__________________ Nassau _________________
HERALD All the news of the Five Towns
Inwood native writes first book
Catching up with former MlB star
BBQ with the Kiwanis Club
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Vol. 100 No. 29
JUlY 13 - 19, 2023
$1.00
Hoping kids bond on the Buddy Bench Creating a space where children can make friends By HERNESTo GAlDAMEZ hgaldamez@liherald.com
H
ow can children bond and make friends? Next to the playground at Franklin Early Childhood Center is what former Hewlett-Woodmere school district Superintendent Bert Nelson hopes will be the answer: a Buddy Bench. Donated by Nelson and his children, the bench is designed to be welcoming for students who feel left out on the playground and in need of companionship. ConTinued on pAge 14
Courtesy Ben Metzger
Benjamin ‘Benoir’ Metzger, who is familiar to many in Long Beach, has brought his musical skills to the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway.
Metzger is jamming at HAFTR Bringing music to yeshiva from a short drive away By HERNESTo GAlDAMEZ hgaldamez@liherald.com
Benjamin Metzger is familiar to many in the Long Beach arts scene where he lives. He is known mainly by his stage name, Benoir, but to students at Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, he is Mr. Metzger, music educator. Metzger, 50, attended shul growing up, and recalls his love of music developing as he listened to Jewish music — a cultural experience similar to that of his students.
“That’s what enabled me to connect with the students at HAFTR Middle School,” he said. He was approached by Jenny Feygin, a 2005 graduate of the high school and a pianist, who said there weren’t enough quality music programs at HAFTR when she was a student. “She told me that there was a real lack of music in the school system,” Metzger recalled. “In HAFTR and in the Five Towns in general, that some of these schools have been without a music program for years. I was interested at this moment in my life.” ConTinued on pAge 13
Courtesy Julie Robeson
Bert nelson and his wife, Carol, on the Franklin early Childhood Center’s newest addition to the playground, a Buddy Bench, aimed to create a natural way of making friends at recess.