Autistic Worker Earns Employer Award

Joseph Penzel, right, and his father, Fred, at a fundraising figure skating event.

By Sophia Ricco
sricco@longislandergroup.com 

Huntington resident Joseph Penzel is a symbol of hard work and perseverance at his job. He has not allowed autism to stop him from being a productive worker and is now being recognized for his exceptional work ethic.

Since the 26-year-old began working at Spectrum Designs Foundation six years ago, Joseph has proven himself to be a major asset of their team, with the ability to effectively operate any of the machines in the 7,000 square foot plant. After being nominated by the company, he won the William B. Joslin Outstanding Performance Award from New York State Industries for the Disabled, Inc. He will be presented the award by state senator, Elaine Phillips on Oct. 30 at a reception at Spectrum Designs.

“He is an outstanding example of what special people are capable of when given the right opportunities,” his father, Fred Penzel said.

After graduating from HuntingtonHigh School in 2013, Joseph was in search of an employer who would hire someone with special needs. He found his autism was a roadblock.

After reading an article in a disabilities publication about Spectrum Designs Foundation, a Port Washington company that employs workers with disabilities, Joseph’s father reached out.

The business works on fabric printing and embroidery, creating custom apparel for companies like Uber and Facebook. At work, Joseph is “quasi-supervisor in his own right,” helping to train others on the machines when they come in.

“At his job, Joe is really one of the employees who can work independently. They find him a job and tell him what do and he just goes and does it,” Fred said. “He doesn’t need anyone supervising him or standing over him. He will stay with that job, and get it done. In fact, if he finishes, he will go and look for more work for himself somewhere else.”

Joseph is very independent and takes care of his own belongings, makes his own food, and does his own laundry. He enjoys taking photographs and working on the computer.

“Joe speaks through his actions more than his words,” his father said, noting when Joseph went to his interview at Spectrum, instead of going to the interview he went right to a table where he saw others working.

“When he saw what they were doing, he started to do it and put himself to work without anybody telling him anything,” his father said. “He saw work that needed to be done and he got busy.”

With an his eye for precision, Joseph has demonstrated that he can put in the same hard work any employee could. Many misconceptions exist about those with autism, but Spectrum recognizes people with disabilities can still be exceptional workers. Along with Spectrum Designs Foundation, they have Spectrum Suds, a boutique laundry facility and Spectrum Bakes, where they bake granola bars and sell them to businesses.

“It’s just not good for them to sit at home and have nothing to do, no place to go. It’s not very stimulating, it doesn’t help them to improve, advance, or grow in any way,” Fred said. “It’s as important for them to work as it is for anyone else. For their sense of self-respect and self-image, their ability to be productive is important.”

Along with receiving the William B. Joslin Outstanding Performance Award, Joseph has won gold medals at the Special Olympics as a figure skater, and numerous medals and ribbons from horseback riding. He also enjoys ice hockey and baseball.

His father said Joseph has remarkable hand-eye coordination, evidenced by his success in these sports.

“We hope that he will inspire other families to encourage their special person to take part in different sports and other activities, where before they might have thought that they weren’t capable but they really are if you just give them a chance,” Fred said.

“They’re capable people… They’re capable of learning and doing productive work,” his father said. “They have a contribution to make.”

Former Councilwoman To Lead Habitat

Former Huntington Councilwoman Tracey Edwards has been named executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk.

By Sophia Ricco
sricco@longislandergroup.com

Former Town Board member Tracey Edwards, who last year gave up her seat in an unsuccessful bid to become Huntington Supervisor, has been named executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk.

Edwards, who retired from Verizon as regional president for Long Island and upstate New York, was a town councilwoman from 2013-2017. She is also regional director of Long Island NAACP.

“Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk is a perfect fit for me because of my passion for helping the community and passion for providing housing for families in Suffolk county,” Edwards said. “This is absolutely where I belong.”

“Mrs. Edwards epitomizes the sense of community activism that we value at Habitat Suffolk,” said Raymond Homburger, chairman of Habitat Suffolk’s board of directors. “Through her career and volunteerism, she has improved the lives of those she has served, and we know her fresh perspective and enthusiasm will be an asset to our organization.”

Habitat for Humanity is a national organization that builds homes for low incomes families in the U.S. and internationally. Edwards’ team is in charge of helping families in Suffolk county achieve home ownership. As a Huntington native, Edwards feels she understands her community’s needs.

“What better way than to have someone who is from Long Island, serve Long Island,” Edwards said.

In her position as executive director, Edwards is in charge of recruiting volunteers and sponsorship opportunities that will further the organization’s projects. Since all the home building is volunteer, they are crucial in completing a home. Anyone can walk in and start volunteering. Students can complete community service hours through building or businesses can form a team of volunteers that doubles as a team building exercise.

“I have to make sure we are growing the organization,” Edwards said. “So that we are providing more and more homes for low income families… I’m the biggest cheerleader for the team.”

During her time as a councilwoman, Edwards supported and co-sponsored affordable housing legislation that requires new developments devote 20 percent of occupancy to affordable housing.

“I understand from my role as councilwoman, the needs for the community,” Edwards said. “Long Island is viewed as a place of wealth but we have a lot of struggling families that do not have a place to live or they are unable to have a home of their own. Those experiences that I’ve been afforded makes me clearly understand that there is a need there for low income safe housing that can uplift not only the family, but the community as well.”

