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Vol. 23 No. 2
JANUARY 5 - 11, 2023
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Creating equity for youth, one step at a time By MAlloRY WilSoN mwilson@liherald.com
Mallory Wilson/Herald
ElEVEN-YEAR-olD EMMA VUlpi donated hundreds of toys to John Theissen, of the John Theissen Children’s Foundation, on Dec. 22.
One little girl with a big idea
Emma Vulpi uses birthday money for kids in need By MAlloRY WilSoN mwilson@liherald.com
Emma Vulpi was just 7 years old when she made an important decision that would ultimately impact hundreds of local children. During a car ride with her mother, Michele, in 2019, Emma decided what she wanted to do with the rest of the gift cards she received for her Dec. 16 birthday. “She said, ‘Ma, I know
what I want to do with my gift cards,’ like out of nowhere. It was just weird because it was already January, and she hadn’t used any of them,” Michele said. “I thought she was going to say slime, because slime was huge back then. “But instead, she asked if we could use the gift cards to buy toys for sick kids in the hospital.” “She star ted crying,”
Emma said of her mother’s reaction. Now, the 11-year-old hasn’t looked back, and has donated over 1,000 toys to children at local hospitals. The idea originated from an ad that Emma saw on Youtube about pediatric cancer patients at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The ad was asking for donations, and that really Continued on page 4
Community leaders from East Meadow and surrounding areas have worked for nearly three years to provide equity and opportunities to underprivileged youth on Long Island. Equity 4 LI Youth has been in the works since 2020, when Patrick Pizzo, assistant superintendent of business and finance in the East Meadow School District, spoke to Superintendent Kenneth Card about creating a group that would help create equity among youth through employment, vocational training and mentorship opportunities. The idea for Equity 4 LI Youth grew out of Pizzo’s experience teaching sixth grade in New York City. “Being a person who grew up on Long Island working in that community, all the kids in my class were very diverse,” Pizzo said. “The difference between them and some of the kids I grew up with — and myself — was that we had opportunities. That was the only thing that separated us. It wasn’t
the intelligence that separated us. It was opportunity.” The Equity 4 LI Youth executive board, board of directors, committee members, advisory members, and partners are all community leaders, advocacy groups and organizations from around Long Island. The goal is to foster collaboration and networking opportunities within their respective organizations, like the NAACP Education Committee, the Nassau County Bar Association, Freeport’s Cedarmore Corporation, Pride for Youth Long Island, and the Long Island Black Educators Association. State Sen. Kevin Thomas, County Legislator Kevan Abrahams and Assemblyman John Mikulin serve on the advisory board. “It was just bringing together an extended circle of friends,” Pizzo said. “It was all people of like minds in regard to making a positive change.” The organization’s website, equity4liyouth.org, outlines its mission, its plans and what each member offers to the mission. It Continued on page 10