When he was still a boy of 19, Tony Duke gave birth to an idea that would become Boys Harbor.

"I went to St. Paul's School, and there was a camp affiliated with the school. But when some of the boys got too old for that camp, there was really nowhere for them to put their skills, their energy. So during the Depression, I started Boys Harbor.

During the War, we suspended Boys Harbor, but started it up again afterwards with much more serious goals.

As far as the East Hampton branch of the Boys Harbor goes, we pick about a thousand kids from New York City to come out to the Hamptons for the summer. They have more of an emphasis on recreation -- like sailing and ail of the usual sports-of interest to kids from an early age to 16 or 17 .

We have counselors there who are alumni of the camp, and others who come as daughters and sons of of friends of ours, and then quite a few Europeans and Japanese. There are counselors like my nephew, Tony, who will be bringing six of the Harbor boys and girls out to Montana next year, our first venture West. We do an Outward Bound program right there in East Hampton, but some of the kids will be using their skills on a pack trip -- a whole new dimension for city kids.

Most of the Harbor children come out at an early age, so most are very enthusiastic to get to nature and recreation and Marine Biology. They love it here. They're much more a part of the whole world and they expand in the country. They see something other than the city. Our job is really to put out information and bait and elevate their minds so that they think more. It gives them power over their own destinies.

You really want them to get to a position where they can decide whether they want to go to college or to work, and trip the welfare cycle. They might want to be on their own, support themselves, and make the decision whether they want to start families. That is the essence of Boys Harbor; they become role models for other children.

On July 14th, the Boys Harbor celebration will be a continuation of events that George Plimpton helps us with every year. This is the annual fireworks display where the Gruccis come in and donate a vast amount of fireworks to us for a wonderful night. George does the commentary, and it's always very successful. A lot of people come on boats -- last year 1,000 boats came from as far away as Maine and set anchor. Years ago, Old Man Grucci came and said 'we simply can't charge you for this'. Of course, George is behind this, and he's been having this celebration for nine or ten years.

My wife, Lili, works her tail off on the event and will be really appreciative of all of this.

I know the kids do. There is a great concentration of generous people in the Hamptons -- and a great bunch who are just waiting to be asked. We've been in that territory for 53 years now, and it took awhile to catch on. But people have gotten behind it in a generous way. We only had twelve kids the first year, now there are thousands. Our executive, Dr. Richard L. ("Lonny") Williams, is one of the leading educators in New York City, particularly in the whole arena of encouraging city kids to join the system and become constructive people. He was only 15 when he joined us as a counselor many years ago. He went away and came back, bringing many years of experience back with him. He is known by thousands and thousands of kids. Pretty close to 35,000 -- in 53 years you see a lot of people."