Farmingville Resident Hopes for Rejuvenation of Community Spirit with Summer Fun Series

Living in a neighborhood that is a "good place to raise kids" is ideal for any parent. But what if that neighborhood doesn't have many things for those kids to do? Take care of it yourself, of course.

That is exactly what Farmingville resident Jennifer Ross has done by spearheading a campaign to bring a series of events to the Town of Brookhaven hamlet. Coupled with the Farmingville Historical Society, Ross put together Family Fun at Farmingville Hills Park, several events being held this summer culminating in a Community Day on August 22.

"We just to try to really put some more community back into this town," said Ross of her website FarmingvilleRocks.com. "The website was really just a way to put it all together. It's just a place for fun events with a lot of focus on kids."

Ross lives in Farmingville and she's a mother of three, a 9-year old boy and 5 and 3 year old girls, so she has a vested interest in making sure there are fun things to do within her community. She realized that while some places in the area host many summertime activities and events, Farmingville isn't always immediately associated with such occasions.

"I bring my kids to a lot of other towns like Port Jeff because they have puppet shows and all these other things going on in the summer," said Ross. "Well why not do it here with some land that's already cleared and right in the center of town? So, we started a series of kid's events on five Tuesday evenings in the summer."

That cleared land is Farmingville Hills Park, a 102 acre park located on Horseblock/Portion Road, and it will play host to several children's themed activity evenings throughout the summer. One such event is Kids Yoga on July 27 with Mary Beth Dark, who does many different types of yoga but specializes on children. The first of these summer events is Story Time with Mrs. DeLonenzo & Mr. Fiore, the principal and a kindergarten teacher at Lynwood Elementary School, and takes place in three weeks on Tuesday, July 13.

The lifelong Long Islander grew up in Holtsville and graduated from Sachem High School in 1988. Ross went to SUNY Binghamton upstate after high school and has been married to her husband Andrew for 12 years. She will turn 40 this month and her career is in marketing. The one-time consultant for MasterCard and JP Morgan Chase is currently doing marketing for several companies including Whole Foods in Lake Grove.

"I do strategic marketing for different entrepreneurs on the island, but specifically I've been doing a lot of work for Whole Foods," said Ross who helps people build and advertize their businesses. "I used to work for JP Morgan Chase for 16 years of my career, right from school. That's where I got a lot of my know-how."

Further information on the children's summer events can be found at FarmingvilleRocks.com.