John Catsimatidis Gives $105,000 to Bridgehampton Rec Center
John Catsimatidis, the chairman of Red Apple Company and a 2013 candidate for New York City mayor, has donated $105,000 to the nonprofit Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreation Center.
The money will be used to restore and refurbish one of the four buildings on the 12-acre property on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. The building is in disrepair and restoring it will give the center a third venue for its programs.
The center’s board reached out to Catsimatidis, who has a home in Quogue, to ask for his support. In recognition of his donation, the building will be renamed Margo’s Cottage, for Catsimatidis’s wife.
The Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreation Center was founded in the aftermath of a 1949 fire in which two unattended children of farm workers died. It became the first community-supported migrant child care center in the country.