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UNIONDALE _____________
HERALD BEACON
Hearing the voice of God
Thank you for keeping us safe
Early exit for Crystal Dunn
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AUGUsT 10 - 16, 2023
State budget will fund more school lunches trict in which 40 percent or more of the students directly qualify for free school meals. Uniondale has been enrolled As the back-to-school season gets underway, parents will in the program since the 2017-18 begin planning for those extra school year, and is due to renew September expenses. In Union- its enrollment in 2023-24. This dale, however, school lunches are past April, however, Gov. Kathy one fewer cost parents have to Hochul allocated an unprecebudget for, because the Union- dented additional $134 million, dale school district takes part in as part of the state budget, to supplement the CEP. the Community EliHochul’s action gibility Provision, a increased the budget federal program in for the program in the which districts in state to $234 million, high-poverty areas with the goal of elimioffer free breakfasts nating any financial and lunches to all of barriers that prevent their students. other qualifying The program aims schools from opting to provide meals to into it, and providing every student, more meals to sturegardless of ecodents by lowering the nomic background. threshold for eligible This helps ease the areas. burden for students, “I promised New parents and faculty Yorkers we’d make by eliminating paper- KIRsTEN our state more affordwork, and removing GIllIBRAND able, more livable and any stigma for stu- U.S. Senator safer, and this budget dents who already d e l iv e r s o n t h a t eat for free because they automatically qualify for promise,” Hochul said in a statefederal programs such as the ment, adding that the past few Supplemental Nutrition Assis- years have been extraordinarily challenging for students, and tance Program. The Community Eligibility there is an urgent need to proProvision is available to any vide them with the resources school, group of schools or disConTinued on PAGe 4
By BRANDON CRUZ
bcruz@liherald.com
I
Reine Bethany/Herald
Gathering with Salvadoran community volunteers for the special day at Hempstead Town Hall included, from left, Hempstead mayor Waylyn Hobbs Jr., honoree William Blanco, business leader Kawaljit Chandhi and, fifth and sixth from left, Assemblyman Phil Ramos and Hempstead’s executive director of community affairs, Zahid Syed.
Community spirit pervades Salvadoran Day at Town Hall By REINE BETHANY
T
rbethany@liherald.com
he aromas of tacos, pupusas, empanadas, cooked plantains filled with soft cheese, and roasting corn enticed Salvadoran families and friends who gathered in the Hempstead Town Hall parking lot last Sunday. The occasion was the annual celebration of Salvadoran Day, which honors the contributions of Salvadoran Americans to the United States. Vendors ringed the parking area, selling royal blue and white bracelets, lanyards,
hats, shirts and flags. Emblazoned on some of the shirts was the multi-colored, turquoise-browed motmot, or torogoz, El Salvador’s national bird. Other shirts displayed the complex design in the center of the broad blue and white stripes of the Salvadoran flag. Many wore the flag as a lightweight shawl. “Salvadoran Day is to spend time with family, friends and enjoy the food,” Cindy Hernandez, of Amityville, said, “because everything to eat here is food from our country.” “It is a special day in El Salvador,” Cindy’s husband, Josué Hernandez, said, holdConTinued on PAGe 7
n the richest country on earth, it is unacceptable that millions of kids go hungry each day.