LI Facebook Group Turned Nonprofit Helps Residents Amid Crisis

BABYLON, NY — What started as a Facebook group turned into a nonprofit to help people in the Babylon Village community during the coronavirus pandemic. Babylon resident and West Islip High School teacher Melissa Muma got the idea to start a small group on social media shortly after the governor issued the statewide PAUSE initiative in March. Muma had a firsthand experience with the virus after her mother, who works as a nurse, contracted the disease. Muma's mom has since recovered, but she still continued to hear about how it has affected other people in the community. That's when she launched the page, "Babylon Village Strong," as a way to help those local residents stay connected and find information specific to the village.

"I was watching the governor on the news and I just felt so helpless, I really felt like 'this is so awful, New York is in real trouble,'" Muma said.

The group quickly grew to over a thousand members and begun tackling several fundraisers and projects throughout the village. First, Muma asked members make a poster with the phrase "Babylon Village Strong" to hang in their windows to turn it into a game for kids to go around and count the signs during walks or bike rides around town. As the group started growing quickly, she then got the idea to ask local residents to send money via Venmo to buy food from local restaurants to feed workers at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip and Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. Within a week, she had raised over $1,000 to purchase meals which were delivered to the hospitals.

"There was just an outpouring of support and generosity so it just ballooned from there," Muma said. "There's a lot of heartache everywhere and I really think this group has become a light for those suffering."

Now the group has expanded and includes hundreds of local residents working to help people struggling financially or emotionally through the various projects. Those volunteers work to send meals to local residents who are frontline workers, are sick with COVID-19 or have family members who are sick with the coronavirus. They also work with local photographers to organize "porch-traits," or a series of socially distant photos of families and area businesses. The cost of each session is $20, half of which goes to the fundraiser to help frontline workers. Over the past few months, members off the group also worked to put up over 100 signs of support outside Good Samaritan hospital and the Babylon Fire Department. Volunteers have also sewed over 1,000 masks to donate to essential workers, hosted a socially distant scavenger hunt (prizes were gift cards to local stores), held a "Wheels for Meals" event to benefit several local food pantries and provided breakfast from the local IHOP restaurant to families on the frontline or facing financial hardship.

"Every penny that we raise within the community through a combination of donations and creative fundraising goes directly back into the community," Muma said. "All meals, gift cards, etc. are bought from local merchants. We are doing our best to give back to our neighbors during their hour of need' while also supporting local business as they attempt to navigate the financial crisis."

But out of everything the group has done, the most rewarding for Muma was selling signs that read "Babylon Village Strong" and having 100 percent of the proceeds going to a local family of a woman was stricken with the virus and has been hospitalized with the coronavirus since April.

"I feel that this is the most important thing, besides raising my children, that I've really done in my entire life," Muma said. "I feel like I'm doing something really profound that is having a direct impact in my community and it's been amazing."

Muma, who has lived in Babylon for seven years, described the community as close-knit and full of "salt of the earth" people, many of whom work essential jobs during this crisis.

"We're not just sending food to our essential workers, these are the people we all know that are our Girl Scout leaders and our kid's soccer coaches," she said. "I think that's why the organization has had so much success and why we've been able to accomplish so much in a relatively short amount of time."

All photos courtesy of Melissa Muma