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Friday, September 1, 2017
Vol. 77, No. 35
9/11 firefighter honored with street renaming ceremony
NEW TEACHERS WELCOMED
BY GARY SIMEONE
Photos courtesy of the Bethpage Union Free School District
The Bethpage School District welcomed 25 new members to its educational community with a detailed orientation program on Aug. 28. The day was designed to ensure a smooth transition for the educators into their new positions by familiarizing them with the district’s tradition of excellence and demonstrating ways to implement that tradition. See page 6
Assemblyman helps out with food drive
People turned out in droves on Saturday, August 12th, for the Long Island Cares Summer Food Drive at King Kullen in Bethpage. The organization collected 1,171 pounds of food during the event to help Long Island families in need. State Assemblyman, Michael Montesano, helped to pitch in at the food drive, greeting customers and people who were dropping off canned goods and other food items to help struggling families put food on the table. “1,171 pounds of food will help so many families across Long Island,” said Montesano. “I’m proud to have
partnered with Long Island Cares and to have been part of the Summer Food Drive to end hunger. I hope this food drive inspires more people to donate.” This is the first year that Long Island Cares is holding their Summer Food Drive where local assemblyman are coming together to pitch in to help out with food donations. “Summer time is one of the lowest periods of people donating food, so for us to get the help of legislative leaders is an extra benefit,” said William Gonyou, Community Events and Food Drive Manager at
Long Island Cares Inc. Gonyou said there are 13 scheduled Food Drive’s across Long Island this summer with various legislative leaders in each district participating in the events. “Our goal is to collect 15,000 pounds of food before summer’s end. So far we have held nine drive’s and raised 11,012 pounds of food.” People can donate any type of nonperishable food item including canned vegetables and fruits, boxed milk, rice, cereals, tomatoe sauce See page 6
This past Saturday, Ballad Lane in Hicksville was officially renamed Raymond J. Pfeifer Way in honor of the former New York City firefighter who died after suffering from a 9/11 post related illness earlier this year. Hundreds of people turned out for the ceremony, including officials from Nassau County and the Town of Oyster Bay as well as city and local firefighters. “Ray’s whole life was about serving others. That was his whole purpose” said, FDNY Chief, Joseph Pfeifer, who spoke at the ceremony. “Streets are named not only to show us where we are but to give us a sense of direction. Ray gave us all a sense of direction. When people walk down this street they will remember what he was all about.” After 9/11 happened, Ray Pfeifer spent months on end digging through piles of wreckage and rubble for lost FDNY members and some of his closest friends. In the years after the collapse of the Twin Towers, Pfeifer, like many other first responders working at the site, developed health problems including asthma, gastrointestinal diseases and different types of cancer. Despite losing a kidney and one of his legs to his 9/11 related illness, Pfeifer endured through the pain and was one of biggest supporters of getting the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act passed in Washington. “He changed things for a lot of people who spent months on end working at Ground Zero,” said Joseph Pfeifer. “That was just Ray. He wanted to bring people together and keep them safe, especially our first responders.” Ray’s family including his widowed wife, Caryn and two children, Terrance and daughter, Taylor attended the ceremony. Caryn spoke about how special her husband was and how his name will continue to live on through the renaming of their street. “People will drive down Ballad Lane and look up and see this special sign and smile because they’ll know Ray will always be with us. They’ll know he will always be watching down over us.”
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