‘I am truly doing all the things I never thought I could do — and you can, too.’

Kenneth Kunken, Rockville Centre

“In 1970, as a typical college student at Cornell University, I had dreams of a fulfilling life. One night while at a cabin with my football teammates, I attempted to cook without knowledge of a pilot light. This led to a gas explosion, miraculously leaving me unharmed.

“I remember lying in bed that night thinking how lucky I was. I remember thinking, ‘If I can survive an explosion like that without being injured, I can survive anything. Nothing can happen to me. I must be invincible!’ However, my luck soon turned when the next day, I broke my neck while playing football at Cornell University, leaving me paralyzed.

“My future became uncertain, shattering my hopes and dreams. Almost everybody was giving me very little hope for ever leading a useful, productive or rewarding, life but I did not let them stop me.

“I went back to Cornell to complete my engineering degree and became the first quadriplegic to graduate from Cornell. In 2002, I met my wife, Anna. It was love at first sight. I never thought I could be a father, but we looked into vitro fertilization. We pushed the envelope and defied the odds; we received the news that we were having triplets!

“After earning two master’s degrees and a JD [juris doctor], I became an assistant district attorney for Nassau County, prosecuting more than 50 felony jury trials over a 40-year span. Prior to attending law school at Hofstra, I worked as a certified rehabilitation counselor for individuals with severe disabilities.

My passion for advocacy led me to become a motivational speaker and champion for legislation and accommodations that empower disabled individuals to reach their full potential.

“My passion for advocacy led me to become a motivational speaker and champion for legislation and accommodations that empower disabled individuals to reach their full potential.

“Recently, I authored my own memoir entitled ‘I Dream of Things that Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story.’ I am truly doing all the things I never thought I could do — and you can, too.”

Interviewed by Starr Fuentes

‘It’s been a hard journey. I used to work in fine dining in the city.’

Rockville Centre

“When I was a kid, I didn’t really know I was adopted, but I felt like I was. It was a gut feeling. I was always confused as to why my parents were both intellectual and why I hated school. Why am I not interested in anything they want to do? But then again, what kid is?

“My mom’s always been a great cook; she’s one of my biggest inspirations for this whole journey. My dad, too. My family is very food orientated. When I was really young, I had this exposure that kids my age had no idea about. When I was 5, I had caviar, escargot and mussel pots.

“My dad grew up old-school Italian. His parents were off the boat. They had their name changed at Ellis Island. He has some things he can make better than I can — spaghetti and meatballs, ravioli, eggplant parmesan, lasagna. These things his mother taught him to make as a kid. He makes them better than anyone else.

“My mom grew up in Ohio, which is like beef and potatoes. She really strived to get away from the Midwest. She has a PhD in speech pathology. She really wanted to open a restaurant, but one of her patients said, ‘You’re way too nice for this industry.’ I think I’m living out her dream in a way.

“It’s been a hard journey. I used to work in fine dining in the city. Then COVID happened, and I took a step back. My parents are older; my dad has cancer. I moved back in with my parents to take care of them. They’re happy to see me doing something I was passionate about. They’ve been extremely supportive. Every restaurant I’ve ever opened they were there every night. Now that they can’t come every night, I bring food home for them.

“When I was offered the opportunity to work at a pub, I was like, ‘I went to the Culinary Institute of America, worked at Westchester Country Club, worked at Le Bernardin the city. Now I’m going to make chicken wings?’ It has changed my life. It taught me how to have a better way of life. Instead of trying to burn yourself out and being afraid of messing up a dish because the chef will come after you, here I’m afraid of messing up a dish because the people that come in are family.”

Interviewed by Tracey Cheek

‘If there’s any lesson to be learned, it’s that there’s no right path when it comes to art.’

Rockville Centre

“It took overcoming depression and being an introvert to put my stuff out there. For a long time, my work was only found in my sketchbooks. A lot of people didn’t know I was an artist. My mom and my girlfriend were really pushing for me to put myself out there more. I was bartending and in the service industry. I wasn’t passionate about bartending. When I was behind the bar, I wasn’t happy.

“It wasn’t until Hops Scotch Bottle Shop in Deer Park saw my work on Instagram and were like, ‘Hey I like your art style, can you put it on our wall?’ The minute I did that, something clicked. I felt a rush working big and outside of my sketchbook.

It completely changed how I viewed what a community can be.

“It’s funny how bartending and the friends I made through the bar industry fast-tracked my art career. If there’s any lesson to be learned, it’s that there’s no right path when it comes to art. It’s already pretty atypical, so there’s no right or wrong way to do it.

“I grew up in what I think was the golden age of animation on TV. Every time I turned on the TV, there was a cool cartoon, usually a little alternative where my parents didn’t want me to watch it because they might use a bad word or something. I came from kind of a blue-collar background. My mom was a waitress, my dad was an engineer. It wasn’t until high school, until people started calling me a cartoonist, and I was like, ‘Oh I didn’t even know that was a thing.’

