Good News: Sachem School Employees Save Lives of Children, 1 and 3

As a local news organization, Patch covers stories of all kinds, from heartbreaking tragedies to nitty-gritty breakdowns of government and school district issues. But some stories are simply inspiring, often showing that at the heart of our communities is a desire to do good. Here are some of the touching headlines from the past seven days.

Seneca Employees Save Lives of Children, 1 and 3

Two children in Holbrook are alive today quite possibly because of the heroic acts and instinctive training of a group of Seneca Middle School employees.

Jim Enright doesn’t consider himself a hero, but his actions proved otherwise yesterday when he responded to a house fire developing on Mohawk Place, which runs adjacent to the Seneca school property, where Enright works as the chief custodian.

The fire broke out Tuesday morning at around 8 a.m. while Enright was having breakfast in the back of the building with co-workers Craig Pagliuca, Al Gallina and Anthony Etergineoso. According to Enright he and his co-workers had grown used to seeing smoke wafting out of the chimney of the home at 378 Mohawk, but yesterday was different. One of the men noticed flames coming out of the top.

Enright and Gallina, two trained former volunteer firefighters with Islip and Ronkonkoma, respectively, headed to the house with Pagliuca and Etergineoso to see if they could stanch the flames. What they discovered when they got there, really raised the stakes. After getting inside the home and using their training to ventilate the smoke, they noticed two children inside. One, a girl, was strapped to a high-chair. The second, a boy, was standing near the door. The children turned out to be alone in the house.

“Our dilemma was the children were three and one,” Enright said. “They were home alone and there was something of a language barrier. I’m not sure of their nationality or ethnic background, but it was a little difficult to communicate with the three-year-old.” 

At this point, according to Enright, the home was filling with smoke and was beginning to irritate their lungs. The men tried to extinguish the flames with a garden hose, but quickly discovered that the water supply to the hose was turned off. 

In the meantime, Seneca Principal Gemma Salvia and Assistant Principal John Ruggero swept in behind the men to tend to the children. Salvia unstrapped the one-year-old girl while Ruggero corralled the three-year-old and they rushed them outside. 

Student Council Donates Packages to Troops

Lindenhurst's West Gates Elementary School’s student council recently sent care packages to United States troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Student council members also participated in a Capri Sun recycling project, a Cents-for-Sandy fundraiser for West Gates families affected by Hurricane Sandy and a toy drive for children in Good Samaritan Hospital.

West Islip Student Named National Geographic Bee Semifinalist

A West Islip student has been named a National Geographic Bee Semifinalist by the National Geographic Society.

Blaise Coppola, an eighth grader at Beach Street Middle School, was notified by the National Geographic Society that he was one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2013 New York National Geographic Bee.

Coppola placed first at the Beach Street Middle School Competition in January. He then took a written qualifying test, and scored in the top 100 in New York State. He competed  in the state Bee held in Albany in early April.

The Stars Come Out in Babylon Village

For the few days following the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, Babylon and much of Long Island had a beautiful view of the night sky's array of stars. With power out, light pollution became a non-factor, giving residents hit hard something to take their minds off of the chaos around them.

On Sunday, April 20, the stars returned to Babylon Village – colorfully throughout the village on utility poles, giving simple messages of hope.

The new wooden stars were delivered by Stars of Hope, which describes itself as a "unique disaster relief/community art project that empowers children in communities devastated by natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, and floods as well as man-made disasters such as mass-shootings and industrial accidents, to paint hopeful messages, inspirational words, and colorful designs on one-foot wooden stars as part of their personal, and their community’s collective, healing process."