$4.6M awarded for vehicles to transport elderly and disabled

Nine groups and two local governments on Long Island will get $4.6 million in combined federal aid to help them buy 31 vehicles to transport the elderly and disabled clients they serve, officials said.

The grants are Long Island's latest share of $39 million in federal funding for public and nonprofit organizations in New York State to purchase 415 accessible vehicles and other equipment, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement Monday.

He said more than $210 million in grant funding has been secured to help purchase about 4,500 vehicles that accommodate the elderly and disabled since the program was established in 1974.

A total of 152 nonprofit and public organizations providing more than 1.8 million passenger trips annually got the grants this year, he said.

The latest grant recipients on Long Island were:

Barry and Florence Friedberg JCC of Oceanside, $92,470.

Family Residences and Essential Enterprise Inc. of Old Bethpage, $34,226.

NYSARC Inc. Nassau County Chapter dba AHRC Nassau, $283,401.

Town of North Hempstead, $1 million.

ADELANTE of Suffolk County in Central Islip, $36,013.

Federation of Organizations NYS Mentally Disabled in West Babylon, $180,067.

Head Injury Association Inc. of Hauppauge, $113,677.

Independent Group Home Living of Manorville, $149,614.

Rides Unlimited of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, of Islandia, $81,474.

Suffolk County Department of Public Works, $2.5 million.

UCP Association of Greater Suffolk, $125,255.