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Vol. 31 No. 12
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He’s not your average Joe East Rockaway boy honored at annual Digital4Good summit By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
Juniors win 88th Rock Rivalry After a series of athletic, artistic and academic competitions, the junior class defeated the freshmen, sophomores and seniors in the annual Rock Rivalry. Shannon McMahon held the grand prize for the juniors’ win last Friday. Story, more photos, Page 3.
She spent her free time giving back
Ambiance Salon hosts ‘Monday at Racine’ event By BEN FIEBERT bfiebert@liherald.com
Any ordinary 10-year-old would spend every waking moment of their weeklong break from school recharging and relaxing. However, Kate Thompson found this vacation as an opportunity to help those in need. When Kate, a fifth-grader at Marion Street Elementary School, saw that her mom was going to volunteer at a Monday at Racine Cancer Care event, she immediately asked her mom if she could go with her. The Feb. 19 event at Ambiance Salon in Hewlett where complimentary salon treatment was provided to cancer patients that are undergoing treatment.
“When my mom said she was going to go, I immediately jumped off the couch and got dressed as fast as I could to go with her,” Kate said. Lynbrook resident Alison Artz, owner of Ambiance Salon, said she started working with Monday at Racine about four and a half years ago. Artz explained that her business is a “charter salon” for the organization. “So what we do is we open our doors 10 times a year, always on the third Monday of the month and we provide free of charge salon spa and wellness services,” Artz said. The services that are provided are massages, facials, nails treatments, hair color, haircuts, Continued on page 5
The power of the internet h a s m a d e 1 0 - ye a r- o l d Jo e Petraro a philanthropist, a published author, an entrepreneur, a volunteer and more. Since the start of the internet age, bullying has become more common, leading to an increase of insecurities and self-doubt among social media users. However, there are people trying to use their digital platform for good. One of those people is East Rockaway’s Petraro. “The Digital4Good summit was a really good event,” Joe said. “There were eight winners nationwide at the summit and I was one of them.” The summit, which took place from Feb. 4-7 at the Google building in Manhattan, highlighted outstanding student innovators who use digital m e d i a a n d t e ch n o l o g y t o address significant challenges in social, economic, environmental, and educational realms. Joe was honored at the event due to his Joe’s Be Kind Campaign. “Joe’s Be Kind is a nonprofit and I campaign to foster kinder, more inclusive connected com-
munities that promote positive mental health and change the world for the better,” Joe said. About a year ago, when Joe was donating a lot of money to different organizations, his mom Annie gave him the idea of starting a nonprofit. Now, through his campaign, Joe raises money for underserved communities. He also focuses his efforts on donating money to any organization of his choosing, such as the Nightbirde Foundation, Be Strong, and Digital4Good’s I Can Help. “He star ted an adopt a grandparent program at a nursing home in Lynbrook,” Annie said. “And over the last year, Joe raised over $100,000.” Annie explained that Joe was able to do this through several GoFundMe’s, going live on social media for various organizations, and hosted a variety of fundraisers through his Be Kind campaign. Some fundraisers include making bracelets and selling them to selling his own merchandise that clothing companies sponsor. He also collects money from the books that he published. “He gets paid from YouTube, Instagram, etcetera,” Annie said. “Then also old school by Continued on page 6