Nassau County takes over Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence

Five Towns Community Center services have taken different form since Nassau County took over the building at 270 Lawrence Ave. in Lawrence on July 3 that once housed the longtime neighborhood organization

In a June 17 letter, Nassau County officials informed the community center board that they would be assuming control of the property, once the community center’s 50-year lease expired.

Before the county takeover, the center was home to several community-oriented programs and services such as food pantry, after school, senior and youth programs as well as a substance abuse and mental health services.

On July 16, the county sent a letter to families informing them that Five Towns Community Center Summer Camp attendees may attend the Nassau County Summer Recreation Program at Cantiague Park in Hicksville, for free.

Busses have been sent to pickup students from the community center in the morning, and return students in the evening to the center for pickup. If families do not opt for this, there is no alternative program to the center’s summer camp, the county wrote.

The food pantry, which receives much of its donations from Rock and Wrap It UP! a Cedarhurst-based hunger relief organization, has continued functioning out of the community center, Syd Mandelbaum, founder and CEO of the organization said.

The Veteran’s Farmers Market, which Mandelbaum also runs, occasionally would and still does operate from the center, thanks to a county sheriff opening the doors.

“They understand the needs of the community and they have allowed us to continue with stuff is such a blessing, because there’s so much need,” Mandelbaum said.

The Veteran’s Farmers Market runs from 9:45 to 11:15 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in Cedarhurst. Then from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on the same days, the community center pantry functions out of the former Five Towns Community Center property.

Despite the continuation of some community center programs, the future of what will fill the space is unknown. Last year, the county requested proposals. The Marion & Aaron Gural JCC and the Lawrence school district were the only two entities to submit proposals.

Murray Forman, president of the Lawrence Board of Education, said the district has not heard any news or decisions from the county for what’s next.

“We’re hopeful the community at large, especially as it relates to the children, will not suffer,” said Forman, who also sits on the county’s Planning Commission.

Stacey Feldman, executive director at the Gural JCC, said she has heard no updates, too.

“I have not been in communication with anyone from Nassau County,” Feldman wrote in an email.

Campbell, who is president of what was the community center’s board, said the future is unclear.

“At this point, we have been plagued with uncertainty and being deliberately ignored over the last year and our programs have suffered,” Campbell wrote in an email to the Herald. “Programs meaning families, staff, and clients have suffered. We have had to abruptly shut down the existing programs due to the lease expiring, with no real leeway to plan for alternatives or extensions with funders.”