East Meadow
HERALD
CoMMuNIty uPDAtE Infections as of Nov. 30
1,363
Infections as of Nov. 23 1,291
An artistic way to salute veterans
How to mail your letters to Santa
East Meadow man promoted at Alcott
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DECEMBER 3 - 9, 2020
Vol. 20 No. 49
Charity takes center stage E.M. diner hands out 500 Thanksgiving meals tomers of the diner, on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow, for roughly a year. They have In the two days before become friendly with Tom Thanksgiving, volunteers at the Argyris, one of its owners. Grand Stage Diner “We’re like family s e t u p a d r ive now,” Michelle said. through service E ve r y h o l i d ay under a tent adjaseason, the Debattos cent to their restaufill a cart with grorant, and handed out ceries that they 500 free turkey dindonate to different ners, complete with food pantries and homemade pie and shelters, such as canned goods. Island Harvest Food Leading the effort Bank and the Mary was Michelle DebatBrennan Interfaith to, of Levittown, and MICHEllE Nutrition Network, her husband, Al, in Hempstead. DEBAtto who wore a giant “We knew this turkey costume and Levittown resident year was going to be “ g o bbl e d ” a s h e tough for everygreeted patrons. Their friends body,” Michelle said, explaining Julie and Rob Dascoli, also of that she and her husband wantLevittown, helped fill bags with ed to host their own food drive in food and loaded them into cars. their community to support The Debattos have been cusContinued on page 3
By BRIAN StIEGlItZ bstieglitz@liherald.com
W
Courtesy East Meadow School District
A show of gratitude Students in Maryanne Sadaphal’s first-grade class at Bowling Green Elementary School, in East Meadow, created Thanksgiving crafts and wrote about what they are thankful for this year.
A clothing bank for cancer patients Circle of Hope assists women undergoing treatment By ANDREW GARCIA agarcia@liherald.com
For many women battling breast cancer, finding the right clothing to wear while undergoing treatments is often an additional burden. Shirts with front buttons or zippers that allow access to the body for chemotherapy, for example, are available online, but not at major retailers. Women who undergo breast surgery are usually advised to wear this specialized clothing, with openings for drainage as well. Loraine Alderman, of East
Meadow, knows this burden well. In May 2019 she received a sudden breast cancer diagnosis, which led to chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. She struggled in many ways — after the surgery, she couldn’t lift her arms above her waist — but she didn’t expect the added stress of having to find the right clothing. There were no nearby outlets that carried specialized, treatment-friendly clothing, Alderman recalled. She ordered shirts online, but they were never the right fit — something she would have avoided, she said, had she been able to browse for options
in person. “My husband and I would be in the treatment room for hours,” Alderman said. “We had a lot of time to talk and reflect. There were so many people that were so kind to us around the time of my surgery and recovery that we wanted to pay it forward.” Now cancer-free, Alderman recently founded Dress for Recovery, a clothing bank housed in the Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Merrick, which serves the Jewish populations of Merrick, Bellmore and Wantagh. Continued on page 3
e knew this year was going to be tough for everybody.
Our COvid-19 traCker With the Covid-19 test positivity rate rising across the country, the Herald is adding a weekly coronavirus tracker to the upper-left corner of our front page to help you gauge what’s happening in your area from week to week. the number is an aggregate of the communities that this newspaper covers. data is obtained from the nassau County Covid-19 dashboard, which provides the total number of cases reported in an area since the start of the pandemic, and is updated regularly.