopal Church on Front Street. Wayne Haddock and his brother, Steve Haddock, are making sure that the gravesites — and the bravery — of those veterans won’t be forgotten. Wayne, 59, and Steve, 62, are members of the Sons of the American Revolution, Long Island Chapter.
Wayne is also a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Moses A. Baldwin Camp. His passion during his four years with the SAR has been finding veterans’ burial sites on Long island, starting with the American Revolutionary War. It was through his efforts that all 25 of the veterans buried at St. George’s were identified. He further discovered that seven men interred at St. George’s, including the two Revolutionary War veterans, had committed themselves to the Articles of Association of the First Continental Congress in 1774. By doing so, they established their loyalty to the cause of the United States, and were designated patriots. A signpost with a plaque carrying the seven patriot’s names was installed at St. George’s by the Sons of the American COntinued On Page 3
W
e had to just go by the law and make sure they were respecting the law for everybody, not only a few.