A few years ago, when I made a rather dramatic career change from business management to working with at-risk youth in the nonprofit world, I met Dan Reardon. He was an administrator at LearningWorks and I was a teacher at Youth Building Alternatives, the youth educational component of LearningWorks.

Working with this population of our youth can be a significant challenge. One needs to be able to recognize small victories and the realization that your good work may not manifest itself for years as the students mature. “If you want immediate gratification, call Habitat for Humanity,” was Dan’s advice to me.

Dan became my go-to person for advice and discussions on the work that can make you laugh, cry and scream all within an hour. Generally, all of our chats ended with Dan asking me the same question: “Are you making a difference?”

Dan Reardon makes a difference every single Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and beyond at the Long Creek Youth Development Center to a volatile and vulnerable population of our society that desperately needs his caring, compassion and advocacy.

Bill Nemitz’s column “Long Creek volunteer deserves a second chance” (April 9), outlining the story of Dan Reardon’s indefinite suspension from the facility for a relatively minor, but still notable, security breach accurately reflects the situation and the man involved.

To Long Creek’s superintendent, Jeff Merrill II: The way forward on this is simple. Find a way to get Dan Reardon back to Long Creek. Make the situation a teaching moment on honesty, integrity, the importance of a second chance and the need to follow rules and then move forward.

Dan Reardon makes a difference.

Eric A. Moynihan

Yarmouth

 

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