Volunteering is great. 

Finding a place to volunteer? That can be a bit of a challenge in this most litigious of societies.

It makes you wonder when you call and get responses like, "I'm not sure we can get your fingerprint results back fast enough." 

Luckily, Syosset's ERASE Racism was more than accommodating.  I visited their offices on May 20 as part of Patch's Give 5 Program, in which Patch editors donate five days of service each year to the areas they cover.  

The first thing you notice when you walk in is that the ratio between desks and people is a little off. Cutbacks have left ERASE Racism--which was founded in 2001 and works on the many housing and educational inequities on Long Island--a little low on manpower. The one positive is that if you come to volunteer, you won't be twiddling your thumbs.

Within five minutes I was calling Suffolk County high schools to invite students to a roundtable discussion with civil rights leader Andrew Young, which will take place on June 2 at the Garden City Hotel. The discussion will precede the organization's annual fundraiser, during which Young will receive the Abraham Krasnoff Courage and Commitment Award.

Syosset Patch had featured ERASE Racism before, just before the organization debuted the documentary A Tale of Two Schools: Race and Education on Long Island. But sometimes while editing and writing multiple stories a day, the importance of the subject matter doesn't sink in the way it should. (Which is why Give 5 is such an amazing idea.)

Just before I started proofreading the fundraiser program, volunteer coordinator Rose Walker gave me a copy of a report the organization did titled "Brown v. Board of Education: The Unfinished Agenda." While that landmark 1954 decision is often celebrated, and rightly so, it resonated with me that an organization still has to work so hard to maintain--or even enact--the ruling's relevance.  

I know I'll be back at ERASE Racism before the year is out, and I hope to see you there with me. For more information call Rose Walker at (516) 921-4863, extension 13.