© 2025
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Storm-wrecked NY gay youth center gets quick help

It took only hours for Superstorm Sandy's surging waters to destroy an emergency drop-in center for homeless gay youths in New York City… But almost as quickly, a social media outpouring helped raise money for a new, bigger Ali Forney  Center to keep helping dozens of young people a day with medical care, counseling and a safe place to sleep. WAMC’s Dave Lucas has more…

A blogger posted the bad news about the Manhattan center and it went viral on Twitter. Donations of more than $250,000 — and counting — have come in to rebuild the center.

The facility was founded a decade ago as a last-ditch refuge for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths.

The City Council says LGBT youth represent about half of New York's nearly 4,000 homeless young people.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.