________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Schools celebrate fall season
Events honor city’s veterans
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Vol. 34 No. 47
NoVEMBER 16 - 22, 2023
NEW CYCLE STUDIO
16 E. PARK AVE -
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LB - 516-FITNESS
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Local runner sets fast pace in NYC Marathon at the Long Beach firm Peknic, Peknic and Schaefer, made his debut at the 26.2-mile distance in Sean Carr was a swimmer 2021, running in the Philadelgrowing up. He competed for phia Marathon. He finished, but Long Beach Aquatics, the local it didn’t go well. He was exhaustage-group program, and then ed by mile 21, had the “dry Kellenberg Memorial High heaves” at mile 22 and barely survived the last few miles. School, in Uniondale. “I was pretty much like a fish In 2015, Car r wanted to become a Long Beach lifeguard. out of water,” he recalled. “I didn’t really know The only problem? what to expect. I He was a horrible didn’t know what runner, and runmy body could hanning was a requiredle.” ment to pass the The week leading city’s lifeguard test. up to that first mar“I realized that if athon was difficult I really wanted to do as well. His father, this, I had to actual- SEAN CARR Chuck, who was ly lear n how to Long Beach resident planning to go to run,” Carr said. “I Philadelphia with started to spend my high school nights doing my him, was involved in a serious homework and then running a car accident. Sean wanted to little bit. Slowly but surely, I drop out, but his father, a marathoner himself, told him to stay started to really enjoy running.” He not only became a city in it. So Sean ran it for him. “I was angry, because it went lifeguard, working on the beach for six summers, but Carr has so bad and I knew that I could do thrived as a runner, competing better,” Carr said. “We went to a in four marathons — including, restaurant afterward, and I for the first time this month, the remember being on my phone, New York City Marathon, which looking to sign up for another he finished in the impressive marathon immediately.” He began training to do it time of just over 2 hours and 50 again. He didn’t have a coach, minutes. Now 25, Carr, a legal assistant Continued on page 5
By BRENDAN CARPENTER
bcarpenter@liherald.com
Ron Manfredi/Herald
Crowning moment Long Beach avenged two regular-season defeats by beating Mepham in straight sets to capture the Nassau County Class AA girls’ volleyball title on Nov. 7 at SUNY-Old Westbury. Story, Page 6.
Long Beach Christmas Angels to host 24th Holiday Drive By ANGElINA ZINGARIEllo azingariello@liherald.com
With the holiday season underway, the Long Beach Christmas Angels are planning their 24th annual Holiday Fundraiser, which will spotlight upcoming charitable efforts in the city. For nearly two and a half decades, LBCA has been a pillar of support for families facing financial crises in Long Beach. Recognizing the stress that health challenges and other unexpected expenses bring, the organization is dedicated to helping residents who may not qualify for traditional aid. In the organization’s infancy, its co-founder and executive director, Johanna Sofield, explained, it collected toys at house parties. “We would host a party, and Santa would give small gifts to the children,” Sofield said. “In return, we requested guests donate toys we would then donate to established organizations for holiday
distribution. “After 9/11, our mission changed,” she added. “We realized we could positively impact families in a more substantial way, through inspiration discovered after a simple meeting on the street.” Noell Maerz was a Long Beach resident who worked at the World Trade Center. His wife, Jennifer, was eight and a half months pregnant with their first child in September 2001, but tragically, Noell, a bond broker, never made it home from work on Sept. 11. Friends organized a fundraiser for his wife and child, and Sofield, a friend of Jennifer’s, was listed as the contact on the flyers they had printed. A local woman stopped her while she was out for a walk, said she had seen a flyer, explained that she couldn’t make it to the fundraiser and asked Sofield if she could simply give the Maerzes $100. “From that simple gesture, I thought, if we asked people for money instead of toys, we Continued on page 7
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didn’t really know what to expect.