Giving Thanks

Some of the many, many things we are thankful for as this Thanksgiving arrives:

We are thankful for a community that, in the face of hate — swastikas painted by vandals in public places, along with violent antisemitic messages — responds with interfaith rallies, conversations aimed at unity, and schoolchildren painting over the poisonous graffiti with messages of love, hope and peace. These things happened in response because Montauk, and the entire region in general, knows that the way to defeat hate is through love.

We are thankful for a mature and well-trained South Fork policing posture that is both vigilant and de-escalatory in its approach to high crimes and misdemeanors. We are fortunate that local police, who are often local residents, demonstrate a high degree of discretion, good judgment and empathy. That’s crucial when it comes to the particularities of crime in a community with a reputation of abject wealth and a reality that includes many people who are struggling.

We are thankful for demonstrable legislative and administrative progress in the move to revitalize Riverside and Flanders, bringing them up to speed with the rest of the Town of Southampton. Securing the funding for new sewers is a start of a new era for northwestern Southampton Town, a region that has been a focus of much talk but little action over the decades. The entire town will benefit, as will the waters of Peconic Bay.

We are thankful for the Southampton Fire Department and its Chief Manny Ramirez, for going above and beyond the call of duty to make the birthday of a young community member his most special yet. Ramirez and members of the department last week hosted a birthday party for 11-year-old Rowland Egerton-Warburton. Rowland has a rare genetic brain disorder linked to autism called ADNP, which causes significant neurodevelopmental and intellectual delays. He is nonverbal and often struggles to feel comfortable in a variety of different settings. Because of that, his parents say he has no friends, and has never had a birthday party. Rowland loves firetrucks and firefighters, and the department graciously hosted a party for his 11th birthday — and put a smile on the little boy’s face that spoke volumes, and will warm many hearts this holiday season.

We’re thankful for the thoughtful conversation taking place in Sag Harbor surrounding a pending push for a new comprehensive plan — and the idea that citizens will be at the center of the conversation. Moreover, at an Express Sessions event last week, architect Nilay Oza noted that he’s been working to engage young people in the community for their input — which makes sense, considering a new comprehensive plan is mostly about 10 and 20 years from now, not today. Our younger residents are smart, engaged and dynamic, and they will bring fresh ideas and a new perspective that’s as important as any and more important than some.

We are thankful for Eleanor Whitmore: Generations of working families had an affordable, safe, educationally enriching environment to send their children to for care for many years because of her tireless commitment, well into her 90s, to fundraising for the center that now bears her name, and advocating for literacy, fair compensation for workers at the center and more. Her recent death, at 98, is a moment to pause and reflect on just how much impact one person can have when they follow their passion.

We are thankful for one year of Youth Connect, a bilingual, prevention-focused crisis counseling program launched by the nonprofit Latino advocacy group Organización Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island. The service has expanded exponentially in that time, pointing to a growing need for mental health services among East End children. OLA is doing its part to focus on the problem, which deserves more attention and resources.

We are thankful that LGBTQ residents of the South Fork once had The Swamp — and no longer have to seek social refuge from intolerance in isolated places like that Wainscott nightclub. It’s fitting that the proposal to commemorate the role that The Swamp played in the lives of the region’s gay and lesbian residents in the 1980s, as the AIDS epidemic was over, and the gay liberation movement gained momentum, is being embraced by East Hampton Town officials. It’s part of our shared history to celebrate, and a reminder of how far we’ve come.

We are thankful to live in a nation with free and fair elections, and in a community in which capable and committed citizens step up to the plate to serve on local municipal bodies. The recent town elections demonstrated that there is no shortage of qualified candidates. We look forward to new town supervisors — in all five East End towns — and applaud all the candidates, both successful and not, who demonstrated a commitment to making their hometowns a better place and ensuring that the wheels of government continue to turn smoothly.

We are thankful for the plethora of volunteer organizations on the South Fork seeking to improve the lives of residents, including Sag Harbor’s Dawgpatch Bandits, which builds self-contained fitness centers for treatment centers, parks and public schools, and recently completed three installations at Phoenix House locations on Long Island, including the one in Wainscott. The organization was founded in 2018, two years after the death of Michael Semkus, an ocean lifeguard, coach and teacher at Pierson High School who became addicted to his pain medication after suffering a sports-related injury and died of an accidental overdose in early 2016. The group recognizes that a commitment to physical fitness can be a worthwhile first step on the road to recovery from substance abuse, and is a way to keep Semkus’s memory alive.

We are thankful for the South Fork’s food pantries, which provide food assistance and, in many cases, clothing and social services to the disadvantaged members of our community who are vital to our businesses and institutions, yet struggle to keep up with the escalating costs of housing and simply surviving here. Without food pantries and the help of their dedicated volunteers, many residents would go hungry, which should never be the case in a land of plenty. As we share that plenty on Thursday, we all should keep them in our thoughts — and, more important, actions.