RISE XX . . . 20 Years of Making a Difference

By S. C. Samoy, Director of Operations & Communications

RISE (Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity) celebrated twenty years of being in Far Rockaway with a luncheon for its alumni on Saturday, October 18, 2025. And instead of being in the firehouse on Rockaway Beach Boulevard, its current headquarters since 2016, the celebration took place at RISE Native Plant Nursery, at 190 Beach 44th Street, a new endeavor by the organization.

Close to 800 youth have participated in Shore Corps and Environ­mentor, internships for high school students, along with about four thousand elementary and middle schoolers who have taken part in the programs Living Classroom and Aqua 101, RISE’s former summer day camp. Yerandy Pacheco, a RISE alumna and current board member, and Daniel Borrero, a RISE alum and former staff member, planned the luncheon with Jeanne DuPont, executive director.

Joshua Ogogo (2011–2014) is now an anesthesiologist in Long Island. Janilia Etienne (2019, 2023) graduated from Cornell University in May. Amber Ortiz Hernandez (2020–2023) is a global youth leader at Heirs to Our Oceans. Diego Ortega (2015–2016, 2018) works as an assistant program manager for research at CUNY Black Male Initiative.

Joining them and the other alumni were former RISE educators Elizabeth Gilchrist and Zakhia Grant, RISE Dune Squad Katherine Coates and Neal Lee, and RISE staff DuPont, Juvie Anne Alfeche, and Stephanie Castillo Samoy. They feasted on roasted garlic chicken, salmon, blackened mahi-mahi, Edgemere Farm vegetables, creamy risotto with mushrooms, pasta pomodoro, brownies, and cookies, which was catered by Amy Tichenor of Pilot House Bar & Grill.

After lunch, the group formed a big circle. DuPont reminisced about Dr. Ogogo, who as a young boy envisioned a building like Arverne East Welcome Center while in a program on urban planning. DuPont said, “It is important that you know we at RISE care for you. We are here for you, and it is great to see that you are here to support each other. That’s what community is about.”