In Your Neighborhoods, September 17

So much has been delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, including rites of passage and key life moments often celebrated with family and community.

On Saturday, the Reverend Tisha Williams, along with her husband, Deacon Lawrence Williams, baptized Shakeva Brown and Delana Miller into the congregation of the First Baptist Church in Bridgehampton. The baptism, held six months after it was initially proposed, took place in the Atlantic Ocean in Bridgehampton as Rev. Williams sought a safe way to formally induct Ms. Brown and Ms. Miller into their religious community.

Both Ms. Brown and Ms. Miller joined the church prior to the virus outbreak and completed the new members classes just as COVID-19 hit the region and services were put on hold.

“These two new believers waited the entire time to be baptized,” wrote Rev. Williams in an email to Bridgehampton photographer Lori Hawkins, who happened upon the baptism and photographed the event with stunning results. “Therefore, I wanted to find a safe way to execute this Holy Ordinance as we would not be able to do so in our baptismal pool due to safety protocols. And then it came to me, God has given us the greatest pool imaginable in the Atlantic Ocean. What better way to be welcomed into the body of Christ then among His creation?”

Ms. Brown and Ms. Miller welcomed the idea and Saturday’s baptism may have been the first in some time to take place in the ocean locally and not in a formal house of worship, said Rev. Williams.

“In this season of pandemic and civil unrest, pastors have had to be creative in both preaching and spiritual formation,” Rev. Williams said to Ms. Hawkins. “We’ve been forced to move beyond the four walls of our buildings to connect people with Christ. I’m just so grateful that we have a canvas like the Bridgehampton area to be able to carry out God’s will. Even two whales bore witness to this wonderful event!”

Whales, Rev. Williams would later learn from her husband, Lawrence, the church’s Deacon and a Shinnecock Nation sachem, are symbolic of death and new life — fitting visitors to witness a baptism.

A large coalition of community and immigrant rights organizations have planned The Census 2020 Caravan, an effort to encourage people to make sure they are counted in the 2020 Census. The Census 2020 Caravan will be two separate streams of cars leaving at the same time, from Greenport and from Southampton, on Thursday, September 17, spreading the news to families along the way.

The two streams of the Caravan will converge in Riverhead at 11 a.m. for a rally and celebration to stress the importance of completing the Census. Besides getting the word out and creating awareness, caravan riders will demand that elected officials on the East End — some of whom are very busy running for re-election — respect and reach out to all of their constituents to make sure they are counted.

“The East End has one of the lowest Census response rates in New York State,” said Martha Maffei, executive director of SEPA Mujer, one of several organizations that have been working for months to increase awareness of the Census on eastern Long Island, particularly in immigrant communities.

“There are potentially dire consequences should the rates of Census undercounting on the East End remain so terribly low by the end of the Census count on September 30,” Professor Carolyn Peabody from SBU, Co-Chair, North Fork Unity Action Committee & Co-coordinator, Indigenous Suffolk Counts, said in a press release. “In addition to losing adequate political representation, we will receive funding for schools, hospitals, college aid, school lunches, road repair and so much more far below what we need and are due based on the number of people we actually have living here.”

The caravans will leave from St. Agnes Church, 523 Front Street and 6th Street in Greenport, Sacred Hearts Church, 168 Hill Street in Southampton, and Good Ground Park, 9 Squiretown Road in Hampton Bays, at 9:30 a.m., arriving at the 11 a.m. press conference, which will be held at the County Center, 310 County Center Drive South in Riverhead.

To register your car, visit forms.gle/dX3EfZm6Bsx51Njp8.

The Public Libraries in Suffolk County are working with their local communities to ensure that all Suffolk County residents are counted for the 2020 U.S. Census. The Census count affects funds that state and local governments receive for programs that support highway planning and construction, local schools, and firefighters.

Thanks to a grant from Suffolk County and the Long Island Community Foundation, the Suffolk Cooperative Library System will be supporting the Public Libraries of Suffolk County by deploying its Livebrary.com outreach bus, the SLED (Suffolk Libraries Empower Discovery), to events sponsored by local libraries throughout the month of September.

Locally, the Shelter Island Library will welcome the bus on Thursday, September 17. Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton will host the bus on Saturday, September 19, and the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor will host its own census outreach event on Monday, September 21. The Quogue Library will welcome residents to take the census on October 24.

“Libraries recognize the critical importance of a complete census count for our region and appreciate the support and assistance of Suffolk County, the Long Island Community Foundation, and the Census Bureau with making sure that happens,” Suffolk Cooperative Library Director Kevin Verbesey said.

