Historic Reflections 2015

Status for its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) facility. There are four categories of LEED certification including Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. At one point we doubted if we would be able to achieve certified status. Knowing we achieved gold status was epic. We wanted to inspire and show community leaders, businesses and especially nonprofit institutions that we could build green and that sustainability was the right thing to do for our environment and our future. We envisioned this facility to be an inspiration to educate children and the community about how to reduce our impact on the environment and save resources. Those directly involved in the construction of the Center included H2M, Architects; Triton Construction, builders; Beth Donner, designer; Michael D’Antoni, technology; Alan Someck, restaurant consultant; Pat DeLuca, licensing consultant; Rafael Rothschild, exterior designer; Peter Caradonna, Architect for Green LEED elements, and other consultants and volunteers.

2012

S parks F ly O nce M ore at C í rculo

S uperstorm S andy I n 2012, at Círculo’s Spring Gala, Gil Bernardino announced his upcoming marriage to Sarah Brewster. Both divorced, they had collaborated together since Sarah first began working at Círculo in 1999. Sarah joked that office budget constraints and challenges helped to spark the office romance because they spent hours together at work, and on weekends in the office, collaborating to address problems and obstacles week after week. It had been a very intense decade with many challenges and struggles overcoming different crises and days of misery. Superstorm Sandy was devastating. Not only were Círculo’s clients, families, friends and staff affected, the office was impacted as well. The office closed Monday October 29th, as winds and tides raged and Long Island and the rest of the Eastern coast braced for the storm. Sandy hit Long Beach that evening; power was lost at 7:27 pm. Preparations had been made the week before but no one was ready for what Sandy brought. Círculo’s office in Long Beach was affected and we moved operations to our Hempstead location so we could continue to meet the needs of clients. We had to attend to many individuals and families that had lost everything. We also attended to staff that suffered losses. Círculo’s houses were damaged, some more than others, and individuals had to be relocated. Our new 15 passenger van for our youth program was totaled. Materials and supplies for our youth programs, summer camps and soccer programs were lost and damaged. A large number of our clients lived in Long Beach and were deeply affected. We worked to attend to the needs of clients as well as staff that had lost so much including homes, possession and cars. Gil’s car miraculously survived and he ferried individuals from Long Beach to Hempstead so we could get work done. All office operations were moved to Hempstead for several months. We shared computers, office desks, phone and supplies, working collaboratively to address the many needs of those impacted by the storm. We had many clients that had been significantly impacted and worked to give them support during this very difficult time, providing food, flashlights, and charging phones. Many individuals in Long Beach were without power for over four and five weeks. We were able to move part of the office operations back in late December and January but it was several months before our phone system was operational. We were waiting for heat and the phones systems to be working. Finally in March, we were able to get systems operating. T hanksgiving 2012 José Calderón, the Executive Director of the Hispanic Federation, Círculo de la Hispanidad and other community organizations and individuals came together to create a Thanksgiving meal for individuals in Long Beach in 2012 following Superstorm Sandy. The Hispanic Federation provided the food for the event and Círculo’s Chef Josh

2011

A dditional F unding for C enter C onstruction

Sarah Brewster and Gil Bernardino continued to work to obtain funding to build out the Center. Once again in 2011, they were successful in securing funds from Community Development Block Grants from Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead that supported build out initiatives. With these funds Círculo was able to construct part of the second floor of the Center adding additional classrooms and offices.

L ong I sland H ispanic F ilm F estival , O ctober 21- 23, 2011

In the fall of 2011, the Long Island Hispanic Film Festival took place. This was a dream that Gil had for many years. Professor Alfonso Osuna, from Hofstra University, was the first to join Gil in planning for the festival. The vision for the festival was to have a forum where the community could view international films by Hispanic artists and learn about Hispanic issues and culture. Discussions would follow the feature films. The vision also included support for youth. The committee wanted to support students as they created their own films. Core members of the Long Island Hispanic Film Festival Committee included Nancy Iglesias, Timothy Williams, Rodolfo González, Liliana Kayali, Joshua Harrison, José Fernando Canosa, Alfonso Osuna and Gil Bernardino. Others that supported the vision included Isabel Clostre, Silvana Diaz, Herberth Flores, Welquis López, Maggie Martínez-Malito, Ray Thomas, T.J. Collins, Hilton Ariel Ruiz, Marcos Viera, and John Fernández. Sponsors included Tom Tours, T-Mobile, United Health, Taprogge American Corporation, TACA – Avianca, Hofstra University, Casa de Vinos, Pollos Mario, Noticia, Rythmology TradeMark Strategic Services LLC, Long Beach Tennis Center, Numa’s Florist, Mundo Hispano, and Crónica Press. It was a beautiful event with a book fair, artistic exhibits, music and, of course, films. Directors, actors and producers came to present and speak with the audience following the featured films. The festival was stimulating and enriching.

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