Cailin Riley on Nov 7, 2024, 27East.com

For many people, the onset of the COVID pandemic was the beginning of a period marked by isolation and forced independence. People were apart and cut off from each other and their support networks, in a way most never had been before — and the irony was that it was a time when people needed to rely on help from others more than ever.

It was a dark time for many, and there was palpable relief when it receded into the rear-view mirror. But there were, of course, silver linings to be found, and lessons learned.

One, in particular, was poignant for the leaders of seven local nonprofit organizations, who made a simple but crucial discovering during that time: that we are always better together than we are apart.

That’s the underlying premise of the East End Fund for Children, a coalition of seven like-minded organizations that all, in varying ways, serve children and families in need on the East End.

The organization is the brainchild of Dan Shedrick and was created in 2020 to meet the needs of the community’s most vulnerable members during the ongoing COVID crisis.

The fund coordinated the efforts and built the capacity of several vital community partners through joint fundraising and collaborative programming.

The coalition includes:

▶ The Retreat, which provides shelter and support for victims of domestic violence.

▶ The Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center, which provides care, education and enrichment programs for children of all ages.

▶ The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, which educates young children.

▶ i-tri, a program for adolescent and teen girls that provides empowerment through triathlon training.

▶ The Southampton Youth Association, which provides recreational services during out-of-school time

▶ Project Most, an after-school and learning program based in East Hampton.

▶ The Children’s Museum of the East End, the Bridgehampton-based children’s museum and play center that also provides programming and community outreach.

The fund was initially created to help bolster the enormous challenges the member organizations were facing during the peak of the pandemic, when they saw a huge surge in demand for services, but at the same time could not hold the usual fundraising events because of COVID restrictions.

It has continued to thrive for a simple reason: It works — and not just from a fundraising perspective.

“It’s been a wonderful experience,” said Bonnie Cannon, the executive director of the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center. “We can’t do this all by ourselves. We’re better together, and that goes with anything. We’re better together as a community, without this divide among races and all those kinds of things.

“I hate to sound philosophical, but it’s so true. The world would be a better place if we all realized that — and the East End Fund for Children is an example of that. We are all there for each other, and we all have our part in helping out.”

Cannon said being part of the coalition has been a big boost for the center, helping foster and nurture relationships with other organizations to share resources, ideas and support.

“Not only do we have the funding for each organization,” she said, “but now we’re going even further to get together under one roof, to have an opportunity to fellowship together and support each other, and talk about how we can help each other out. In the beginning, it was more about funding, but that was just the catalyst. Now, it’s about how we can work together as one and be more efficient and impactful.”

Shedrick has remained an important and energetic force for the fund. He helped secure the involvement and support of Joe Gurrera, the owner of Citarella, which has been a hugely important donor and supporter of the fund. Reusable grocery bags with artwork made by children who attend and are part of the various organizations and their care programs and displayed on the bags, which are sold at the stores.

Lara Sweeney is co-president at CMEE and spoke about why the fund and the partnership it has created between the seven nonprofits has been so beneficial.

“It’s always helpful when nonprofits can share resources and ideas,” she said. “And even just act as partners to discuss the challenging issues we all face. We’re all serving East End families, so we face a lot of the same issues, and just to have each other for brainstorming, it’s really helpful. It’s nice to have that camaraderie in addition to the fundraising and raising awareness for our mission.”

The fund also got a great boost from the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons in Shinnecock Hills. The East End Fund for Children was the honoree at the church’s annual summer gala, and each of the seven organizations received $10,000 in funding from the church.

Shedrick said he’s been thrilled that the coalition is still going strong, and spoke about his motivations for getting it going in the first place.

“It was monumental,” he said. “We had the good fortune of pulling together all these nonprofits on the East End, and the objective was to have this group really focus on children. I was really impressed by all the women responsible for all the organizations, too.”

Loretta Davis is the executive director of The Retreat, and she said she’s also so happy about how the group has not only stayed together but grown and become stronger.

“It’s great that it’s so solid now,” she said. “We didn’t know where this was going at first. As a group of seven organizations, we all provide services one way or another for kids, and this really brought us together. We’re always meeting as a group and talking about all the barriers and successes we have that impact all of us.

“It really works, because, otherwise, I don’t think we’d all know how much we each do,” she continued. “We have a lot of the same donors, and it’s really brought us together, which can be tough in a community like this, because we’re all seeking funds from a lot of the same people. But we really support each other, we don’t feel competitive about it — we share, we got to each other’s events.

“We feel very comfortable and we help each other, and that means we help our community.”