______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
HERALD Hofstra shows promise
Volunteers curb village waste
Multicultural night at V.S. 13
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VOL. 35 NO. 50
DECEMBER 5 - 11, 2024
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LIJVS ditches plastic bottles The community hospital is breaking the wasteful container habit for good in expense.” In lieu of the single-use bottles, the hospital — staffed with Since last month, visitors to roughly 1,600 employees — has the Long Island Jewish Valley installed over 50 water dispensers throughout the building. Stream Hospital Water bottles have have been hardbeen swapped for pressed to spot reusable, lightplastic water botwe i g h t , s h a t t e rtles on site. The resistant plastic reason is simple, cups that can be but consequential: sanitized and the Franklin Avereused. Every LIJ nue facility officialValley Stream staff ly phased out sinmember received a gle-serving plastic branded reusable water bottles and water bottle and other single-use coffee mug and plastic products for rewards like unlimits patients and ited free coffee in staff. the cafeteria for Joe Dobias, those using their director of food mugs. and nutrition at Dobias said the Northwell Health, sw i t ch , d u bb e d says slashing the JOE DOBiAS Operation Hydrahospital’s plastic director of food tion, is projected to bottle consumption and nutrition, save the hospital down to effectively LIJVS Hospital about $150,000 a zero is not only year. smart from a costsaving perspective but creates a Fighting the plastic waste crisis greener way to hydrate. It also represents the most “Plastic water bottle waste ambitious move of the Northwas somewhere in the realm of 35,000 pieces a week,” Dobias well Health system — the hossaid. “This equates to about a pital’s parent company — to quarter million dollars a year ConTinued on pAGe 5
By JUAN LASSO
jlasso@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Green Acres Mall
Green Acres Mall distributed over 1,000 turkeys in its annual Thanksgiving giveaway, partnering with local groups and officials to ease the holiday strain on families in need while fostering a sense of community care.
Green Acres donates over 1,000 turkeys for the needy By JUAN LASSO jlasso@liherald.com
A turkey with all the trimmings figures so prominently in the Thanksgiving holiday that many families willingly squeeze their grocery budgets to afford it. Joseph Floccari, manager of Green Acres Mall, understands the financial stress Thanksgiving can bring, particularly for households in need. To help, the mall distributed over 1,000 turkeys in its annual Thanksgiving giveaway. “It’s important for us at Green Acres to be out there and doing our fair share of goodwill,” Floccari said. “When people are in need, this is a great time to give back to
them. We’re looking to make hungry families and individuals happy.” Packaged, frozen turkeys in large boxes were distributed to a number of civic associations, food pantries, and the offices of elected officials from Valley Stream to Long Beach in the lead-up to the holiday. Halal and kosher turkeys were also donated to ensure that “no one gets left out,” Floccari said. He explained that the mall aimed to get these farm-raised poultry products into the hands of local groups and officials who have a keener sense of where the need is most urgent — and who can leverage their community influence and credibility to reach ConTinued on pAGe 16
ith 16 hospital sites and 80 or 90,000 employees, plastic waste was really a problem we could no longer ignore.