OUR HISTORY
Our programs began in the year 2005, when we rented a room at the Sheraton Hotel and started to see the need of people who belonged to the communities of Brentwood, Central Islip and its surroundings areas. We started by distributing food, seeking shelter for those living on the streets and youths leaving schools to get involved in gangs, drugs and damaging neighborhoods with graffiti.
The crimes in these communities and nearby towns were about at 50%. Also, Young kids who didn’t have parents to represent them in their schools were represented by Pastor Ramon Jáquez. Our programs were born out of the necessity in our communities. As we continued to grow we looked for a bigger place in the Town of Holbrook where we stayed for a period short of a year, then moved to the Town of Central Islip where we bought a bigger place and were able to offer more help.
Furthermore, we started to have access to schools in the area and set an important precedent, where the Rescuing the Youth Program was born and managed to help and rescue young kids from drugs and gangs.
Today, many of these young people are artists, professionals, ministers and military members and according to a police report, crime was reduced to 42% in this period of time.
In the year 2012 our community was greatly affected by Hurricane Sandy where many victims were affected and a new program was born, Compassion In Action. Since then, we have distributed food to more than 87,000 families.
Yet again, we continued our growth and had to look for a bigger place from the 3,200 square feet we had in Central Islip to a place with 78,500 square feet that we found in the Town of Smithtown, where we currently reside. Now we have 20 available programs free of charge for the community.
Behind each created program there is a story to tell, as each emerged from a specific need of someone who at that time, lack help or family support. For example we had mothers who were confused without knowing where to go because their kids had problems with alcohol consumption; low-income families who couldn’t afford to buy food to take home; young kids and women immersed in depression without adequate information that could help them recognize that they had a disease and that with good treatment they could be cured; parents with high expectations of giving their children the tools to learn how to play a musical instrument, dance, draw, paint; young adults who came back after serving in the military completely disoriented and parents with depression because their kids were serving and were sent to war etc.
Seeing each of these needs and our willingness to help people, knowing that they didn’t have the financial means to cover the general costs of programs such these; we created our programs.
Our “Love without Barriers JCL Foundation” as its name implies, believes that the love for others is an effective tool to impart hope to children, youth and adults where they can become integral and productive members of society.
Among the aims of general interest that our Foundation pursues, is the soon implementation to our programs of a Social Sport School for soccer, since it is a tool that promotes respect, transparency, fellowship, dedication, commitment, equality, motivation, and unity.
Through sports we manage strategies that cultivate tolerance, teamwork and the idea that together we can work towards the same goal.