Creating A Better Future for Huntington's Youth

Kevin Thorbourne, a Huntington resident, has been working with teen boys for years on a small scale, but for the past couple of months he has been able to gather 200 young adults from Huntington to participate in his program "Young Leaders."

"When they talked about closing [Jack Abrams Intermediate School] down, I decided to do it more publicly and get those kids involved and tried to lure the kids off the streets," said Thorbourne.

When Thorbourne started out, he worked for the Police Athletic League and had an organized basketball and football travel team. With his experience working with kids, young men especially, he has been able to form his own group.

With the help of Huntington High School Dean Ron Wilson, Kevin Zaharious, a football coach at Huntington High school; Richard Hall, a community activist; Lakuan Smith, a mentor and student at Hunter College; and Carinah Mendez, a mentor, he has been successful with working toward keeping Huntington's youth out of trouble. 

Thorbourne believes in helping the youth bond with each other, using peer-to-peer mentoring and adult supervision.

"It's about the kids helping the other kids," said Thorbourne.

Thorbourne has been able to organize several events so far.  Recently, he brought about 100 students from Huntington High School, John Glenn High School and Walt Whitman High School to Wyandanch High School in an effort to clean up the school, called the "Beautification of Wyandanch High School."

Home Depot donated flowers, shrubs, paint, gloves and gardening equipment to help with the planting and removal of dirt.  Wells & Wells bus company allowed for the use of their buses as transportation to the school and Compare Foods donated hot dogs and hamburgers for the event.  Thorbourne works with many student athletes who he said wore their athletic jerseys to the event.

In honor of the students who helped with the event at Wyandanch High School, a banquet was held at the Huntington Elks Club and food was provided by Jonny D's Pizza and Mr. Sausage.  In attendance were Steve Israel and Councilwoman Glenda Jackson, who both gave out proclamations to the students.  In addition, Thorbourne gave out five scholarships to "the kids who went above and beyond community service" and maintained good grades in school.  The scholarships were donated by Five Star Car Wash ($250), Models Lounge ($500), KO Floor Supply ($250), Goodfellas Flooring ($250), and Dave and Buster's ($250).

At the banquet, Thorbourne set up a panel of some of the youth and had each of them talk about a different topic.  One young man, a 14-year-old, spoke about his near death experience with drunk driving.  He got home one night while his parents were sleeping and he and his friends took their car.  He drove into a wooded area and hit a tree, causing injury to his leg and almost killing his friends.

Thorbourne recalls the audience members were very emotional, showing how much of an impact this program had on them.  With his success thus far, he plans to have more events for the youth in an effort to keep them away from trouble.

Coming up, Thorbourne will be taking the Young Leaders bowling, to softball games and fishing.

He does not use this program to receive money, but companies often sponsor events. 

Meetings take place at the Tri-CYA Youth Center, located in the Big H Shopping Center on New York Avenue, and at U and I Recording Studios on East 2nd Street, Huntington Station.