Something very exciting has been happening at the Ranch at Riverhead these past couple of months. Thanks to the holiday fundraising efforts of Paul and Laurie DeRobertis of Paul’s Italian Restaurant in Southampton, we were able to transform the loft over the barn in to a recreation room for our young men and the garage at our girls’ home into a recreation room for our young ladies! Just last week, we held the ribbon cutting of the boys’ rec room, capped off with a visit from Mr. Softee.
Paul and Laurie have been supporters of the Ranch for over 20 years! Each year, around the holidays, they ask their friends in Southampton to help support our young people. They also host a Christmas dinner at their restaurant each year for our young people to come and enjoy. Through their outreach, they have been able to fund the building of not one, but two basketball courts and now the recreation rooms.
Thanks to Paul’s Italian Restaurant and the community of Southampton, our young people now have a place to go and have some fun. The room is equipped with a television for watching movies with lots of bean bag chairs for comfort. There is a table for board games and 6 gaming stations equipped with Playstation 4’s for playing MLB the Show, Minecraft, Pac-man and more! There is also an air hockey table and a pool table for some friendly competition.Last but not least, there is a refrigerator and microwave for gaming fuel.
Our young people are so excited to use this new room full of fun. Thank you to all of the donors that made this room a possibility and to all of the people who attended our ribbon cutting, including our board members Jeff Dilandro, Derek Peterson, Walter Maxwell and Steve Kenney. But the biggest thank goes to Paul and Laurie for all they do to support transformation through love at This addition to the Ranch will allow for more family time for our young people when houses spend the evening in the new rec room playing games and being together. We cannot wait until the girls’ rec room is complete!