Habitat for Humanity bases eligibility on income, which helps keep families on Long Island.

“If we don’t take steps to provide affordable housing then people are going to leave Long Island. And no one should have to relocate, we should be able to provide housing opportunities at every level,” Edwards said.

In her first week as Executive Director, Edwards visited the eight homes Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk is currently working on. Some will be ready next month, while others have just begun. Edwards feels confident she will be able to bring in more volunteers for the organization from all walks of life.

“I want to recruit volunteers from everybody,” Edwards said. “We have a wonderful community on Long Island. One thing about Long Islanders is that when the need arises and you ask, they are more than willing to step up and help,” Edwards said.

Interested in volunteering for Habitat construction projects? Contact Edwards through habitatsuffolk.org.

Coltrane Home Named A 'National Treasure'

The house in Dix Hills where jazz great John Coltrane lived when he wrote ‘A Love Supreme,’ is being restored by Friends of the Coltrane Home as an education center. Photo by Ellen Druda

By Sophia Ricco
sricco@longislandergroup.com

The John and Alice Coltrane Home in Dix Hills was designated a “National Treasure” by the National Trust in recognition of ongoing restoration efforts and the outreach of Coltrane’s legacy to local schools.

After being placed on the National Trust’s list of the 11 Most Endangered Cultural Sites in the U.S. back in 2011, the Friends of the Coltrane Home received an outpouring of support that allowed them to further their goals for the home and education programs.

“We’re incredibly excited to have got this designation,” Ron Stein, president of Friends of the Coltrane Home, said. “It speaks to how incredibly important this site is and how fortunate we are to have such an amazing cultural gem right here on Long Island.”

The house, in a residential area of Dix Hills, is where jazz great John Coltrane lived with his family when he wrote and recorded “A Love Supreme,” considered by many to be one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.

The National Trust has their own system they use to determine if a house will become a “National Treasure.” The Trust will now work closely with the Friends to aid them in securing grants. With their help, the organization received a $75,000 grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

“From our perspective, it seemed to us that we needed to demonstrate that we were an organization that could get things done,” Stein said. “That the project we were undertaking was of significant enough importance and that we had made significant enough headway in moving the project forward that it justified a tremendous investment of time and energy by the National Trust.”

Michelle Coltrane, daughter of John and Alice Coltrane and Friends of the Coltrane Home board member Kathleen Hennessy.

Around 200 people gathered on the lawn of the home Oct. 9 for the ceremony. Attendees were invited inside to see the progress made so far. At Lincoln Center, guitarist, Derek Trucks and jazz musician, McCoy Tyner were inducted onto the Friends’ honorary board.

“It was wonderful to hear Derek Trucks talk about how enormous an influence John Coltrane was on him… McCoy was in tears about getting the award, which was a beautiful thing,” Stein said.

This was followed by a listening panel of recently discovered “lost recordings” by Coltrane.

“When you listen to Coltrane’s music, you cannot help but be transformed and experience a certain transcendence in his music,” Stein said. “It’s so powerful, so uplifting, so filled with intensity and commitment.”

His music influenced artists like, The Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, U2, Carlos Santana and Kendrick Lamar.

“That’s the power and the importance of this site is the fact that music that was created 50 plus years ago had and continues to have such profound influence on contemporary artists today,” Stein said.

The home will continue to share the Coltranes’ influence through their emergent music education program that will be brought first to the Hempstead and Wyandanch school district.

“The focus is really to learn the basic life skills through music: listening, collaborating, being creative,” Stein said. “Those are skills that are not just important to music but to their moving ahead in life with positive attitudes.”

In the next year, the Friends group hopes to have enough money raised to bring the curriculum to younger children, with five trained facilitators prepared.

“A big goal of this home is to empower and educate young people,” Stein said. “To foster courage and creativity, particularly in girls and young women, using Alice Coltrane as a model. She is someone who was able to push forward and rise up even in a misogynistic world of jazz.”

Derek Trucks was inducted as an Honorary Board member. The guitar great cites strong influence from Coltrane in his own music.

The name was recently changed to the John and Alice Coltrane Home, to demonstrate that the two were equal partners in their marriage and music. Not only did John compose “A Love Supreme” in the upstairs of the house, but Alice recorded her first five studio albums in the basement recording studio.

“We see that girls in the music environment tend to be much less willingly to step forward and try to improvise and make their voices heard,” Stein said. “So we want to make sure that we lift the voices of the girls so that we can encourage them to take those risks and develop that confidence.”

Before her passing in 2017, Alice Coltrane participated in a visioning session for the Coltrane Home. Her mission was to spread a message of kindness and compassion, by understanding one’s responsibility to give back.

“She directed us very clearly,” Stein said. “She said, ‘It’s just a house. If you’re going to make this project really successful, then you have use the house as a base and work outward to the rest of the community.’”

Even so, the organization has progressed in restoring the house to reflect the period when the Coltranes lived there in the 1960s. They plan to use old photographs to create a “snapshot in time” of the meditation room, basement recording studio, and upstairs where John composed his famous album.

“Every ounce of the album is infused with an amazing spirituality,” Stein said. “Whether you like jazz or don’t like jazz, regardless of what you listen to, you hear ‘A Love Supreme’ and realize it’s something all together different, than anything you’ve ever heard before.”