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HERALD ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the library
Birthday parties for everyone
Terrific kids in E.M. schools
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Vol. 22 No. 49
DECEMBER 1 - 7, 2022
$1.00
Meet the Robot Man Curt Gray makes sculptures out of recycled material By MAlloRY WIlSoN mwilson@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
CuRT GRAY hAS been creating sculptures since he was a child. After moving to East Meadow in 1998, he decided to take his hobby to another level.
With both dyslexia and ADHD, Curt Gray couldn’t focus on much as a child — except his art. Now, the 61-year-old’s childhood hobby has grown into something much bigger. About 18 feet bigger. Gray has been obsessed with robots his entire life. He collected toy robots, and displayed them in his room at home in South Wantagh, where he grew up. Slowly but surely, he started building them, too. “As a little kid, maybe like 4 years old, I’d run in the basement and I would take wood blocks and build robots and show my mom,” Gray said. “It’s been that way my whole life. “She’d never let me make anything big. So I Continued on page 16
Grand Stage Diner helps feed those in need for Thanksgiving By MAlloRY WIlSoN mwilson@liherald.com
Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for all that you have. To show just how thankful they are to the East Meadow community for all of its support, the Grand Stage Diner decided to give back — by giving away hundreds of Thanksgiving meals. The idea was the 2020 brainchild of Michelle Debatto, of Levittown, and her husband, Al, because they thought people would need help, especially because of the Covid-19 pandemic. And now, neearly three years later, the food giveaway is still going strong.
“There are a lot of families in need,” Michelle said. “It’s sad with how many people show up and are in need, and this year, food is way more expensive.” On Nov. 21 and 22, for 12 hours, the Debattos and two of the diner’s owners, brothers Nick and George Argyris, stood outside under a tent that was set up in the parking lot. They gave out more than 800 free meals, complete with turkey, freshly made pies from the diner and canned goods. Local elected officials came down to help load meals in people’s cars. Hempstead Town Councilman Dennis Dunne Sr., who helped the drive get cover-
age on social media in 2020, whipped out his phone to make sure that people knew that there was food if they needed it. “Thank you to my dear friends at the Grand Stage Diner,” Dunne said in a statement. “I look forward to helping them continue this Thanksgiving tradition for many years to come.” The Debattos have been customers at the diner, on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow, for over three years, and have become friendly with Tom Argyris, one of its owners and Nick and George’s father. When Michelle wanted to put together a food giveaway, she asked the
owners if they wanted to get involved, and they very quickly agreed. “We’re such good friends, and they were able to accommodate me getting all of the supplies here and keeping it downstairs,” Michelle said. “Plus, they offered to donate turkeys and pies, so we decided to do this together.”
For a number of years, the Argyris family managed the Stage Door Delicatessen in Manhattan, which had two locations, but both closed by 2016. They opened the Grand Stage Diner — which used to be the Empress Diner —in February 2019. The Empress had been in East Meadow for nearly 50 Continued on page 4