__________________ Merrick _________________
HERALD A night at the train carnival
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Vol. 28 No. 23
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Teaching kids to help out Temple B’nai Torah congregants give back on Mitzvah Day with activities At one station, congregants crafted no-sew fleece blankets for residents of Bethany At Temple B’nai Torah, con- House, a nonprofit based in g re g ants of all a g es came Baldwin that offers emergency together last week to take part shelter and transitional serin Mitzvah Day, a day of car- vices to women and children. ing and service. The congrega- Temple member Janet Goldtion serves the Bellmore, Mer- stein has participated in the rick, East Meadow, Wantagh project for eight years, donating 15 blankets each year. and Seaford communities. “It’s a comfor t to them Mitzvah means a good deed when they go to performed as part of sleep at night,” one’s religious duty, Goldstein said. “It’s and throughout the like giving them our d ay, t e m p l e m e mown little hug from bers engaged in the temple.” activities aimed at A new Mitzvah helping those in D ay a c t iv i t y t h i s need. Several stayear was stuf fing tions were set up at teddy bears for chilthe temple to dren in need. Conaddress various g re g ants filled 50 issues facing strugbears with stuffing, gling community RABBI DANIEl for donation to the members, from Waldo Sanctuary, a h o m e l e s s n e s s t o BAR-NAHUm hunger. Temple B’nai Torah migrant shelter in the Bronx. According to For temple memRabbi Daniel BarNahum, Mitzvah Day, which ber Howard Lev, involving took place on May 18, was children in the teddy bear scheduled at the end of the project was especially meanschool year to remind children ingful. It helps teach them that in the temple to make the every day can be a Mitzvah world better. T he idea, he Day, he said. “As a kid, you’re excited explained, was to kick off a summer in which children about making it, but then remember values that are you’re excited about what’s most important to them, which going to happen to it,” Lev said of the bears. “If you teach include helping those in need. “It’s everything that we somebody about mitzvah early want our community to be,” on, they’ll do it forever. They’ll Bar-Nahum said. “It’s coming look for things to do.” This year, the temple parttogether, it’s helping to repair the world and it’s meeting peo- nered with Splashes of Hope, a ple through all generations.”
By CHARlES SHAW
cshaw@liherald.com
I
Courtesy Barbi Frank
Muazzammel Faizy, left, uses a piece of adaptive equipment to dance with John F. Kennedy students Ella Cullin and Abby Finklestein.
Friendship and inclusion at prom A celebration of milestones through shared experiences By JoSEPH D’AlESSANDRo jdalessandro@liherald.com
The Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County values giving its patients, many of who face physical limitations, access to typical life experiences. For the students enrolled into the Children’s Learning Center, that includes a classic prom night. Learning center Principal Kevin Loughlin oversees the nonprofit’s special education school. “One of the things that we like to do here is to provide an education that is similar to every other school,” he said. “We want to make sure (students) can experience some of the same things that you will see at a typical high school or junior high school.”
The school prioritizes socialization as a key value, according to Loughlin. “Socialization is one of the biggest things that determines success, and we want our students to be accepted into typical society and show that they can contribute,” he said. The association’s annual prom night was made possible in partnership with John F. Kennedy High School and its Advanced Science Research Program. 17 students from the program came to the learning center’s fourth prom night on May 22. “Our kids like the exposure,” Loughlin said. “They’ve actually gone over to that high school and visited some of the classes over here, and the JFK kids love coming over here, working with our kids and enjoying ContinuEd on pAgE 5
t’s everything that we want our community to be.
ContinuEd on pAgE 19