__________________ SEAFORD _________________
HERALD Athlete earns 18/21 itc FG Demi Condensed county recognition
High school gets 18/21 itc FG Demi Condensed a tech upgrade
How to get your 18/21 itc FG Demi Condensed Covid-19 vaccine
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JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 3, 2021
Vol. 69 No. 4
LICC continues to serve through pandemic “The pandemic leaves many feeling isolated,” Walsh said. “[In] winter, we’re certainly at The Long Island Crisis Cen- a more critical time now, and ter continues to serve the South we’re prepared to respond to Shore and beyond, offering coronavirus-related calls [and] uninterrupted seremotional distress vices since the panif people had losses demic be gan last connected to year. Covid.” “There’s been no For ty counseldown time since ors, who are curd ay o n e, ” s a i d rently at-home volJose ph Walsh, a unteers, staff the licensed master LICC hotline — social worker and (516) 679-1111 — 24 director of the Crih o u r s a d ay, i n sis Center. While keeping with their some staf f now motto: “Any proboccupy the headlem, any time, anyquarters in Bellone.” more after it was “The calls have closed last March, . . . become more v i r t u a l s e r v i c e s DEBRA KATz isolation-related p r o v i d e v i t a l Volunteer, rather than interresources for those Long Island personal relationin need. ship problems, In the last three Crisis Center because people months of 2020, the aren’t interacting center received more than 400 with other people as much,” calls related to the coronavirus, said Debra Katz, a Bellmore according to Walsh. These resident and volunteer. “People sometimes included calls for are isolated, and that is a huge medical information, but large- problem now.” ly were from those seeking supKatz worked with specialport counseling to counter education students during her trauma brought on by the pan- 32 years as a teacher before she demic. Continued on page 5
By ANDREW GARCIA agarcia@liherald.com
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Courtesy Seaford School District
I brought my mom to show-and-tell Jonathan Lau, a first-grader at Seaford Manor Elementary School, greeted his mother, Jillian Lau, on Zoom when she spoke to his class about the Philippines during the school’s International Week, Jan. 11 to 15. Above, Jonathan with his teacher, Cortney Hannan. Story, more photos, Page 3.
Local nonprofit helps thousands Drop-off spot crowded with collections year-round By AlYssA sEIDmAN aseidman@liherald.com
For almost a decade, We The People United Corp. has epitomized the phrase “the gift that keeps on giving.” Throughout the year, volunteers for the Suffolk County-based nonprofit work tirelessly to ensure that those in need are given the necessities to live a life of dignity and respect, according to volunteer Dawn Sambade, of North
Merrick. The corporation was founded by Judith Boggio in 2013 as a way to bring like-minded women together for a common cause. The initial volunteers were strangers at first, Sambade said — they were all members of a Facebook page that identified Long Islanders in need of a helping hand. Boggio contacted each of them privately to ask if they’d be interested in starting a nonprofit.
What sets We The People apart from other organizations, explained Sambade (pronounced sam-body), is its commitment to helping working, middle-class families who may be struggling to meet their basic needs. “Because I got laid off, I wanted to help people that lived right above the poverty line that couldn’t get government assistance because they made $10 too Continued on page 3
here’s no better feeling than hearing a client say, ‘Thank you so much, I’m feeling so much better.’