______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
Edition Graduation Keepsake
June 22, 2023
HERALD
GRADUATES the C L A S S
OF 2023
the best and brightest
Vol. 34 No. 26
County athletics caps wild season
Tenants don’t want rent bump
Page 6
Page 8
JUNE 22 - 28, 2023
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Black-owned businesses host Juneteenth fest By JUaN lasso jlasso@liherald.com
Courtesy Emma Sweeney
DarlENE EDwarDs, owNEr of Best Goodie Bags in South Valley Stream, center, received a citation from Nassau County for setting up an inaugural Juneteenth festival for residents in front of her store.
The line of display tables, manned by mostly Blackowned businesses from throughout the area, started on Roosevelt Avenue and bent east around the commercial lot of businesses tucked between South Franklin Avenue and 1st Street. Festooned with red, black and yellow balloons, the commemorative colors of Juneteenth, they were there to celebrate a watershed moment in African American history over a century and a half ago. It all began when the Civil
War was declared over. Union General Gordon Granger traveled to Galveston, Texas, roughly two months later on June 19, 1865, bearing news to enslaved African Americans of the war’s end and their newly secured freedom. The announcement effectively triggered President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued roughly two and a half years earlier. Juneteenth is celebrated on June 19. Thus, on a particularly bright evening last Sunday, people’s spirits were high. Continued on page 18
LIJVS nursing team donates to Ronald McDonald House By CaroliNE KElly Intern
In honor of May’s National Nurse Month, Long Island Jewish Valley Stream nurses donated their time to the Ronald McDonald House in Queens, loading over 30 boxes of donations from each department of the hospital and delivering the care packages to families staying at the facility. It’s a central tenet of the nursing team at Long Island Jewish to give back to the host area of the hospital. The Ronald McDonald House is a network of facilities that host families of sick children
while they undergo medical treatment. Families that stay at one of the houses are asked to donate $25 a day, but are never expected to pay for their stay. The Ronald McDonald House in New Hyde Park opened in 1986 with 18 rooms. Now the facility, which is near both Zucker Hillside Hospital and LIJ, has 42 rooms for families of young patients. The Ronald McDonald House provided lists specific to each family’s needs, including items such as clothes, toys, toiletries, food and more. and volunteer did their best to fill them. Sarita Amin and Cynthia Varughese organized the event in
honor of National Nurse Month. Both work in the Nurse Education Department at LIJ. “We wanted to collaborate with the Ronald McDonald House because we think their purpose is just so amazing,” Varughese said. They tasked each department to decorate and donate a care package for a family. “It was way beyond what we expected,” Amin added. “They really did an amazing job.” Although the event was spearheaded by the hospital’s nursing department, other staffers contributed as well. Varughese and Continued on page 10
Helping families in need The Ronald McDonald House Charities is a non-profit organization so all donations go directly to families in need; on the website you can even directly fund a sick child’s medical treatment. If you’re interested in donating to
the Ronald McDonald House you can go to its website, rmhc.org, to find the closest Ronald McDonald House location to volunteer your time, or you can donate money directly through the website.