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HERALD All the news of the Five Towns
GIFT and DINING GUIDE November 25, 2021
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Inside: Best of the holiday season
Vol. 98 No. 48
Breaking ground for a new building
Having fun at Winter Fest
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NoVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 1, 2021
Petitioning for Eid holidays Hewlett-Woodmere to consider proposal to include them in school calendar in January Rasheed and Shahnaz Mallik, attended the Nov. 17 Board of Education work meeting to supSince 2017, Muslim parents port their fellow Eid Collective and students in the Hewlett- member Haseena Mooppan as Woodmere School District have she expressed her concerns asked that the Board of Educa- about the district’s failure to tion consider adding two Muslim acknowledge the holidays. “We holy days, Eid al Fitr and Eid al feel that the board has completeAdha, to the school ly ignored us the calendar. The days past few years,” said are now recognized Mooppan, a Hewlett by 22 districts across resident. Long Island. The first proposal As things stand for Eid to be added now, Hewlett Woodt o t h e d i s t r i c t ’s mere’s Muslim famischool calendar was lies must choose submitted by Mallik, between letting their of Woodmere, in child go to school, February 2017. The where they would following year, the miss celebrating a Muslim holidays holy day, or miss HASEENA were discussed at a school to celebrate few Board of EducaE i d , w h e n t h e y MooPPAN tion meetings. One, would be responsi- Hewlett in early January, ble for completing attracted roughly missed schoolwork 200 people, emotions ran high, along with their regular school- and the backlash the requests for work. It’s a difficult decision, recognition generated among according to members of Dis- some Hewlett-Woodmere resitrict 14 Eid Collective, a group dents raised concerns about established in 2016. Islamophobia. Ultimately, the Three family members of dis- board decided not to add Eid to trict students, Afroz and Sabir Continued on page 15
By lISA MARGARIA lmargaria@liherald.com
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Lisa Margaria/Herald
GAMMy’S PANtRy DIRECtoR Sasha Young guided the first few vehicles into the Five Towns Community Center campus for the Nov. 18 turkey giveaway.
Helping to feed those in need Thanksgiving meal donations are a blessing By lISA MARGARIA lmargaria@liherald.com
Volunteers in the Five Towns have teamed up with organizations such as Gammy’s Pantry, a food pantry in the Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence, Rock and Wrap It Up! Of Cedarhurst, Island Harvest and the Manna Project of Long Island to help those in need this Thanksgiving, after the coronavirus pandemic heightened
food insecurity in the area in 2020. Although the problem has become less widespread than it was at the height of the pandemic, there are still an estimated 285,642 Long Islanders in need of assistance — a 26 percent increase in food insecurity since 2019 — according to Long Island Cares, an organization that serves the food insecure. On the morning of Nov. 18, volunteers from Island Har-
vest, Gammy’s Pantry, the Islip MTA Police Department, the MTA Police Department’s youth program and Dime Community Bank in Hauppauge gathered at the community center to haul donated boxes of turkey, produce, canned goods, masks and hand sanitizer into car trunks and backseats of the vehicles that took part in the drive-through event. Nearly 400 families took Continued on page 18
e feel that the board has completely ignored us the past few years.