Friday, December 6, 2024
In towns small and large, there are those who leave their mark on their community. In Island Park, one such person is Mickey Hastava, who has devoted decades of service to the village as the founder of the Kiwanis Club. Hastava has helped keep the cornerstone organization alive and thriving for seven decades.
The club will celebrate its 70th anniversary at DaVinci’s Italian Restaurant on Friday. The event, beginning at 6:30 p.m., will honor Hastava, 88, one of the club’s founding members. The cost is $70 per person, and attendees will enjoy a sumptuous meal and an open bar.
Island Park Kiwanis was founded by Hastava shortly after he graduated from high school in 1954, and has been in operation ever since. Persuading a friend to help him charter a local chapter of the international organization, Hastava envisioned serving the children and families of the village. Initially he invited 30 classmates, and 10 people attended the first meeting.
A Navy veteran, Hastava was stationed in the Pacific in the 1950s, where he witnessed some of the tests of atomic weapons that were conducted in the region. The family business, Hastava Real Estate, was one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in the Island Park area before it moved to Garden City.
Over the years, the Kiwanis Club has supported a wide range of community needs, from supplying food for families in need to sponsoring children at Camp Kiwanis. It has provided students with school supplies, and built a playground at F.X. Hegarty Elementary after Superstorm Sandy. The club has hosted an annual Lobster Bake fundraiser for over 40 years, as well as pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, Sip and Paint events, and breakfasts with Santa. It will begin its 71styear of service with a holiday food drive on Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Island Park King Kullen.
These events not only bring the community together but also raise funds for scholarships, awards, and other charitable initiatives. Today the club continues to sponsor community service awards, and donate pediatric trauma kits to the fire department.
Thanks to the efforts of Hastava’s niece Karen Davis, of Oceanside, the current Kiwanis president and a teacher at Lincoln Orens Middle School, the club has seen a revival in recent years. Davis has worked closely with the Island Park school district and local businesses to revitalize the organization.
The club experienced a decline in membership over the years, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic. At one point, there were only four members left. The membership has since grown to 26, thanks to people like member and Oceanside Board of Education Trustee Seth Blau, who has played a key role in revitalizing the group and strengthening the connection between the Oceanside and Island Park Kiwanis clubs.
“Oceanside has a strong club,” Davis said. “Seth Blau, who was in Oceanside, was the one who said, ‘I don’t want the Island Park Club to die,’ so he joined our club and helped bring it back.”
The Oceanside school district and Superintendent Phyliss Harrington are heavily involved in the Oceanside club, and Davis said that a meeting Blau had with the administration was pivotal.
“Seth went and said, ‘Call Island Park administration and tell them what a vital part Kiwanis is of the community,’” Davis recalled. “Dr. Harrington spoke to our superintendent,” Davis added, referring to Island Park Superintendent Vincent Randazzo, “and then our superintendent took a leading role in allowing us to use the school for functions and promoting Kiwanis events.”
Davis has been involved in Kiwanis since childhood. “I was the president of Island Park Key Club in high school,” she recalled. “We raised money recycling bottles and cans. Everybody in Island Park collected, and the money we raised went towards a kidney dialysis machine at South Nassau Hospital.”
One of the club’s most significant achievements this year is the reinstatement of its Scholarship Program for Island Park students who attend Long Beach High School, which had been suspended due to a lack of funds. The club is also planning a Country Line Dancing Fundraiser to support future projects. It promotes the Kiwanis branches for all age groups, including Key Club, for high school students, Circle K, for those in college, and Action Club, for adults with disabilities.
As they celebrate a significant anniversary, members are more determined than ever to encourage younger generations to get involved. Davis emphasized the importance of organizations like Kiwanis in building a strong community, noting that they not only provide support to those in need, but also foster deep personal connections.
“We have friends now we never would’ve had without Kiwanis,” she said. “It brings people together in ways that nothing else really does.”
As the guest of honor at the 70th anniversary celebration, Hastava represents the heart and soul of the club.
“You’re either a doer or a watcher, and we’re doers,” Davis said of her uncle and herself. “People ask me, ‘When are you going to give this up?’ and unless you get the feeling of what it’s like to help people, you won’t understand. It’s just nice. It’s a good feeling.”
