Community Corner

Sandy, a Year Later: West Islip Little League Restoration a Home Run

It took alot of money and volunteer time but the fields are back in play as is the concession stand.

Sandy wasn't kind to the West Islip Little League. The super storm, a year ago this week, hit hard, hit fast and didn't miss a base in decimating the playing field, and causing extreme damage to the league's concession stand which has served up food to sporting fans since anyone can remember.

The storm pushed the bay surge up past the town marina parking lots, past the first big baseball diamond, under huge storage units and into the concession stand and beyond.

The storm destruction was the worse any in the league had ever seen. While league volunteers had prepared ahead by putting electrical devices, such as the pop corn machine high up on a standing tray table it only survived as it got wedged against a wall.
Pretty much anything four feet or lower was damaged and ruined, recalled a parent volunteer Patch talked to this weekend.

"It was the worse. The water was so high in the building. It was just the worse," said the volunteer.

But a year later, the stand is stocked and serving the usual fare, from corn dogs to hot dogs thanks to a community effort last Spring.

On Saturday March 16, more than 50 parents and children volunteers assembled at the town-owned West Islip Beach fields to begin the cleanup of the fields and complex.

According to a Patch article, the league had suffered losses that include tractors used for field maintenance, all sports equipment, and the concession stand that contained refrigerators and food preparation equipment. The damage estimates are in excess of $50,000. The complex was still littered with storm debris, and the grass fields were in much need of repair, according to league official Steve Sugemele.

Local groups who offered support included the West Islip Soccer Club, Atlantic Auto Group, West Islip Wines and liquors, Dick Sporting Goods, Modell’s, District 34 Little League and the Little Leagues of Connecticut, who donated goods and held fundraisers.

Find out what's happening in West Islipwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sports New York awarded the league with a $5,000 grant to get the complex back in shape for the Spring 2013 season.


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