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HERALD Back 2 Cool Fun Run at New Vision
Friends of the Library week
Live comedy charity special
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VOL. 87 NO. 41
OCTOBER 6 - 12, 2022
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Hopping on the ‘Busload of Books Tour’ ing the United States, giving away 25,000 of their own published books, and helping to We’ve all heard of fairies hand out thousands more who have turned pumpkins into through different partnerships. coaches, marionette The entire voyage is puppets into real almost out of a book boys, or even put itself, as Swanson, some cash under Behr, the kids and our pillow when we Dumbles live and lose a tooth. But commutes inside a what about a fairy tiny home bus. that encourages us “Our entire famito read? ly is so excited to be Unlike the Fairy spending the day Godmother, the Blue with the Book FairFairy and the Tooth ies, at their book Fairy, the Book Fairbank, helping to ies of Freeport are sort books,” Swanindeed quite real, son said. “We so promoting literacy admire their imporacross Long Island tant work and are by providing free grateful to be able to reading material for partner with them those in need. And to help raise awarelast week, they ness for book desbrought a family of erts and the lack of traveling authors to equal access to their downtown books throughout book bank as part EILEEN MINOGUE the country.” executive director, of their “Busload of The couple are Books Tour.” probably best Book Fairies Matthew Swank n ow n fo r t h ei r son and Robbi Behr, book, “Ben Yokoyatheir four children, and their ma and the Cookie of Perfecdog Dumbles at the Book Fair- tion,” about a third-grader who ies Freeport Book Bank at 70 N. takes a fortune he found inside Main St. The family is traversCONTINUED ON PAGE 4
By MOHAMED FARGHALY mfarghaly@liherald.com
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Courtesy LaShonda Gardenhire
THEY’RE NOT CALLED the ‘Busy Bees’ for nothing. Freeport’s Girl Scout Troop 1395 raises thousands of dollars through cookie sales each year, helping efforts ranging from animal rescues to activities in the church they meet in.
Girl Scouts ‘buzz’ toward some successful cookie sales By MOHAMED FARGHALY mfarghaly@liherald.com
In any given year, 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies change hands, raising much needed funds to keep local Scout troops — and their communities — thriving. Girl Scout Troop 1395 swarmed the community this year with their Caramel deLites, shortbread and, of course, the ever-popular Thin Mints. Their sales might be in the thousands, rather than the millions, but the Freeport Scouts had one goal in mind this year — One Life Christian Church in Baldwin. “We call ourselves the ‘Busy Bees’ because we’re always buzzing around town,” said troop
leader Crystal Peterkin. Those Busy Bees lived up to their name, not only moving 5,000 boxes of their sweet treats, but getting every single dollar they had pledged to the church. In fact, Peterkin said, the girls had enough left over to treat themselves for their hard work: Matching pairs of yellow Converse shoes for each of them. Every Scout had a cartoon bee decaled on their kicks, accompanied by their first name. While this year was dedicated to their regular meeting place, One Life Christian Church, the Busy Bees have effectively raised money for other worthy projects in the past, including support during their 2021 fundraising camCONTINUED ON PAGE 11
ne in four New Yorkers is identified as functionally illiterate . . . and lack of access to books contribute to the cycle of illiteracy that stems from poverty.