Cathy Creedon, Director of John Jermain Memorial Library, said that “a complete and accurate count of all people living on East End is a crucial component in securing funding and services. Not being counted will have a direct impact on Sag Harbor’s future.”

To learn more about how the Public Libraries in Suffolk County are supporting a complete count, email Samantha Alberts, Professional & Staff Development Supervisor of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System at samantha@suffolknet.org or call 631-286-1600.

For National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, September 22, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and North Fork will be spread out across the East End again this year with voter information tables in communities on the South Fork, North Fork and Shelter Island.

League tables will be stationed: outside the Montauk post office, 10 a.m. to noon; outside the East Hampton post office, noon to 2 p.m.; outside the Springs One Stop Market, noon to 2 p.m.; outside the Springs General Store, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; outside the Southampton Arts Center on Jobs Lane, 1 to 3 p.m.; outside Southampton’s Rogers Memorial Library, 4 to 6 p.m.; at Shelter Island Public Library, 2 to 5 p.m.; outside Maureen’s Haven, 28 Lincoln Street, Riverhead, noon to 2 p.m.; outside Riverhead Library, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and outside the Cutchogue post office, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

On Saturday, September 19, the League will also be outside the East Hampton Historical Society’s Clinton Academy on Main Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. providing voting information during their “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence” exhibition.

Voter registration forms are also available online by going to the New York State Board of Elections website at elections.ny.gov or the Suffolk County Board of Elections website at suffolkvotes.com

On Wednesday, September 9, the Southampton Town Police Civilian Academy graduated at SUNY Stony Brook Southampton. The graduation was the final celebration of a 16-week course that began in January, paused for several months and resumed in July.

For the first time in the Academy history, the ceremony featured special performances by the Young Blood Singers, Lance Gumbs, Wayne T. Duncan, and Jeffrey Pegran from the Shinnecock Nation and the singing the National Anthem in Navajo by Native American Music Award winner Michelle Thomas and her daughter, Ianaba Cuffee. The performances were arranged by 2020 graduate Elena Rivera-Williams, also of the Shinnecock Nation.

The Southampton Town Civilian Academy is an opportunity for the community to become better educated with the way the men and women of the department train and apply academy knowledge to community policing on a daily basis. Over 16 weeks, the attendees get to know the trainers on a personal level and ultimately become ambassadors and collaborate with the department. A final ride along with seasoned officers allow the attendees to see police officers in their daily work interacting with the community.

Those interested in attending the 2021 Civilian Police Academy should contact Lieutenant Susan Ralph at sralph@southamptontownny.gov for an application.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (CCE Suffolk) announced last week that Vanessa Pino Lockel, of Miller Place, is its new executive director, effective September 1.

Ms. Lockel has worked with Suffolk County and New York State entities for over 20 years, most recently as director of government and community affairs at the MTA-Long Island Rail Road as part of the Governor’s transition team supporting the consolidation of the MTA.

Prior to her work at the MTA, Ms. Lockel worked for the governor’s office directly as a regional representative and for the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery during Sandy as the director of the region handling resiliency projects. She has also served as deputy press secretary in the office of State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and as director of community outreach at the former New York State Banking Department under Superintendent Diana Taylor.

In addition to her role in government, she has been a registered lobbyist for the New York City Beverage component of the American Beverage Association, an international product manager for Merrill Lynch, a research specialist at JP Morgan, and a program director who trained transitional inmates at Ossining Correctional Facility for Community Capital Resources, a nonprofit in Westchester.

“Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk safeguards the quality of life for Suffolk County residents, and ultimately stands for a healthy, sustainable Long Island,” Ms. Lockel said in a press release. “It’s my honor to lead this organization in helping the region’s farmers, fishermen, families and youth through the challenging times ahead.”

Ms. Lockel graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates College and a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She has also completed doctoral coursework at Stony Brook University in social welfare.

More information available at ccesuffolk.org.

The Eastport Green Project will host Art in History on Main Street in Eastport on Saturday, September 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will include a walking tour of the historic business district with Ron Michne, a 1914 Model T Ford display, PALS Plein Air painters, live music, a garden tour of The Pink House, a Dutch Pour technique workshop with Ginny Onorato, handspinning demonstrations by Marie Kinneary and more.

Masks are required. Donations from the event will support holiday décor. For more information, email eastportgreenproject@gmail.com.

Patricia Sanchez-Soroka of Hampton Bays, a wife and a mother of two daughters, died unexpectedly on September 10 and now her family is seeking help to pay for funeral costs. A GoFundMe has been created to help cover the costs of the funeral. As of Tuesday, $10,803 had been raised with a goal of $13,000. To donate, visit GoFundMe.com and search “Patricia Sanchez-Soroka.”