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VOL. 32 NO. 38
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RVC residents to be honored by foundation think they understand the need for the education to be provided to young people at a young age, Two philanthropic Rockville so that we can instill some good Centre residents will be recog- habits in them to help reduce nized at the Maurer Foundation their chances of developing Gala next month for their efforts breast cancer as they get older.” to increase breast cancer awareSchaefer’s late mother, Gigi ness among stu Toomey Schaefer, dents. went to school with The MelvilleMaurer, and he has based foundation is served on the founrun by Dr. Virginia dation’s board of Maurer, and its misdirectors since 2019, sion is to save lives and also on its Golf through breast Committee. He is the health education chief executive offithat focuses on cancer of the Rockville cer prevention, Centre-based Better h e a l t hy l i f e s t y l e Home Health Care choices, early detecAgency. Though the tion and risk reducfoundation is intion. The Oct. 1 gala, volved with many at 7 p.m. at the Gar- SUSAN s c h o o l d i s t r i c t s, den City Hotel, will Schaefer works to kick off Breast Can- SAMAROO contact other disc e r Aw a r e n e s s tricts to set up educaExecutive director, Month. Rockville tional seminars for Centre residents Maurer Foundation students. Donald Gelestino Schaefer said he and Greg Schaefer was “shocked and will be the guests of honor. ecstatic” to be selected as an hon“Both of these men are believ- oree, and that he looked forward ers in our mission of bringing a to having several family memlife-saving message to young peo- bers at the gala, including his ple in our local high schools,” wife, Michelle, and their daughMaurer Foundation Executive Director Susan Samaroo said. “I CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
By MIKE SMOLLINS msmollins@liherald.com
Tom Carrozza/Herald
Honoring those we lost Members of the Fire Department’s color guard led the way to the newly refurbished 9/11 monument at the village’s Sept. 11 memorial ceremony on Sunday, the day after the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, in which 49 Rockville Centre residents died. Story, more photos, Page 3.
‘May his memory live in our hearts’ Teen raises money for Tunnel to Towers By MIKE SMOLLINS msmollins@liherald.com
Eleni Maria Panaghi, 13, was not yet born when her uncle, George Merkouris, died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but that didn’t keep her from collecting money in his memory to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death. Merkouris, who was 35, was working for the financial firm Carr Futures in the north tower September 16, 2021
of the World Trade Center when it was struck by American Airlines Flight 11. In her uncle’s honor, Eleni, an eighth-grader at South Side Middle School, decided to raise $3,500 — $100 for every year her uncle lived — for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. “I wasn’t born during the attack on our nation on 9/11, but I heard many stories about that terrible day from school, and especially my family,” Eleni
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wrote in an email. “I felt it was important to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and to honor the memory of those that we lost on that tragic day, most importantly my Uncle George.” Her uncle, Eleni wrote, has been described to her as “an amazing man with a personality larger than life” — confident, kind, compassionate and funny. To reach her fundraising goal, CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
T
hey are true gentlemen. They are very giving, just extremely generous and charitable.