________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Students are staying busy
She joins bridge authority
Continuing to beautify l.B.
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Vol. 35 No. 47
NoVEMBER 14 - 20, 2024
$1.00
City welcomes donations to soup kitchen been supportive of us over the years.” T he city has played an The City of Long Beach is important role in supporting hosting a food drive at City Hall the soup kitchen’s efforts. The to benefit the Long Beach Soup kitchen benefits from the use Kitchen, continuing the city’s of city-owned space at 140 W. longstanding tradition of col- Pine St. rent- and utility-free. laborating with the organiza- Several departments of city gover nment have tion. also helped the T h e d r ive i s organization with soliciting non-perlogistics and ishable food items repairs as well as to help the soup with organizing kitchen serve its food drives. guests through the The soup kitchh o l i d ay s e a s o n . en has been serving Residents are the community for encouraged to drop over 40 years, prodonations off durviding hot and cold ing City Hall’s RoBERT BlAu meals six days a operating hours, we e k . S i n c e t h e with a list of specif- President, pandemic, it has ic needs provided Long Beach seen a significant by the soup kitchen Soup Kitchen increase in on its website, at demand, and now longbeachsoupkitchen.com. Donations will be serves 2,000 to 3,000 meals per month. It operates from 11:15 collected until Nov. 22. “This is an ongoing scenario a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Monday with the city,” Robert Blau, through Saturday on West Pine president of the soup kitchen, Street, and offers a to-go meal said. “The Long Beach Recre- option for families and individation Department has helped uals who may not feel comfortus out; the local union has able dining in. The to-go meals helped us out. So it’s not only usually include a sandwich, a City Hall, but it’s the entire city piece of fruit, a dessert, if of employees who have really Continued on page 5
By ANGElINA ZINGARIEllo
azingariello@liherald.com
Skye Margies/Herald
Honoring veterans Long Beach commemorated Veterans Day at City Hall on Monday. Among those in attendance were, from left, City Manager Dan Creighton; Councilman Mike Reinhart; Jackie Ervolina, VFW Auxiliary president; Councilman John Bendo; American Legion Commander Gerald Haber; Dan MacPhee; and Robert Candela, VFW commander and chaplain.
L.B. Aware renews effort to combat underage drinking By BRENDAN CARPENTER bcarpenter@liherald.com
In 2000, the Long Beach Medical Center created the Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking. Focused on reducing underage drinking and drug use, the nonprofit organization began partnering with the City of Long Beach, and its Police Department, in 2003, and when the medical center closed in 2013, the coalition began operating on its own, renamed Long Beach Aware. At a City Council meeting on Nov. 6, the now state-funded group presented the Police Department with a check for over $16,000 to help with the city’s efforts to combat underage drinking. The check was part of a federal grant from the
Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking, or STOP, Act. “We’ve always funded extra police activities because it stems the tide of underage drinking,” Judi Vining, Long Beach Aware’s executive director, said. “It doesn’t eliminate it, but it makes it a little more difficult. That’s what you want to do.” Vining’s organization presents the Police Department with a check each October, at the end of the fiscal year. The department keeps track of the time and money it devotes to efforts focused on underage drinking, including overtime expenditures, and each Long Beach Aware donation is a reimbursement of sorts. “We have had this collaboration with Aware Continued on page 2
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e believe that we’re doing a great thing for our community.