'Nice Things' Facebook group lends a hand to Hempstead INN school-supplies drive

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Over the past month, members of the Facebook group Nice Things That Happen in East Meadow shared photos of their children smiling and showing off new school supplies.

But these weren’t your typical back-to-school photos, because the children all donated their supplies to the Mary Brennan Interfaith Nutrition Network.

For the fourth year, Todd Weinstein, 47, of East Meadow, used his Facebook page to promote the Hempstead charity’s “School’s Back INN” supplies drive. He visited the INN, on Madison Avenue in Hempstead, on Aug. 29 and unloaded a van filled with dozens of boxes of school supplies.

This year, the drive collected 131 composition and wire notebooks, 100 packages of pencils, 66 boxes of crayons, 48 packs of markers, 47 binders, 46 backpacks, 45 packages of loose leaf paper, 41 packs of glue sticks, 38 pencil cases, 34 packages of colored pencils, 33 packs of pens, 24 scissors and 20 packages of Post-It Notes, among other donations.

Weinstein started the Facebook group in 2015 to highlight the positive aspects of East Meadow in a forum free of the arguing and drama in which social media can be mired, he said. The page soon became a conduit for charitable causes and community outreach, starting with the school-supplies drive. The East Meadow community has since donated thousands of dollars worth of supplies.

Last year the campaign attracted the attention of Stew Leonard’s supermarket in East Meadow, which offered tokens for free ice cream to all who donated.

“For a parent, back-to-school shopping can be such a stressful time of the year,” Weinstein said. “It’s so much worse if you’re struggling financially and need to spend hundreds of dollars on clothing and supplies. The East Meadow community has been so generous in the past, helping those in need who seek the services of the Mary Brennan INN of Hempstead.”

The INN opened in 1983 as Nassau County’s first soup kitchen, serving guests hot meals before expanding to provide housing, clothes, school supplies and other services.

“Everybody comes with huge smiles when they donate, and the impact they have is immeasurable,” said Dana Lopez, the organization’s director of marketing and communications. “We’re very grateful for [Weinstein’s] drive.”

Each fall, the INN gives backpacks full of school supplies to roughly 250 people. “It’s a very stressful time for some students and their families,” Lopez said. “When students have a brand new set of school supplies, it makes them feel important.”

Those who made donations shared those sentiments in their posts on Weinstein’s Facebook page, describing how excited their children were to give backpacks, pencils, notebooks or crayons to other children who needed them. “We are so glad to be a part of this drive,” said Anita Vasquez Chavez, whose daughters Ava and Emma, both 9, filled tote bags with supplies.

“He brought awareness to our community that there was a need, and it’s wonderful see how our town responded,” Vasquez Chavez added of Weinstein. “Nice things really do happen in East Meadow.”