POBMS Events

PS I LOVE YOU DAY

On Friday, April 23rd, 2010, Joseph DiPalma, dropped his youngest daughter Brooke at middle school. Her father was a well-known man in the community; known to always smile, laugh, and lend a helping hand, especially as Ex-Chief of the West Islip Fire Department and a retired police officer of the NYPD. On her way out of the car that morning, her father said “I Love You” and Brooke said “I Love You” back. Little did she know, only hours later, she would be taken out of school and told her that her father had died by suicide. With this loss, noted a tragic time in the town of West Islip who had lost a high school senior to suicide just one month before. With both of these tragedies at light, the town had come together in hopes of the community realizing how precious life truly is. Seven months later, as Brooke was thinking about all that her town had faced that year, she remembered the last three words her father said to her, “I Love You.” The DiPalma took those three words and with the help of friends, family, and especially West Islip High School class of 2014, P.S. I Love You Day was created. To date, more than 400 schools celebrate annually to help spread awareness about mental health