_________________ BALDWIN ________________ drivers who switched save d an average of $713
HERALD Cleaning up for Earth Day
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Vol. 33 No. 19
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They searched for support — and built it themselves healing space for younger widows, particularly women of color, who they say are too often Long after the condolences taught to grieve quietly and fade and the casseroles stop endure privately. When Lissone’s husband ar riving, widowhood often becomes an intensely private died in May 2023, the now kind of survival — especially 56-year-old registered nurse she for younger women still raising felt not only devastated, but children, caring for aging par- untethered. As a young er ents and trying to appear widow, she knew few women strong for everyone her age navigating around them. the same sudden That was the shift in identity, reality Gina Lisfamily life and lonesone, of Baldwin, liness. Hoping to and Medina “Dina” f i n d c o m m u n i t y, Fonville, of Brentshe joined a Long wo o d , s a i d t h e y Island bereavement encountered while group — and quicksearching for help ly realized someon Long Island as GINA lISSoNE thing else was missyoung er widows: Co-founder, Widow’s ing. rooms filled with Journey Reach One “No one in the sympathy, but few Teach One room looked like women who shared me,” Lissone their cultural backrecalled. ground, family dynamics or the “I am a Black woman,” she unspoken understanding of said. “While it was a great expewhat grief looked like in their rience, and we all had the comcommunities. Feeling that monality of losing our husabsence pushed the two women bands, I did find that it was to ask a difficult question: missing a little bit of sharing Where were the others like with people from my own culthem? ture and my faith.” The answer became Widow’s Fonville, also 56, a hospice Journey Reach One Teach One, nurse, had entered that same a nonprofit through which Lis- room two years earlier, after sone and Fonville are now losing her husband to Covid-19, building a culturally conscious
By AllYSoN FERRARI
aferrari@liherald.com
Courtesy Baldwin School District
Members of Baldwin Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society launched a schoolwide Make-A-Wish campaign this year that has raised nearly $14,000 and helped spark a first-ofits-kind partnership in which Baldwin school nurses are encouraged to refer eligible children facing critical illnesses to the nonprofit.
Where wishes begin: Baldwin students lead community effort By AllYSoN FERRARI aferrari@liherald.com
Baldwin Middle School students set out this year to raise money for the Make-AWish Foundation. Instead, they helped build something far larger. What began as a schoolwide fundraiser has evolved into a first-of-its-kind partnership in the metropolitan area. Baldwin school district nurses are now trained to help directly connect eligible children facing critical illnesses to the nonprofit’s lifechanging wish program, while students work to help fund those wishes — a once-ina-lifetime trip to Disney World, for example, or meeting their favorite celebrity. With nearly $14,000 already collected and one Baldwin child having begun a “wish journey,” the initiative has transformed a middle school service project into a communitywide mission centered on access, awareness and hope. For middle school Principal Erica Taylor, however, the effort began with a far simpler goal. Each year, Taylor selects a global service project for the school to support. Last
August, while considering which country Baldwin would focus on this year, she stumbled on an email from Make-A-Wish — a message that quickly shifted the trajectory of the school’s annual giving campaign. “I opened the email and I read about Make-A-Wish,” Taylor recalled. “And I said, ‘You know what? Maybe this year we will think globally but will work locally.’” Intrigued by the possibility of bringing the mission closer to home, Taylor reached out to Make-A-Wish Community Fundraising Manager Michelle Nardelli, and soon realized that Baldwin students would embrace the opportunity to support the organization. Taylor then contacted Laurie Tricamo, the school’s National Junior Honor Society adviser, and together they began laying the groundwork for what would become one of the school’s most ambitious service initiatives to date. The response was almost immediate: Before the fundraiser had of ficially launched last month, the students collected $5,000 in just two weeks, which surprised CoNtiNued oN pAge 8
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eanwhile, you’re secretly dying inside.
CoNtiNued oN pAge 10