Rockville Centre
HERALD Local pharmacies collect donations
Rabbi David Lerner joins RVC temple
Village children play safely
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VOL. 31 NO. 36
SEPTEMBER 3 - 9, 2020
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RVC goes gold for Pediatric Cancer Month vided them with gold lights if they promise to light them every year.” In September, the goal for sevLast year, a tree in the village eral Rockville Centre residents green was decorated with gold is to see the village lit up with lights and a ceremony honored gold in honor of Pediatric Can- those affected by pediatric canc e r Aw a r e n e s s cer. This year, gold Month, and several trees will be lit in campaigns are takfour other villages ing place to get oth— East Williston, ers involved in the Mineola, Malverne effort. The second and Williston Park annual lighting of a — as well as at two gold tree was schedarea high schools, to uled for Tuesday at bring awareness to Village Hall, and the disease. efforts are under Ruchalski said way to have the she wanted a special streets lit with lumiway to honor her narias later this daughter. “Mary and month, with proI a lw ay s l ove d ceeds going to the Christmas, and we M a r y Ru c h a l s k i wanted to do someCAROL Foundation. thing different, so I Village resident RUCHALSKI had the idea of lightMary Ruchalski, a Mary Ruchalski ing a tree,” she said. seventh-grader at St. “Everyone has a tree Foundation Agnes Cathedral in their village, and School, died of canwhen no other lights cer in March 2018, just two days are on and people see a gold tree, before her 13th birthday. they’ll take notice.” “The foundation is trying to Finding strings of gold lights step up its awareness cam- wasn’t easy, she said, but the paign,” said her mother, Carol, foundation was able to provide the foundation’s director. “We 2,500 to 3,000 lights to each parreached out to other villages and ticipating village. The foundato several high schools, and proCONTINUED ON PAGE 3
By JILL NOSSA
jnossa@liherald.com
I
Briana Bonfiglio/Herald
PARENTS AND STUDENT-ATHLETES held signs in support of holding a fall school sports season at rally on Monday. The rally, in Oceanside, was attended by RVC parents and students.
South Side sports postponed Parents, athletes oppose county decision By BRIANA BONFIGLIO and TONY BELLISSIMO bbonfiglio@liherald.com
Rockville Centre School District students will have to wait until January 2021 to play school sports, after a committee of Nassau County superintendents voted unanimously on Aug. 26 to postpone the fall season. The decision was met with disappointment from parents of student-athletes in Rockville Centre, including Eliza-
beth Arnott, the mother of a ninth-grader, Matthew, and an eighth-grader, Sean, who take part in sports throughout the school year. “With free time, these kids are left with a lot of boredom, destructive behaviors and bad choices,” Arnott said. “When they don’t have sports after school, all the stress they hold all day long just sits there and festers, and they don’t get the release that they need.” Arnott added that when Matthew heard he wouldn’t
be able to run cross-country in the fall, he asked if he could attend a different school so he could. “It’s tough and disappointing for them,” she said. The Arnotts attended a rally at Oceanside High School on Monday to show their support for holding a fall sports season. Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito was also there. “High school sports is not CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
’m blown away that in these hard times, the whole community is coming together.