Roslyn teen hosts supply drive for quake

Continued from Page 1 been intimidated to speak in front of the board, Eliza said she was not worried in the slightest because she knew them all so personally. The village agreed to partner with Eliza in her eforts.

She also partnered with Temple Sinai of Roslyn, where she is a member and which sent an email blast to the congregation about the project and how they could participate.

Two collection boxes were then established for donations, one at the East Hills Village Hall and one at the temple.

Medical supply donations collected. (Photo courtesy of Donna Liebowitz)

Eliza provided community members with a wish list of items to donate. Donations included wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, shower chairs, commodes, braces, slings, medical boots, neck braces, casting materials, catheters, frst aid kits and assorted wound care items.

By the end of the two weeks, the donations flled half of a large box truck.

“It felt like I was juggling a lot at once, but it was very rewarding,” Eliza said.

She partnered with The AFYA Foundation, which collected the donations. AFYA is a non-proft organization that provides medical supplies globally to communities without access.

The organization, based in Yonkers, N.Y., will then sort through the donations at its warehouse. Once done, the group will work with the

Halcyon Liquors renewed

Continued from Page 3 cutting for Halcyon Liquors March 16 to celebrate the new ownership and introduce them to the neighborhood.

“Although we do know many people in the neighborhood, we don’t know everybody,” Liz Heller said, “so this will get the news out there that this store is under new management.”

She is looking forward to the ribbon-cutting as an opportunity to get to know more of the community members and understand how she can work with them as well.

Liz Heller said the chamber’s ribbon-cuttings have been important as they help small businesses in the community.

“It’s great that they’re looking to help people and their business gain exposure and, again, to be a bigger part of the community,” she said. “It’s not just your business, it’s the community.”

Lulu director of youth and teen engagement

Turkish Embassy to deliver the supplies to those in need.

Right now, the donations from Eliza and the Roslyn community are still undergoing sorting and organizing by AFYA.

Eliza said she has noticed a gap in her community’s eforts to conduct charity initiatives, and she wanted to be the person to bridge that gap. She said that she has been very fortunate in her life and wants to utilize her po- sition to help others.

While her charity work started with lemonade stands, it wasn’t until she coordinated her mitzvah project that it became a regular component of her life.

For Eliza’s mitzvah project, she and a family friend worked with the local food bank to host rafes to raise money and collected food donations.

Through working with the food bank, Eliza said she gained a greater sense of community. She attributed the drive’s success to the eforts of her fellow community members coming together to contribute to her charity project.

“I just realized how much one community could do if everyone works together,” Eliza said. “I thought it would be a missed opportunity to not try to use that for good and all sorts of diferent charities and purposes.”

In October, Eliza founded her charity organization Clean Your Closets Out For Children, also known as Triple C New York.

The mission of her organization is to collect donations of items no longer used and provide them to children experiencing poverty, illness, natural disasters or war. Eliza said this also gives items a second life and diverts them from landflls.

Since a top priority of her charity is aiding children in need, Eliza ensured the children of Turkey and Syria were not forgotten during her recent medical supply drive. Among the plethora of medical supplies donated, she made sure there were children’s bandages with recognizable characters like Baby Shark and Mickey Mouse that would “make children happy in such a hard time for them.”

Medical supplies donated included bandages with characters for the children aficted by the earthquake.

(Photo courtesy of Donna Liebowitz)

Eliza said it’s important to cater to the needs of children when collecting donations and planning for disaster relief because they tend to be forgotten in the chaos of situations. She said she wanted to have a balance in supplies donated for everyone of all ages when collecting for the earthquake relief.

Going forward, Eliza is continuing her eforts with her charity organization. She said she will keep up with the news to fnd any potential areas where she can step in to help.

“I’ve always just wanted to make an impact and charity is my way of doing that,” Eliza said.