Franklin Square/Elmont
CoMMunity uPDate infections as of Dec. 13, 2020
3,568
infections as of Dec. 6, 2020 3,291
HERALD
Commissioner election results
Covid vaccine comes to nassau
Woman donates burial plot
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DeCeMBeR 17- 23, 2020
Vol. 22 no. 51
Seeking a more diverse school experience Muslims continue push for Eid holiday inclusion the October virtual Board of Education meeting, but were once again told that the board One by one, Muslim parents would not be making any deciand students took to the lectern sions about the school calendar. of the Sewanhaka Central High “They’re pretty much leaving School District board room last us hanging,” said Farhana year to describe how difficult it Islam, a New Hyde Park parent was for them to celebrate the Eid who is leading the effort to get holidays while also the Eid holidays — attending school, Eid al-Adha and and to ask the Eid al-Fitr — recogBoard of Educanized in the Cention to include tral High School Muslim observancDistrict. es on future school Islam began calendars. petitioning the They were told New Hyde Parkt h a t t h e b o a r d FaRhana islaM Garden City Park would consider the New Hyde Park mother Union Free School proposal when it District to add the finalized the 2020two holidays — 21 school schedule, but the board considered the most important soon had to focus its efforts on days in the Islamic faith — to its continuing education during a calendars back in 2018, but the global pandemic, and the Mus- elementary school board tabled lim holidays were ultimately the request until more absences never added to the school calen- of Muslim students were recorddars. ed on those days. Now, those Muslim parents Determining how many Musand students are renewing their lim students live in a school discalls for inclusion. They sent the trict could be difficult, however, board their thoughts on the mat- Islam said, because the U.S. Center in public-comment form for Continued on page 14
By Melissa Koenig mkoenig@liherald.com
Christina Daly/Herald
Finding light in the darkness Rabbi Chaim Blachman lit the menorah on the fourth night of Hanukkah at the Elmont Jewish Center’s annual menorah lighting. Attendance was strictly limited this year due to Covid-19 protocols.
Offering the gift of giving
Elmont woman brightens holidays of needy families By Melissa Koenig mkoenig@liherald.com
Growing up with seven sisters and three brothers in East Harlem, Elizabeth Forbes didn’t have much, and until she was 13, she thought that houses lined with Christmas lights and presents piled up under large evergreen trees were just fictions created by television producers. It wasn’t until 1994, when her family went to Queens to visit her
aunt and uncle, that she learned the truth. Forbes was overwhelmed by the sights as they crossed the Triborough Bridge and pulled up to a house with a bay window, she recounted, and when her aunt handed out presents to all of her siblings, she waited anxiously for her name to be called and prayed that there was a gift for her as well. As it turned out, there were three, and as she unwrapped each of them, she
was overcome with excitement and gratitude that someone had thought of her during the holiday season. Now, Forbes is making sure that other children in Elmont, where she lives with her husband and six sons, have that same experience. Inspired by her aunt’s generosity, and moved by the stories her neighbors told of the hardships they were facing, Forbes, Continued on page 3
t
hey’re pretty much leaving us hanging.