“I went to art school for cartooning and illustration. There was one teacher that told me kids would never like my stuff. It stuck with me. Now I go to places where my murals are up, and kids are honed in on it. Kids are the most honest critics. That makes me feel like the happiest; I’m elated anytime a kid digs my stuff.

“I’m not a super political person, but because of the kindness everyone in Lindenhurst has shown me, I’m very pro-small business. These people built their own visions from the ground up. It changed how I view art. It’s not just a high-brow thing; it could be a tool that businesses can use to make themselves more presentable or more fun. It completely changed how I viewed what a community can be. Everybody is so eager to go support their local businesses.”

Interviewed by Tracey Cheek

‘I didn’t think I would be starting a job so late in my life, but, you know, here I am.’

Rockville Centre

“I didn’t think I would be starting a job so late in my life, but, you know, here I am. I started Love, Nana about a year and a half ago in my house. We weren’t called Love, Nana back then, but I was making bundles of clothing and giving them to charities from my house. It changed my life because my husband died about a year and a half ago, right when I made my first bundle. After I made about 1,000, it got too much in the house. I have 28 grandchildren, so I’m a very busy grandmother. I’ve always written cards for them all these years and always wrote ‘Love, Nana’ on the card. So it was just a very easy drop to make it Love, Nana. I think that it’s really like home.

The clothes that I don’t use I can give to the thrift shop.

“My daughters said, ‘Mom, maybe we better put it into a bigger space so that you could have room to go around, and then maybe the Backyard Players & Friends could come and help you.’ They’re an inclusive, arts-based Long Island nonprofit for those with special needs. All the participants are Backyard Players. They get paid. They work for a two-hour shift, and that works out great.

“But there’s a lot that maybe can’t work just yet in the field. What we do is teach them life skills. I have washing machines and dryers. We fold. We iron. We do everything possible and help them prepare for being on their own — and at the same time prepare them for a job. And there’s always plenty of work to do because I’ve been getting an unbelievable amount of donations. I get clothing for 0-24 months, but sometimes I do start to collect little for toddlers because some of the babies have siblings and people ask me for toddlers.

“It’s filled my days. It doesn’t make me tired. The clothes that I don’t use I can give to the thrift shop. I don’t want any strings hanging off. I don’t want any zippers [unzipped]. I don’t want any stains or anything.

“But if it’s really got any marks or anything on it, I give rags to Sister Barbara over at Our Lady of Peace. She sells the rags and puts the money into the food pantry. So, it’s like everybody’s helping everybody else. We’ve only been here [the storefront] a couple of months, but we’re moving along so fast. It really came out of nowhere all at once, but I’m very happy to do it.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘Since my husband and I have been together, we have largely been celebrated and accepted by both of our church’s communities.’

Rockville Centre

“My husband and I met on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel, which is an important place for Christians because it’s where Jesus lived most of his life. We were both leading pilgrimages from our respective churches, and they put us on the same bus. There was a connection, so God definitely has a sense of humor!

“Pilgrimage has been a large part of our ministries and our lives together. Our careers as rectors in different parishes are about sharing the faith with people and we get to do this in neat ways. I grew up in a Christian family, but I didn’t start going to church regularly until I was in college. It was when I was doing a summer term at Oxford when I fell in love with the Anglican tradition.

“I’ve worked in hospice and in hospitals; it has been rewarding work. You get to be with people during momentous times in their lives, and I never had to question whether what I did was worthwhile. Now I have been an Episcopal priest in Rockville Centre for nine years. Since my husband and I have been together, we have largely been celebrated and accepted by both of our church’s communities.

I never in a million years thought that I’d be celebrating the sacred rites of Holy Week and Easter in my dining room with just my husband and dog!

“When COVID hit, our situation was unique in that we’re both priests, married and living in the same home. A lot of clergy were scrambling when we went into the lockdown, wondering how we were going to continue to minister to our congregations. We set up a makeshift altar/television studio in our dining room, and immediately started filming masses. One week, he would say the Mass and I would preach, and then we would switch.

“We’d send the recording to both of our congregations. I never in a million years thought that I’d be celebrating the sacred rites of Holy Week and Easter in my dining room with just my husband and dog! It was a way to continue to give our congregations encouragement and hope when we couldn’t see any of them face-to-face.

“Worship is such a fundamental part of our lives; however, we rarely get to do it together because, on Sunday mornings, he’s at his church and I’m at mine, so that was great for us. Ultimately, I think there’s so much joy in our faith. It’s challenging sometimes to share that but getting to share it is a wonderful part of the job.”

Interviewed by Iris Wiener