_________ Oceanside/island park ________
Graduation Keepsake Edition
June 26, 2025
HERALD Senator honors I.P. veteran
Meet the
GRADUATES 2025
Page 3
VoL. 60 No. 26
JUNE 26 - JULy 2, 2025
$1.00
1307845
Highlighting a standout year at Friedberg JCC ences at JCC Bellmore, Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds and Camp Ga’avah. JCC Executive Director Roni The Friedberg JCC in Oceanside brought together Kleinman reviewed the past more than 100 members, volun‑ year and described new partner‑ teers and staff during its annual ships that now provide universal meeting on June 17, celebrating pre‑K to more than 300 children a year of remarkable growth, in collaboration with eight service and community build‑ school districts. The center’s full‑day daycare served more ing. than 600 youngsters, Fred Richman, and its after‑school the JCC’s longtime programs reached board chair, said the more than 500 stu‑ J C C n ow o f f e r s dents at 11 sites in before and after‑ five communities. school care, summer Kleinman added camps, extended‑day that the JCC deep‑ services and early ened mental‑health childhood education expanded across multiple RoNNIE KLEINmAN offerings, outreach to isolated neighborhoods. CEO, Friedberg JCC older adults through “We helped estab‑ support groups and lish Camp Sunrise, which has grown beyond our memory‑care programming, and taught more than 800 people to wildest imagination,” he said. “Our always‑full parking lot swim through its aquatics pro‑ is more than just a daily bustle,” gram. A highlight from this year Richman added. “It’s a powerful symbol of how many lives we was also the center’s career‑ readiness efforts, including the touch each day.” He also highlighted Camp opening of Harvey’s Café on the Ga’avah, the center’s LGBTQ+ JCC campus. Named in honor of youth initiative, which “pro‑ longtime advocate and former vides a safe and joyful space” for Assemblyman Harvey Weisen‑ berg, the café offers real‑world children and families. In total, the center provided job training to individuals with more than 350 children with Continued on page 12 enriching summer‑camp experi‑
By KEPHERD DANIEL
kdaniel@liherald.com
Tim Baker/Herald
A bubbly start to the summer The Tiny Songbirds, Terrence and Jamie Blum-Marciano, opened Island Park’s summer reading program with a concert on the second day of the season. Story, more photos, Page 10.
Anthony’s Trendz manager rethinks his future after pickup truck crash By KEPHERD DANIEL kdaniel@liherald.com
Just weeks after winning a 2025 Long Island Choice Award as one of the region’s top barber‑ shops, Anthony’s Trendz, in Island Park, was left in ruins after a pickup truck barreled through its storefront in the middle of the night on June 9. Owner Anthony Virasammi, who has managed the shop since 2008, got a call at 1:30 a.m. that Mon‑ day from a longtime customer who happened to drive past the business. When Virasammi arrived after the hour‑plus‑long drive from his home in Coram, the front of the shop was unrecognizable. “There were cops everywhere,” he said. “They told me it was a crime scene. The guy was drunk;
he didn’t have a license. I found out later it wasn’t even his car. Four different IDs on him.” The crash, which occurred at around 12:30 a.m., destroyed half of the building on Austin Boule‑ vard. The east side of the shop — home to four bar‑ ber stations, a nail technician station, mirrors, televisions and thousands of dollars’ worth of hairstyling tools — was leveled. Shards of glass, broken equipment and crumpled furniture littered the floor. The damage was so severe that the Town of Hempstead condemned the space, leaving Virasammi unable to begin repairs until his land‑ lord, Raffaele Vissione returns from vacation this Saturday. “I had no sleep that night,” he recounted. “I Continued on page 7
T
he year ahead holds exciting opportunities.