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Vol. 30 No. 2
Burglars accused of stealing $150K
Warehouse saved from truck fire
Page 2
Page 4 JANUARY 5 - 11, 2023
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‘In giving, you receive’ Residents treat shelter families to hundreds of wish-list gifts “I want to say we have been doing this since 1991,” Alonge said. “And it has morphed into Lynbrook residents Pat something much bigger.” Alonge Alonge and Gail Mancuso con- became involved with donating tinue to be amazed by the spirit through her local church. When of giving in their community. a child asked for something out Carrying on an annual chari- of the reach for most people, she table tradition, Alonge and Man- called Mancuso to help. cuso made a Face“From that day book post on on, Gail and I have Thanksgiving Day, been doing this asking the Lynbrook together,” Alonge community for help. said. With help of They listed 27 shelter Mancuso, both found families from which f amilies to send people could choose, items to during the and send them items holiday season. More on their wish list. recently, they have What was supworked with a social posed to be a regular, wo rke r t o h e l p run-of-the-mill donadonate items to a tion event turned out shelter in Smithto be something PAT AloNgE town. much bigger. Mancuso said “Both of us are that 30 families’ overwhelmed by the worth of gifts were generosity and the goodness that given out in the shelter, with four we see out there,” Alonge said. or five gifts given to every person Wi t h ove r 1 , 0 0 0 p re s e n t s in the family. wrapped, Mancuso’s living According to Alonge, the temroom, backyard, den, and base- porary shelter was once a hotel, ment were filled with garbage so families are living in a 12-bybags full of donations. Donation 12 rooms. She hopes the donaquantities like these aren’t new tions can help them find permato Alonge and Mancuso, because nent residences. both have been doing charity ‘We can’t fix every problem,” events for years now. Continued on page 16
By BEN FIEBERT
bfiebert@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Brian Barry
BRIAN BARRY’s dRIVEWAY flooded from the storm on Dec. 23.
A nightmare before Christmas Surprise flooding dampens the holiday spirit By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
East Rockaway residents woke up to several feet of flooding and thousands of dollars in damage on Friday, Dec. 23. Brian Barry, an East Rockaway resident for 17 years, lost his handicapped-accessible chair lift and two cars to the flood. His basement was flooded, along with the cars. Barry’s insurance does not cover such damage. This storm took him by surprise. Barry had just returned from a trip to Virginia, where he was visiting a sick relative. “I have a cousin of mine who has pancreatic cancer in Virginia,” he said. “So I decided I
would rent a car from Enterprise and drive down there.” He got back to East Rockaway on Dec. 22 and thought the weather wasn’t too bad. That is, until his wife woke up early the next morning to see everything flooded. “My wife woke up at about 6:15 in the morning, and she looked out the window and couldn’t believe it,” Barry said. “Everything was completely underwater.” Along with his own vehicle, the rented car was also flooded. “All the cars were already flooded, and you couldn’t even move them at that point,” Barry recounted. He rushed to check his basement, where he found standing Continued on page 14
e know we made a difference for a lot of kids and a lot of parents.