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Fresh Beginnings This Spring
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A journey of healing and sisterhood By ROKSANA AMID ramid@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
A delightful time at the mansion The 27th Culinary Delights event, which took place on Monday at the Glen Cove Mansion, drew a crowd of nearly 600, who sampled food from local restaurants — and networked, of course.
Nosh reflects on 5-year-old mission that became a lifeline By ROKSANA AMID ramid@liherald.com
When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools and businesses in March 2020, hunger swept across Long Island in ways few could have anticipated. With unemployment surging and access to school meals suddenly cut off, thousands of families faced the unthinkable: empty pantries and no clear path to the next meal. In the midst of this crisis, three women — Courtney Callahan, Linda Eastman and Christine Rice — took action. What began as an emergency food relief effort, called Nosh, is now marking five years of serving the North Shore with compassion, dignity and community spirit.
“We were just going to be here for as long as the pandemic was, which at that time I thought was going to be no more than a few months,” Eastman recalled. “I certainly didn’t even think it was going to be as long as it was.” Rice, the director of the Glen Cove Senior Center, remembers receiving the order to close for what was originally thought would be just two weeks. “To me, a two-week period seemed forever,” Rice recounted. “I never thought it would last this long, ever.” Yet within days, that sense of “forever” became reality. Instead of waiting for normalcy to return, Callahan, Eastman and Rice mobiCONTINUED ON PAGE 4
school system.’ And so I moved out to this area. No family. No real friends. And just started raising my kids. But before then, I had started the organization in North Carolina in 2010, because I wanted to create the support system for others that my grandmother and my family was for me and my sister.
Lela Watson, 44, is the founder and president of I Am My Sister, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth — particularly young women — through community-based programming and mentorship. Originally from Jamaica, Queens, Watson moved to Glen Cove in 2017, bringing with her a wealth of experience, a deep sense of purpose, and a story that has shaped her LELA WATSON organization. founder and president,
Herald: Yo u r organization is called I Am My S i s te r. Wh e re did that name co m e f ro m , a n d what does it mean to you personally? Watson: It I Am My Sister Herald: How did was really named your backbecause of my sisground shape your journey? ter. I needed for her to underWatson: I w a s b o r n a n d stand that not only did I underraised in New York City — stand where she was coming Jamaica, Queens. I’m a gradu- f r o m , w i t h o u r d i f f i c u l t ate of NYU School of Business. upbringing, because our mom So I have lived outside of New was abusing substances, we York for most of my adult life were one in the same — that I after college — Maryland, was her and she was me. Where a lot of times you Atlanta, North Carolina — and so I came back to New York in hear, ‘I am my sister’s keeper,’ I 2016 when my grandmother got didn’t want (that) name … because I felt I was more than sick. Fate led me to Glen Cove. I her keeper. That’s how I see had a friend of mine who was other young ladies and women like, ‘Oh, it’s a great area, great CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
W
e’re not just for Black girls.