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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.
2011
2012
L
ong
I
sland
H
ispanic
F
ilm
F
estival
, O
ctober
21- 23, 2011
A
dditional
F
unding
for
C
enter
C
onstruction
S
parks
F
ly
O
nce
M
ore
at
C
í
rculo
S
uperstorm
S
andy
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.
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.
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