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HERALD PERSON OF THE YEAR Nichole RojaS
She serves Valley Stream with compassion Celebrating a 'hoppy' Easter with a goodie bag giveaway. Page 7
Long Island Cares program center coordinator is honored for her impact By Angelina Zingariello
When the West Nassau Center for Food Assistance and Community Support opened in Valley Stream in September 2024, it marked more than the arrival of a new Long Island Cares food pantry location. It also brought to the community a coordinator whose life and career have been shaped by decades of service, persistence and a deep belief in helping others meet their most basic needs. he core For all she has done for the organization, the Herald is proud to name responsibility Nichole Rojas its 2025 Person of the is, I feel, to Year. Rojas, 50, is the program center comake my ordinator for the Valley Stream pantry, community having officially stepping into the role in September after initially joining happy and try Long Island Cares as a program associ- to help them ate during the center’s opening months. as best as She has become a steady presence for patrons, volunteers and partner orpossible. ganizations alike, guiding the pantry through its first year of operation at a NICHOlE ROjaS time of increased food insecurity across Program center Long Island. coordinator, “This is like a dream for me, because Long Island Cares it’s something I like to do,” Rojas said. Valley Stream “I love to work with people in the community, and helping people — that’s my thing.” Rojas grew up near the Franklin Square-Elmont border, attended Franklin Square’s Polk Street School and graduated from H. Frank Carey High School in 1993. She studied hospitality at Nassau Community College for two years, before deciding that the field wasn’t the right fit for her and going on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Adelphi University in 2000. Rojas discovered what she described as a calling toward service-oriented work. While completing her studies, she worked at the Center in Syosset, helping developmentally disabled children build life skills. In 2005 and 2006, she worked as a community coach with United Cerebral Palsy in Roosevelt,
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Court Street Music marks a quarter-century. Page 11
And here's to 100 more years of Valley Stream. Page 16
For BrEAKING NEWS go to liherald.com
assisting clients with significant physical disabilities. From 2006 to 2011, Rojas was a supportive case manager at Central Nassau Guidance Services, in Hicksville, helping people with mental health challenges secure housing, benefits and access to rehabilitative programs. She continued that work from 2011 to 2014 at Catholic Charities of Long Island, also in Hicksville, where she assisted seniors with housing placement, Meals on Wheels and other essential services. In 2014, Rojas gave birth to a son, Joell, and decided to step back from full-time work to focus on raising him. She later returned to a job search that would eventually lead her to Long Island Cares. “I actually used to see the Bethpage office when I used to pass over there, traveling,” she recalled. “I used to see Long Island Cares, and I would always say to myself I wanted to work there. I don’t know why, but it felt like something that I wanted to do.” When the Valley Stream location was preparing to open in 2024, Rojas applied, and was hired as a program associate. She Continued on page 25 Angelina Zingariello/Herald
Photo: Nichole Rojas has been program center coordinator at Long Island Cares’ Valley Stream pantry since September.