An Article Of Profound Love, Sadness and Inspirational Healing

A recent $15,000 donation by the Vincent Crotty Memorial Foundation to the "Rockland Homes For Heroes" charity serves both to keep alive the memory of a Suffern High School athlete who died more than a decade ago and to further the dream of former public official and still human rights activist John Murphy to provide quality housing for the county’s homeless veterans.

The foundation was created by family, friends and acquaintances of Montebello resident Vincent Crotty within a month of his tragic March 2010 death alongside his best friend and varsity teammate Chris Konkowski in an auto crash on their way to baseball practice.

The tragedy so gripped the community that the foundation was a natural outgrowth of collective grief and quickly emerged as a force for good in the Suffern area.

Fueled by enthusiastic public response to several annual fundraising efforts, the foundation has helped families at a time of their own personal tragedy, whether assisting with funeral costs or in covering an unexpected medical bill or supporting cancer patients with the expense of commuting to their treatments outside the county.

By 2015 the foundation had already made $140,000 in grants, an amount that’s grown to an estimated $350,000. Many further the work of organizations that share the Vincent Crotty Memorial Foundation’s values, among them several local food pantries.

Very early in its existence the foundation replaced several thousand dollars that disappeared at the end of a fundraiser for a Putnam County child born with a birth defect. The group also has provided a right-size power wheelchair for a local child, along with other accessories to make his life a little easier. In both cases, Peter Crotty says, it was just the right thing for the foundation to do. So was a recent donation of hangers full of new clothes for tiny premature babies born at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center. Board members also helped at the Suffern Police PBA Toy Drive and distributed Santa hats, provided by the foundation, at the local holiday parade.

In line with the Crotty family’s love of baseball, the Vincent Crotty Memorial Foundation has supported Challenger Little League for children with disabilities and in 2012 became the primary sponsor for Touching Bases Baseball, a similar supportive league for adults with disabilities that, before the pandemic, has served as many as 265 players ages 21 to 93.

Peter Crotty, Vincent’s dad, knew Touching Bases founder Bob Baird through Bob’s eight years on the Suffern Little League Board and his role in the creation of Challenger Little League. Peter learned more about Touching Bases shortly after Baird wrote about Vincent’s death and its staggering impact on the Suffern and Baseball communities.

“Since Pete reached out about sponsoring Touching Bases, the Vincent Crotty Memorial Foundation has provided a little more than $50,000 in 11 years, Baird says.

When Pete asked how they could help, we were struggling to cover our insurance costs. Now, understand, Pete’s in the insurance business, but the first thing he said when I mentioned insurance was, ‘I don’t want your business, but we’ll cover the bill from your provider.’ So, it’s never about what’s in it for him or the foundation. It’s just about the people they help,” Baird says. The foundation’s assistance helped Touching Bases bridge lean seasons during COVID and has kept the league financially stable and affordable for players into its 22nd year.

The same kind of Crotty thought process brought about the Vincent Crotty Foundation’s $15,119.22 donation to Rockland Homes for Heroes, Inc., the foundation’s largest single donation to date. The check amount has all three of Vincent’s jersey numbers in the donation 51-19-22.

Very early in his years in Orangetown, John Murphy fell in behind Kathy Lukens, who was the leader of a legion of dedicated parents and likeminded residents who created Camp Venture and soon took up the battle to provide safe, supportive community residences for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Murphy headed Venture for more than 40 years and went on to serve more than 40 years on the Rockland County Legislature. By the early 1980s, he was soon replicating the housing work Venture did to provide housing for other groups in need.

First came Loeb House, established by a group of five individuals including Murphy in 1982, which grew to be the largest provider of beds for the mentally ill, providing 150 beds.

Soon came Joseph’s Homes, Inc., named for Murphy’s brother, an adult home for 86 and Missing in America, providing 26 beds for veterans, among others housing programs.

Pete Crotty, his wife Jean and board members Lizanne and Vincent Fiorentino became aware of Murphy’s extraordinary efforts on behalf of Rockland’s most vulnerable and saw an opportunity to help when he learned about the expansion of Rockland Homes for Heroes, which Murphy willed into existence with help from Loeb House, Inc, in 2009.

Through Murphy’s relentless work, Homes for Heroes secured a lease for a parcel of the World War II-era Camp Shanks, which later was headquarters for a 1950s Nike missile defense installation. Working within a requirement that the parcel be used for the homeless, Homes for Heroes soon erected eight supportive apartments for homeless veterans.

It was all accomplished with federal aid, project management from county government, various state agencies and generous corporate donors like Home Depot and Raymour & Flanagan Furniture.

But much like the Vincent Crotty Foundation, John Murphy says a large part of Homes for Heroes’ success came from the warm embrace of the Rockland Community, which showered the early residents with food, gift cards, clothing and even help landscaping the site.

The success of the first eight units inspired a plan to expand on a second tier of the property.

The effort now is to identify the 14 eligible homeless veterans who will occupy those new housing units, which meet commercial market standards in construction and design.

“We intended, and are a model, to set an example of how to contribute vacant unused government property to willing builders of homes like ours, not institutions, for our homeless veterans,” says Murphy, who at 89 is retired from government, but not from his life’s work of aiding those in need.

The Vincent Crotty Memorial Foundation presents $7,000 to $9,000 in annual scholarship awards to Suffern High School, Don Bosco High School and Rockland Community College. Scholarships are for baseball, softball, basketball and community service with the goal being to assist others in hopes of making their lives a little better.

That prompted the foundation to make a substantial donation to the Homes for Heroes project.

“This is inspired. It’s about love, sadness, never forgetting,” Murphy says. “It made me think of all those families whose children were lost in wars and from many tragic premature deaths. It also made me realize that family love is just one of God’s gifts to be treasured.”

Before the pandemic, the Vincent Crotty Memorial Foundation’s main annual fundraiser was a Wing Night event that drew large crowds and raised substantial money. As they search for an event to replace that one, Pete Crotty says several major donors still send the foundation checks just because they respect the foundation’s work.

In the meantime, an annual Bowling Night and a summer softball tournament keep the all-volunteer foundation working to help groups like Touching Bases and Homes for Heroes and in that way keep alive the memory of Vincent Crotty, a gifted student and ballplayer who had his entire life yet to live.

Post Script- This article's being published on Vincent's 32nd birthday. Profound sadness and love resulted in profound compassion, kindness, generosity and I pray some comfort to Vincent's family. More than the gratitude of the Rockland Homes For Heroes, we offer our deepest sympathy. God Bless the Crotty Family.

Rev. 2.15.24