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Following a blood donor’s example It was the Sunday before Zayas’s birthday. She died in June 2018, in a skydiving acciof the Wantagh Herald dent in Massachusetts. She was only 27 when she “She encouraged everybody died, but Alexis Zayas had she knew to donate blood,” already demonstrated a passion Jacobs said at the blood drive. for helping others. “So this is very meaningful Among the good because it was so works attributed to important to her. her was her commit“I’m trying to ment to donating make sense of her blood in her commudeath by doing somenity whenever the thing positive with opportunity arose. it,” she added. It’s part of what “I can’t donate sparked the idea for blood but I can an annual blood donate myself,” d r ive t h at h a s Janet Goldstein said. become something She had seen the of a tradition in East drive advertised at Meadow. her temple. “. . . I AVA JACoBS Over three years want to help.” after her daughter’s Mother Jacobs said her death, her mother, daughter was Ava Jacobs, once extremely sociable, always makagain surrounded herself with ing the effort to meet new people friends, family, and community at any opportunity. Zayas shared members at the blood drive to a deep bond with her friends and commemorate the vibrant life of family, Jacobs said, and she her daughter. This year, the loved to spend time with both. #LiveLikeAlexis blood drive was After her unexpected death, held at Temple B’nai Torah on friends and family shared photos Jerusalem Avenue in Wantagh and memories of Alexis over on March 20. Old friends, boy- social media. The hashtag #Livefriends and coworkers were likeAlexis was created, inspired among those who came to by her adventurous nature and donate. Continued on page 8
By MARIA CESTERo & MAlloRY WIlSoN
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Kate Nalepinski/Herald
SEAFoRD RESIDENT ElMA Hasi has a gaping hole in the back corner of her sinking garage, which formed after a contractor attempted to fix it in 2018.
‘Sinking’ properties are leaving residents in distress By KATE NAlEPINSKI knalepinski@liherald.com
Some Seaford residents are claiming that their homes, garages and sheds are sinking into the ground. Despite spending thousands of dollars on repairs, few have any idea what’s causing the damages. Janet Romeo, who lives on Old Post Road, said she has spent at least $35,000 to repair and raise her home, which she purchased in 1986. She expects that total will only continue to rise, and she has taken out a second mortgage to pay all the bills. Every five years, Romeo and her husband, Frank, pay an engineering company to keep
their house from sinking farther into the ground. The company also installed helical piles to the base of the house for foundational support. Romeo said her family first discovered cracks in the foundation of the home in 1997, when she wanted to put an extension on it. The cracks were hidden behind a storage area for garbage bins. She had the house inspected that year, and found that the basement had severe foundational damage. It was finished with knotty pine paneling, so the cracking had been disguised. “These were pretty big cracks,” Romeo said. “We’re not just talking about cracks the size of Continued on page 3
’m trying to make sense of her death by doing something positive with it.