Providing Quality Counseling Services to Combat
Drug Abuse among Hicksville Adolescents & Adults
Submitted by John Maniec, Class of 1964
Hicksville Against Drugs, Inc. (H.A.D., Inc.) which was also known as Help-Aid-Direction (H.A.D.) was started in the late 1960s by various Hicksville residents to deal with the growth of drug abuse among Hicksville community youth and young adults.
Founding members of the H.A.D. board of directors included Christine and Ray Callahan, Shirley and Lennie Kershow, the Goodman family (mother and son) can’t remember their first names, Dorothy Mele, her daughter, Kathy, and myself. Later on, a former school board member, Tom Nagle, joined this core group along with Walter Dunbar, a chiropractor who lived on Jerusalem Ave. I’m missing the names of several other founding/early members, but my memory was much better close to sixty years ago.
I remember that Christine Callahan was very active with her children in community sports, clubs, and various PTA groups. Lennie Kershow was a local butcher who worked at Braun’s Meat Market on Broadway located next door to the Sweet Shop.
We got Hicksville Against Drugs, Inc. recognized as a 501 ( c ) 3 non-profit charity and then got funded as a local drug abuse counseling program via the Nassau County Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction. Lennie got his boss, Tom Braun, to rent us space above his butcher shop so we could start group and individual counseling sessions. We hired two former addicts, Terry P. and Billy W., to run these groups. Terry and Billy were recovered drug addicts who had both graduated from structured in-patient treatment programs ( i.e. Nassau County’s Topic House and NYC Phoenix House).
We were very lucky also to have Dorothy Mele, who was finishing up her certified social worker graduate degree. We had a very unique sign-language counseling group led by Terry for hearing-impaired and deaf youngsters. When we started H.A.D., Inc., I was a professional educator teaching junior high school history out in Suffolk County. As we grew and hired two other men who were finishing their social work and psychology advanced degrees, I left teaching to be H.A.D.. Inc.'s first executive director/administrator.
Throughout the early to mid-1970s, staff members spoke to many public and private school classes and fraternal/community groups about the dangers of drug abuse.
We tried to offer Hicksville community youth alternatives to drug abuse. We brought a traveling circus to the parking area of the Mid-Island Plaza. We arranged for 50 cent children's movies to be run during the hot summer months within the air-conditioned Mid-Island Plaza movie theater. We were even lucky to have the original Brooklyn Bridge band donate their time/talent at a concert held in Levittown Hall. Before this professional group came on at that inexpensive concert ($ 3 admission), we conducted a battle of bands using four local teenage groups. Some very talented teenagers and young adults also created a little theater and we produced several quality plays that were well received and attended by community residents.
In 1978, I left H.A.D., Inc., to become state director of Odyssey House in Manhattan while finishing my Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) at New York University. Help-Aid-Direction (H.A.D.) continued to function quite well for many years to come, and it definitely helped countless local adolescents and young adults see drugs as not the answer to their problems.
If you or someone you know needs assistance, contact SAMSHAA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357) (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service), or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. Or, send your zip code via text message: 435748 (HELP4U) to find help near you.
