Farmingdale soup kitchen to reopen after arson

A year to the day after the soup kitchen Hope for the Future was destroyed by arson, the Rev. Diane Dunne gazed around the facility's rebuilt food-preparation facilities, now stocked with new commercial appliances.

"It's two emotions going on," Dunne, the founder, said Monday. "I kind of grieve that anyone would do something so mean, but I'm pretty proud of myself for being able to rebuild it."

The Nov. 15, 2009, fire - set early in the morning - destroyed the nonprofit's commercial-grade kitchen and adjoining warehouse and thousands of pounds of food and toys that the group had amassed for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Before the fire, the nondenominational Christian group had cooked 1,000 hot meals per week at the East Farmingdale facility, which were distributed in Farmingdale, Hempstead and Manhattan. They also gave out 2,000 bags of groceries per week.

Now, thanks to insurance money and donations that flowed in shortly after the fire, the warehouse is again filled with boxes and cans of food and the walk-in refrigerator holds juice, yogurt and meat. Dunne's kitchen is now awaiting an inspection by the Suffolk County Health Department before she can officially begin cooking meals for the homeless and filling the pantries of the needy again. She said her goal is to have the facility fully operational by Thanksgiving, a week from Thursday.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said that won't be a problem.

"We will bend over backward to ensure that there are no delays in this process when this vital community soup kitchen files for permits," Levy said in a statement.

While Dunne said she has increased her security at the warehouse, these days she's more cautious. Before the fire, she never hesitated to work alone on nights and weekends at the building, which is in an industrial area of East Farmingdale. Now, she won't be there unless someone else is with her.

Part of the reason, Dunne said, is that the perpetrator is still at large. The investigation is continuing, according to Suffolk County police.

"Whoever did it knew how to hit this place," Dunne said. "Whoever did it is still on the loose."