Faces of Long Island celebrates the uniqueness of everyday Long Islanders. In their own words, they tell us about their life experiences, challenges and triumphs. Newsday launched this social media journey into the human experience to shine a light on the diverse people of this wonderful place we call home.

‘During my journey, I realized that very little was being done to accommodate the autistic students.’

Stella Spanakos, Port Washington

“I retired from teaching social studies in 1992 to care for my son, Nicholas, who is profoundly affected by autism. During my journey, I realized that very little was being done to accommodate the autistic students. I decided to dedicate my time to the Manhasset Parents Association Special Education [organization] in my school district.

“As president, we helped create a district-wide life skills program that remains today. As we were preparing Nicholas’ transition from high school, I became very concerned that the state was not prepared for the tsunami of individuals with autism transitioning to adult services. I visited day habilitation centers that offered little opportunity for growth and community interaction. I knew they were inappropriate for my son. My husband and I had frequent conversations about our son’s future.

I would like to see our model reproduced in other communities. I love seeing the smiling faces of these hardworking individuals, their growth and the peer connections.

“In 2010, God decided to intervene, and my husband died suddenly. What was I going to do? I believed there were only two paths: Either you see the tragedy as an opportunity to create something that would make the world a better place or allow self-pity to consume me. I decided to build something that would serve not only my son, but the many deserving and capable autistic individuals in our communities.

“In October of 2011, The Nicholas Center and Spectrum Designs opened its doors in Port Washington. The center is a human service agency creating innovative programs and services that allow autistic individuals to learn, live and work in the community. Individuals learn critical life skills, vocational training, engage in community projects and improve their social and communication skills.

“Four years ago, a group of parents from Westchester asked what it would take to open The Nicholas Center and Spectrum Designs in their community. They wanted the same program for their autistic adult children. In 2020, we expanded services to our second location in Pleasantville, New York.

“I would like to see our model reproduced in other communities. I love seeing the smiling faces of these hardworking individuals, their growth and the peer connections. I am grateful for all the families and friends that supported me along this journey!”

Interviewed by Saul Schachter

‘I have been an avid gardener for over 40 years and have loved educating my grandkids on the benefits of growing vegetables for ourselves and for those around us.’

Port Washington

“It’s funny how I got interested in gardening. My mother had a garden in the back of the house, but as a kid I was more interested in sports. It’s when I married and moved into my first house in Plainview and realized I didn’t want to take care of a lawn. I would come home from vacation and it was all brown. Then I thought, maybe I’ll have a garden. Started on the side of the house, grew tomatoes and cucumbers. Easy!

“I moved to Sands Point, where I started another garden and joined the Port Washington Jewish Center and later became its president. We had a lot of people involved in community service — none more so than our rabbi, Donna Berman. She would announce to me, ‘Hey, on Tuesday, we’re going to Central Park to give out clothes and sandwiches to the homeless!’ It was the dead of winter! But I found myself organizing 15 to 18 cars. We’d make hundreds of sandwiches in two days, and off we’d go!

“It was my first time involved in social action. I liked it and wanted to do more. I learned that Long Island has a very large working population that lives in poverty, making it very difficult to afford fresh produce. These families mostly receive nonperishable donations, which have very little nutritional value.

Since its inception, we’ve delivered more than 57,000 pounds of food.

“To address this problem, in 2010 I created a program called Plant a Row for the Hungry in Port Washington, designed to mobilize residents to grow vegetables at home and donate a portion of the produce to families with food insecurities.

“Since its inception, we’ve delivered more than 57,000 pounds of food. I met Horace and Amy Hagedorn — their company invented Miracle-Gro — and they donated fertilizer and other valuable stuff. Our program has not only helped feed the poor but has helped volunteers as well.

“My friend Anna was in a funk after losing her husband. She joined our 5 to 6 p.m. Club — from May to October, we maintain and harvest our two main gardens during that hour — and the involvement completely revitalized her!

“It’s been so satisfying to me, too. I have been an avid gardener for over 40 years and have loved educating my grandkids on the benefits of growing vegetables for ourselves and for those around us. Our efforts should never end but grow!”

Interviewed by Saul Schachter

‘My son’s health really took a huge blow a year ago, and the fact that he was able to overcome that … really says a lot about how hard he has worked.’

Port Washington

“My son, Steven, is 12 years old and is a swimmer. This is his fourth year on a nationally ranked swim team. Last year, when everyone returned to school, he developed very severe allergies. We don’t know what brought it about. He was barely able to swim last summer [2021]. Multiples times he had three- to four-week stretches where he couldn’t even get into the pool because his breathing was so bad.

He has been swimming since he was 4 or 5 years old at a local pool.

“After tons of doctors’ appointments, he was put on a few different medications and started to improve. He still managed to qualify for one Junior Olympic event after dealing with the summer of not swimming and dealing with asthma and allergies. He has been swimming since he was 4 or 5 years old at a local pool. When he was 8 years old, he moved up to the regular swim team and was getting better and better. They advanced him as far as they could in the Barracuda program. He ended up trying out for the Long Island Aquatic Club. He was probably the best swimmer on the Barracudas team; he had two or three records in a few of the events.

