Autism Organization Seeks Donors To Help Purchase Majors Path Building

For months, the Flying Point Foundation for Autism has been quietly waiting for the day a building on Majors Path in North Sea, currently owned by the Southampton School District, could serve as the organization’s future home.

But the school district announced last week that it is considering putting the structure up for sale on the open market to help offset the cost of acquiring a building on Hampton Road in Southampton Village. As a result, Flying Point Foundation leaders are looking for a “white knight” to provide the funds to help purchase the building once it does go up for sale.

The school district has estimated a $700,000 price tag for the building, located at 1023 Majors Path, although Superintendent Dr. Scott Farina said that the exact market value still needs to be determined.

“We need somebody who has the resources, and the heart, to do this. We need a white knight,” said Kim Covell, the Water Mill-based foundation’s president, who is also an assistant editor at The Press. Her son Dylan, 17, has autism, which inspired her to establish the organization in 2008. “I drive past it all the time,” she said of the building. “It’s such a great size for us, it’s in a great location, and it has a little bit of land. For us, it would be perfectly suited for what we want to do.”

The ultimate goal for the foundation, Ms. Covell said, is to create a community center there for individuals with developmental disabilities. She explained that although people with disabilities such as autism are allowed to stay within the public school system until they are 21, there is not much offered to them on the East End after that, aside from a few facilities in Riverhead.

If the Flying Point Foundation purchases the building, then that would all change. Ms. Covell explained that the nonprofit organization would renovate it, then create spaces to hold fitness activities, computers, a kitchen and a living room; a garden would be planted outside. It would be “just a place where [individuals] can go with their support person and access all of these things that are right there for them, at a time that’s right for them, in a setting that’s like being out in the community,” she said. The foundation’s annual weeklong program in August, Camp Flying Point, would still remain at the Southampton Fresh Air Home.

As for maintenance and upkeep, Ms. Covell said that the organization could sustain itself with all of the fundraising it currently does, although she admitted that “we’d probably have to step it up a little bit more. But … I know we could do it. We’re very serious about this,” she said.

Other organizations with similar missions, such as the Special Olympics, would also be able to use the facility for office space, or a place to hold meetings. “Anyone in the community is going to be allowed to go,” Ms. Covell said. “If they want to join our center, they can join the center, because the more typical people we have there, the better.”

“It would definitely be a great fit for the foundation,” added Patty Tuzzolo, Flying Point’s treasurer. Her 15-year-old daughter, Anna, also has autism. “It’s a great location, and it would serve the entire South Fork. There’s definitely a need for it. As kids age out … options are few and far between. It’s up to families to seek out programs.”

Citing a 2008 statement from East End Disability Associates, a nonprofit based in Riverhead that provides support and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Ms. Covell said that Southampton and East Hampton towns are underserved when it comes to programs for individuals with developmental disabilities—and there are long waiting lists for the programs that already do exist.

“There’s going to be a big social services crisis in 10 years, when a huge cohort of kids are going to be aging out of the system, and there’s not going to be a whole lot for them to do,” she said. “There are already a lot of kids out here that aren’t doing as much as they could, if there were opportunities. We want to provide that opportunity.”

“We love the place. It’s just ideal,” Ms. Covell added. “I think this is such a huge need for this community, and we’re really, really working hard trying to find somebody who can help us out with it.”