Home Community Community News CAST’s Have-a-Heart dinner at Peconic Landing draws a sellout crowd

CAST’s Have-a-Heart dinner at Peconic Landing draws a sellout crowd

Photo: Denise Civiletti

The community turned out in force Friday evening to support CAST’s annual Have a Heart Dinner at Peconic Landing.

The event sold out its two dinner seatings, CAST president Denis Noncarrow said. It is a fundraiser to benefit CAST’s winter emergency fund, which helps people in need of home heating assistance during the cold winter months.

Peconic Landing donated its facilities and a delicious dinner of Caesar salad, lasagne, coffee and dessert. North Fork NJROTC cadets volunteered to help set up, serve and bus tables.

Community Action Southold Town has been providing a safety net for families in need across the North Fork since 1965. Despite their affluent surroundings, thousands of North Fork residents are living at or below the poverty line.

CAST has a lot going on, said Lisa Boyd, a member of the nonprofit group’s board of directors. The safety net CAST extends for local families consists of many programs and services that require financial support from the community, among them a weekly ESL and computer skills classes and a food pantry three days a week.

The group is also in the middle of a campaign to raise $10,000 to match a Rauch Foundation grant for its North Fork Parent-Child Home Program. The program, now in its third year, has a proven track record of helping children who live in poverty succeed in school by increasing language and literacy skills, enhancing social-emotional development and strengthening the parent-child relationship, according to the organization’s website. The home visitor provides support for the parent to help them nurture their children through difficult times.

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Denise Civiletti
Denise is a veteran local reporter and editor, an attorney and former Riverhead Town councilwoman. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a “writer of the year” award from the N.Y. Press Association in 2015. She is a founder, owner and co-publisher of this website.