“When he came to LIAC, they put him into a low age group. I was kind of surprised that he was put into one of the lower groups. The higher groups are more intense; there’s more practicing, there’s more attention given to those kids. But in the end, I think it benefited Steven because it allowed him to improve. He did well with the slightly slower pace, and he’s just used his work ethic to rise to the top. In addition to all this great stuff he’s done, in the school he’s a phenomenal student. He just finished sixth grade with straight A’s while practicing six days a week, about 12 hours a week in the pool.

“Summer is even more practicing hours. Steven also swims for Manorhaven Red Devils during the summer, and this year they continued with an annual swim-a-thon for CancerCare. Steven raised lots of money with his brothers for their team. They do this every year to help the organization provide everything that someone who is going through cancer treatments would need. His health really took a huge blow a year ago, and the fact that he was able to overcome that and get to such a high level within a year really says a lot about how hard he has worked.”

‘The geneticist who’s been doing this for 40 years had never heard of the condition when she told us that Eli has it.’

Port Washington

“Eli was born in April 2019 and at first everything seemed normal. Shortly thereafter, we just sensed that something didn’t feel right. Doctors said it’s colic or he’ll outgrow this. On July 4th, 2019, I took him to the hospital and said, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but there’s something wrong.’ He stopped eating, he was screaming all day and night…I didn’t know what else to do. One specialist said we should do a brain MRI and the finding was that there was abnormal development in the front of the brain. That led us to do a genetic test and a couple of months later we had the diagnosis of FOXG1 syndrome, a brain disorder that causes an abnormal amount of the FOXG1 protein to be developed.

I remember asking her, ‘Is there any hope that there could be a treatment?’ She basically said, ‘I’m sorry, but there is no hope.’ Through the tears, we knew immediately we were not going to accept that fate.

“In Eli’s case, he only has approximately half of this protein that is really critical for cognition. The disorder is marked by an inability for most patients to walk, talk, feed themselves, to basically do anything independently. Literally everything is impacted. The geneticist who’s been doing this for 40 years had never heard of the condition when she told us that Eli has it. We learned that, at the time, there were less than 700 patients in the world that are known. I remember asking her, ‘Is there any hope that there could be a treatment?’ She basically said, ‘I’m sorry, but there is no hope.’ Through the tears, we knew immediately we were not going to accept that fate.

“So, we started a foundation focused on bringing a therapy to the clinic. We made it our mission to recruit the top scientists to help us come up with ways we could solve this problem. Our preliminary data is showing that this condition may be reversible if we get to the children early enough while the brain is still developing. This is very much a Long Island story for us because so many of our friends and family right here, in the place that we both grew up, have been in the arena with us. We are grateful to have a community of people who have made this cause their own. At the same time, we still have a lot of work to do. The path to the clinic has been very challenging — but we are not going to give up. And since time is of the essence, we don’t have the luxury of walking. We have to run.”

‘I know there are people like me who are incredibly talented but not working and that’s not right, so I decided to do something about it.’

Port Washington

“I am a very specific type. Because of who I am and what I look like, there’s not much out there. The last theater gig I got was the Off-Broadway lab of ‘Fat Camp.’ I know there are people like me who are incredibly talented but not working and that’s not right, so I decided to do something about it. “My mentor, Broadway’s Steve Rosen, taught me that you need to create your own opportunities, so I came up with a comedic theatrical trio called ‘The Heavyweights.’ I wanted to create a show that truly features people that look like me, so ‘The Heavyweights’ helps to answer the questions: Why can’t the Phantom be 350 pounds? Why is the fat guy always the butt of the joke and he can’t get the girl? Why do the fat guys never have motor skills in a musical?

“We’re capable of having emotion and doing everything everyone else can. The ‘Heavyweights’ did ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ which consisted of me and two other guys that look like me literally doing every role in the show. We all played Audrey, we all played Seymour. It was incredible.

Until the world is okay with someone who has a little more bone on their body being the star, it is what it is. I’m going to continue to enjoy doing The ‘Heavyweights’ and voiceovers because it doesn’t matter what you look like.

“Because I don’t look a certain way, I know that I must put in the work. My voiceover work started when I would make sounds and weird noises as a kid. I was an only child and I had to keep myself entertained. The first big voiceover work for me was the giggle of the Pillsbury Doughboy for two years. I also originated a character on Nick Jr.’s ‘Nella the Princess Knight.’ As a way to distract myself during the quarantine I would make silly videos on TikTok as @theejeremygeller, and I randomly had 31,000 followers.

“I realized that people are laughing at my stupid humor. Without creativity in the world, artists have to have an outlet somewhere. Making people laugh is a consolation for me! That’s me. I’m realistic in knowing who I am and I’m not trying to change for anyone. I was given great advice: ‘If you want to change, change for yourself. Only do it for you.’ I like who I am. I don’t want to be a crunchy leading man.

“Until the world is okay with someone who has a little more bone on their body being the star, it is what it is. I’m going to continue to enjoy doing The ‘Heavyweights’ and voiceovers because it doesn’t matter what you look like.”