High-schoolers lend veterans helping hand

Central District students take part in veterans’ Stand Down

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Calhoun senior Nick Cantalupo walked alongside veteran Johnny Richard III as he held a shopping list in his hand that his wife had made for him. As he was helping Richard find women’s dress pants, Cantalupo told the Herald about his plans to enlist in the Army or Air Force after he graduates from high school.

Cantalupo expressed his gratitude that “after the war, when [veterans] are struggling, there’s a community that helps them.”

For the second straight year, Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District students volunteered at Stand Down, an outreach program for homeless and needy veterans at the Freeport Armory.

Teachers Brian Joyce, of Calhoun High School, Kara McManus, of John F. Kennedy High School, and Jacki Geller, of Wellington C. Mepham High School, led the students in the effort. The young people escorted veterans around the armory’s main room, where government agencies and nonprofit organizations providing an array of social services were stationed. Hundreds of veterans were greeted and “welcomed home” at the event.

Among the services offered were haircuts, dental checkups and flu shots, and heavy clothing was provided in preparation for winter.

“We try to take care of them, not only today, but year-round,” said Dr. Victoria Ortiz if the Helping Hands Dental Foundation.

The Bellmore-Merrick students were among the many volunteers who walked with the veterans to make sure that they had information about the services provided. The volunteer effort is part and parcel of the Central District’s leadership class, an elective that allows students to take an active role in the community. Students started coming to the Stand Down last year after Calhoun senior Jarod Del Orfano had volunteered at the Freeport Armory and brought up the idea, according to Joyce.

Mepham senior Hope Kotowski said she enjoys getting involved in charitable efforts through the leadership class. The Stand Down, she said, gives the students a chance to “physically see how our actions can give back to the community.”

McManus explained how events like this take the students out of their comfort zones and promote conversations about the realities that many Americans face. “They’re talking to people they probably never have before,” she said.

A number of Central District students are involved in senior service projects, and according to McManus, a common theme this year has been helping veterans.

The students, she noted, have grown up in a post-9/11 world. “Protecting the country is really important to these kids,” she said. “They want to know what they can do to say ‘thank you.’ ”