Laura
02-19-2008, 04:50 PM
from the Staten Island Advance http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1203427808107350.xml&coll=1
Kids' boat ride makes come back
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
By KIAWANA RICH
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A popular boat ride for Staten Island's developmentally disabled children is returning after a one-year hiatus. Once again, the kids will thrill to the views of New York Harbor, fire-boat water displays, clowns and music.
The Boat Ride for God's Exceptional Children is scheduled to set sail from the borough's shores on July 12, said Program Coordinator Thomas Monahan Sr., a member of the Marine and Aviation Anchor Club Branch 119, which sponsors the event. The 33-year-old Island tradition was scratched last year, said Monahan, because he and many of the club's members are getting older and could not keep up with the physically demanding process of putting the whole program together.
"Most of the guys are too old to run around," said Monahan, who said that at 71 he's noted as one of the club's younger members.
Enter Anthony Roman. Roman, a 40-something employee of the ferry who formerly served as the boat ride's deejay, remembered the program and reached out to the group. Roman decided to become a member and signed on as event program chairman, making it possible to offer the rides once again.
"I'm elated," said Monahan of the program's return.
The annual ride provides a day of fun and frolic for thousands of disabled people -- mostly children -- who suffer from muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. There are also seniors, mostly in wheelchairs or bedridden, who also come along for the ride.
Riders usually total about 3,000 in all.
The three-hour boat trip aboard a Staten Island ferryboat through New York Harbor and the East River includes clowns,a deejay and a police escort boat, "Harbor Charlie."
For more information or to sign up, phone Roman at 917-362-2115
Kids' boat ride makes come back
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
By KIAWANA RICH
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A popular boat ride for Staten Island's developmentally disabled children is returning after a one-year hiatus. Once again, the kids will thrill to the views of New York Harbor, fire-boat water displays, clowns and music.
The Boat Ride for God's Exceptional Children is scheduled to set sail from the borough's shores on July 12, said Program Coordinator Thomas Monahan Sr., a member of the Marine and Aviation Anchor Club Branch 119, which sponsors the event. The 33-year-old Island tradition was scratched last year, said Monahan, because he and many of the club's members are getting older and could not keep up with the physically demanding process of putting the whole program together.
"Most of the guys are too old to run around," said Monahan, who said that at 71 he's noted as one of the club's younger members.
Enter Anthony Roman. Roman, a 40-something employee of the ferry who formerly served as the boat ride's deejay, remembered the program and reached out to the group. Roman decided to become a member and signed on as event program chairman, making it possible to offer the rides once again.
"I'm elated," said Monahan of the program's return.
The annual ride provides a day of fun and frolic for thousands of disabled people -- mostly children -- who suffer from muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. There are also seniors, mostly in wheelchairs or bedridden, who also come along for the ride.
Riders usually total about 3,000 in all.
The three-hour boat trip aboard a Staten Island ferryboat through New York Harbor and the East River includes clowns,a deejay and a police escort boat, "Harbor Charlie."
For more information or to sign up, phone Roman at 917-362-2115