Funds will be used to support local disaster relief efforts

UPTON, NY — Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA), the company that manages and operates Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy, will donate $50,000 to support ongoing local disaster relief efforts following Superstorm Sandy. The donation comes from BSA’s two partners — Battelle and Stony Brook University — which will each donate $25,000 on behalf of BSA. In addition to the $50,000 donation, BSA will match dollar-for-dollar all BSA/BNL employee donations up to another $25,000. Donated funds will help support three local organizations:

• Island Harvest
• Tri-Hamlet Disaster Relief Organization (supporting the Lab’s neighbors in Mastic, Mastic Beach, and Shirley)
• Rebuilding Together Long Island

BSA selected these organizations because they are on the front lines of the disaster — working closely with Long Islanders to help with immediate relief needs as well as long-term recovery.

Photo credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory

“We’re eager to do what we can to help the Long Island community recover from the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy,” said Ron Townsend, BSA Board Chair and Executive Vice President, Global Laboratory Operations, for Battelle.

“Superstorm Sandy directly affected thousands of Stony Brook University students, faculty and staff and countless others in our community,” said Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., BSA Board Vice-Chair and President of Stony Brook University. “We are deeply committed to helping the recovery effort and applaud those who are inspired to give as a result of this challenge.”

BSA and its employees have already participated in several relief efforts since the storm, helping affected Long Islanders and relief workers during the long recovery process. Immediately following the storm, BSA/BNL housed several dozen out-of-state Federal Emergency Management Agency and National Park Service workers in a Lab dormitory. BSA employees also donated and delivered holiday gifts to displaced families and donated and assembled buckets of cleaning supplies to help residents clean flooded homes. Most recently, BSA employees joined with local community organizations and elected officials for a special waterfront cleanup in Mastic Beach on January 12.

“Our employees have a long history of helping Long Islanders in need, and this donation from the BSA partners will give a real boost to our efforts to help our neighbors recover from this devastating storm, in addition to directly supporting the relief organizations working in these communities,” said Doon Gibbs, Interim Director of Brookhaven Lab.

The BSA donation is being put to immediate use. On January 26, BSA sponsored an emergency hurricane relief food drop in Mastic Beach coordinated by Island Harvest. BSA employees distributed canned and packaged goods and other household essentials to impacted residents.

“We’re very pleased to have the support of Brookhaven Science Associates in our ongoing work to assist Long Islanders in need,” said Nicole Kowaleski, Vice President of Development at Island Harvest. “This partnership will truly help us expand our reach and our ability to make an impact in these hard-hit communities.”

BSA has held the management and operation contract for BNL since 1998. Over the past 14 years it has donated substantial funding to support relief efforts around the globe following disasters that include 9/11, the 2005 southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 China earthquake and cyclone in Myanmar, and the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.