When it comes to generating high-profile teen role models, Merrick could have a better track record.
There is, of course, Amy Fisher, the "Long Island Lolita," whose attempted murder of her then-boyfriend's wife added "Buttafuoco" to the national lexicon, and whose most recent body of work was a sex tape released in the fall. Fresher headline fodder is South Shore daughter Lindsay Lohan, whose list of rehab stints grows almost as long as her cinematic resumé.
But redemption is here at last. The Nassau town's newest buzz comes from a group of young women as fresh and idealistic as an early Billy Joel album.
One Is Greater Than None (oneisgreaterthannone.org) -- or 1>0, as it's known graphically -- started almost a year ago in the Barnofsky living room in south Merrick, where a group of eight 14-year-olds brainstormed to come up with a charity-work project they could all agree on. Then, on a TiVo-ed "Oprah" episode, they found it: Young boys in Ghana were being enslaved by the fishing trade, forced to live on meager rations while pulling in, and sometimes drowning under, fishing nets.
A humanitarian operation by the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration gives each rescued boy 21/2 years of shelter, food, education and care, while his family is given resources to deal with the overwhelming poverty that led to their situation to begin with.
The cost: $4,300 per child.
Also, check out photos of their handmade fashions.
