Having Friends Inn, the Sayville branch of the Interfaith Nutritional Network is in trouble and needs our help. This group of volunteers from Sayville and the nearby community feeds from 25 to 35 persons a night, 4 days a week, 200 days a year. (On Christmas Eve the number rose to 41 guests including families with children.)

Since late November, there were two incidents when carbon monoxide was sensed in the Sayville Congregational Church annex building where the Having Friends Inn is held. It seems that the fire department responded both times and as a result, the Islip Town Fire Marshal has ordered the Inn to “discontinue use of commercial cooking stove until such time that an approved commercial exhaust hood and fire suppression system are installed by a licensed contractor.” The cost of the needed equipment is between $10,000 and $11,000. The stove, which was donated, is now over 40 years old but working.

The Sayville Congregational Church, which has for years given the Inn use of its building, will donate some of the money needed, but unfortunately does not have the funds to give very much.

For the time being the cooks are using a roasting pan – a large cooking unit to heat up prepared foods – for such items as pre-made meatballs. They boil water on a hot plate to cook rice and then microwave string beans. That is the meal.

The Having Friends Inn does more than provide good, hot, wholesome food to hungry people of our community. It gives many, many of us an arena to volunteer – to do some good in this world, to share our talents. I, myself, volunteered at the Inn for over twelve years and found great satisfaction in the work. Many young people come to the Inn to offer their time. Steffen Utne, the director of Having Friends Inn. explained to me that the cooks want to cook. “They have a gift to create and they want to share it. This limits them. I’m afraid we may lose some of them.”

I spoke with one of the coordinators of the Inn, Bob Brown, a Sayville resident. “It’s really tough on the cooks. The situation makes it more difficult,” he told me as he taught a group of teenage volunteers how to open the folding tables in preparation for the guests to arrive. Bob also added with absolute commitment, “I get more than I give here.”

So, Readers, our Friends need friends. If we all pitched in, the problem would be solved. Will you please help? Donations can be sent to:

Having Friends Inn
131 Middle Road
Sayville, New York 11782

Perhaps you have a business that could donate some or all of the necessary equipment and use it as a tax write-off. The Inn is a non-for-profit organization.

I know that in a community such as ours, nothing is impossible. We’ve made parks out of wastelands, begun a sailing association that teaches hundreds of children and adults to sail each year and organized thousands of children into soccer teams. We’ve created baseball teams for all who wish to play and planted gardens where there was bleakness. It wasn’t any government agency that made our community what it is; it was the people who live here. We can do this too! Won’t you help?