Community Corner
Merrick Kiwanis Highlights Upcoming Events
New officers were also named at the monthly meeting.
The work of the Merrick Kiwanis Club is never done; it just shifts from one goal to another.
As the fund raising for the year winds down, the club is focusing its attention on the many service projects it does for the community.
It was a banner year in the fundraising department. Guest bartender night at Brooks & Porter raised $2,500, up 20 percent from last year's event. The club plans to use funds to award scholarships to students at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham, and also to send local kids to Kamp Kiwanis for a week this summer.
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"A lot of our fundraising is over and a lot of the things we're doing now are all service projects ... we don't charge anything [for them]," said Arlene Gregory, Kiwanis president.
This will include the 'Merr-Olympics' which is slated to take place on June 12 at Chatterton School. All area elementary students are invited to participate in the athletic contests, with medals to be awarded to the top finishers.
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Merrick Kiwanis will also be participating in the Memorial Day Parade on May 30, marching with the Chamber of Commerce and handing out flags along the route. Flag lapel pins will be distributed on Flag Day, June 14, at the Merrick train station.
The club made a donation to the Let All the Children Play foundation, a not for profit that builds accessible playgrounds. Ground has been broken on a $1.3 million playground in Eisenhower Park, which will be ready in September.
A donation is also being considered to a program scheduled to be held at Calhoun in October. Challenge Day is a California-based group that sends representatives to schools around the country to address issues related to bullying and other common pressures teens face today. The three day workshop features peer sessions with counselors, where anything and everything is open for discussion.
The goal is for the entire Calhoun sophomore class to participate, and students have already begun fundraising efforts to pay for the travel costs of Challenge staffers. Calhoun teachers Keri Cinelli and Brian Joyce were at the meeting to brief Kiwanians on the merits of the program, and the board is considering helping the program become a reality in Merrick.
"The goal of Challenge Day is to allow students to feel comfortable, to let all their peers see who they truly are and not hide behind an image, but basically open up for who they truly are," Joyce said.
Kiwanis also announced its new officers for 2011-12. Elections were held at the group's meeting at Borrelli's in East Meadow on Tuesday, with Cathy O'Malley tapped to be the next president. Marty Valk will be first vice president and Dr. Richard Seibert, second vice president.
State Senator Charles Fuschillo, assemblyman David Denenberg, and assemblyman Dave McDonough will continue as presidential advisors. Past president Tammy McLoughlin and Armando D'Accordo are among those named to the Kiwanis board of directors.
The next Merrick Kiwanis meeting is scheduled for June 7th, 7 p.m. at Borrelli's in East Meadow.
