LI Volunteer Center sponsors food drive in memory of Harry Chapin

Bench in memory of Harry Chapin at first tee of Green Course at Bethpage State Park installed in 2006 as part of the Long Island Volunteer Hall of Fame.

In memory of Harry Chapin, the Long Island Volunteer Center is sponsoring a food drive on July 16 at Bethpage State Park, 99 Quaker Meeting House Road, Farmingdale, NY.  Donated food will go to Long Island Cares Inc.-The Harry Chapin Food Bank’s Essential Market in Bethpage.  Food drive bins will be available from 4:30 am to 4 pm at Bethpage State Park’s golf registration and the first tees of all 5 golf courses.  July 16 is the anniversary of Harry Chapin’s fateful passing in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway on his way to a concert at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow.  He was an accomplished singer/songwriter who dedicated his life to solving world hunger by meeting a basic human need.

A bench in honor of Harry Chapin is located at the first tee of the Green Course at Bethpage State Park.  He was posthumously inducted into the Long Island Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2003 and thanks to an anonymous donor, the bench was dedicated in 2006.  From 2001 to 2012, the Long Island Volunteer Center led a collaborative effort to conduct annual induction ceremonies and receptions at Bethpage State Park for over 130 inductees to the Long Island Volunteer Hall of Fame including founders of nonprofit organizations, exceptional youth volunteers, inspirational service volunteers, and lifetime achievers in volunteerism.  Leading by example, these inductees used their time and talents to build community, advance the human condition, and expand the reach and impact of the nonprofits they served and causes they believed in.

Food drive supporters and contributors include Bethpage State Park, BNI-Long Island Referral Source, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty Locust Valley Office, Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, Junior League of Long Island, Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank, Long Island Volunteer Center Board of Directors, Mineola-Garden City Rotary Club, Okorn Family Fund of the Long Island Community Foundation, and The Transition Network.