Gifts keep center open

On the brink of closing, the Farmingdale community center

that serves Latino day laborers was saved yesterday when donors agreed to keep

it alive with an infusion of cash.

Latino advocate Rev. Allan Ramirez said yesterday morning that the "Mercy

Fund" set up at the Brookville Reform Church to assist day laborers would

provide half of the $6,000 the center needs at a minimum to keep functioning

for the next year, if other donors could match it.

That prompted an anonymous gift of $3,000 for the effort, said Janet

Liotta, one of the main organizers of the Casa Comunal de Farmingdale center.

Beyond that, individuals were making smaller donations and Ramirez later

decided to give another $3,000.

"We're in heaven here," Liotta said yesterday. "We're delighted and

relieved that we can now breathe again."

The center offers Latino immigrants English classes, used clothing and

bicycles, computer lessons and immigration help. It is not a day laborer hiring

site, and was opened as a compromise solution after two attempts to create

hiring sites in Farmingdale failed.

The center was opened in October and was going to shut down by Oct. 1 if

the organizers didn't come up with at least $6,000 in the next few days.

After a desperate letter-writing campaign in July, the organizers came up

with pledges for $1,040 a month - short of the minimum of $1,500 a month they

needed to at least pay their rent.

But yesterday they surpassed their goal within hours after a Newsday story

on their plight appeared, they said. And the donations that rolled in will have

an added benefit: Since they met the $1,500 threshold, a matching grant of

$15,000 from the local Catholic Campaign for Human Development also will be

released, said Liotta, a member of Farmingdale Citizens for Viable Solutions.

The Catholic Campaign required fund-raising by the organizers, who also include

the Hempstead-based Workplace Project and HOLA, a group of Latino

professionals in Farmingdale.

Liotta said Farmingdale Village Mayor George Graf declined to provide

funding or to sign a letter saying he endorsed their work. The letter would

have prompted the Catholic Campaign to release the $15,000 grant.

"He said I can't bless what you do," Liotta said.

Village Clerk John Giordano denied that Graf refused to endorse the

project. Graf could not be reached for comment, but two spokesmen said the

village could not donate money because it is on an austerity budget and it

might not be legally permitted to contribute to a nonprofit.