Friday, February 10, 2017
Vol. 77, No. 6
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Local Rotary Club teams with Church for a good cause
Members of the Rotary Club helped serve at the kitchen BY GARY SIMEONE Members of the Rotary Club of Hicksville South (RCHS) were looking for ways to help out in food pantry’s across the County. After researching
soup kitchens in the nearby towns of Inwood and Westbury, the Club decided to team up with the United Methodist Church in Hempstead, giving their time and energy to serve families in need. “We are always trying to help out
the local community and we initiated this program with the United Methodist Church to help out families who are in need,” said past President of the Rotary Club, Quddus Mohammed. “We started looking into other soup kitchens last year but settled on this one because they are the only one open on Saturday’s.” In this newly formed partnership between the RCHS and the United Methodist Church, members will serve food to families in need on the fourth Saturday of every month and serve special meals around the holiday time. Mohammed has been elected project chairperson of the event along with a five member team which includes various members of the RCHS. He said team members along with church volunteers head to the Church’s soup kitchen at 9 a.m. on Saturday and spend the day cooking and serving food to people who are in need of assistance. “Cooking and serving meals in the soup kitchen is a transformative experience”, said Mohammed. “Our program is the best dialogue and sidesteps traditional interfaith dialogue to get people of faith working together for the com-
mon good.” Meals at the church usually include a combination of healthy proteins, carbohydrates and vegetables. Typical menu items would be things like grilled or baked chicken, meatballs and pasta and rice, bread or lentil soup. Every month there is a different item on the menu. Current President of the RCHS, Dave Sharma, said that the most important part of what the two organizations are doing is bringing people together for a good cause. ”It is really an amazing eye-opening experience as it creates an opportunity to bond with people,” said Sharma. “Everyone should try and know what compassion is worth.” The RCHS has been instrumental in providing members of the community with essential items such as school supplies for children and clothing for the winter months. As part of their local mission this year alone the organization has distributed over 600 backpacks filled with school supplies, T-shirts and winter coats for children in foster homes on Long Island.
Souper Bowl at Northside School
The student council at Levittown’s Northside School held its annual Souper Bowl of Caring event to benefit the Wisdom Lane Food Pantry that serves families in the Levittown community. Two large cartons were placed in Northside’s main lobby labeled Patriots and Falcons. Votes were cast as each student donated a canned food item, placing it in his or her preferred team box. The more food students donated, the more votes their team received, with the Falcon’s being this year’s winning team. In addition, students and staff came to school dressed in sports jerseys in anticipation of Super Bowl Sunday.
Northside School Student Council executives James Ganga (secretary), Carly Perez (president) and Cameron Nocera (treasurer) are pictured with their donations for the Souper Bowl of Caring.
Photo courtesy of the Levittown School District
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