Elmont honors a friend with service

Students and fathers gathered in the Elmont School District earlier this month, both to help those in need, and to celebrate the life of a man who dedicated his career to helping children in the area.

More than 40 boxes of food were collected and delivered over the course of a few days, all of it put together by the Elmont Dad's Club to honor the late Frank Ragona, Elmont school board president and a man remembered for his dedication to the educations of hundreds of Elmont students.

In a chilly gymnasium, warmed mostly by their own generosity, a group of local children and their fathers turned their thoughts to those less fortunate at a time of year when most children are thinking about what gifts they'd like most to receive.

While the day was all about giving, it was done with a heavy heart.

“Everything is overshadowed by the untimely passing of Frank Ragona,” said Anthony Maffea, a school board trustee and vice president of the Elmont Dads’ Club. Ragona passed away at the age of 51 just days before the food drive was scheduled to take place. His loss was deeply felt in a community where he was well-known and respected.

For members of the Dads' Club — a group of which Ragona was himself an officer — it was a bittersweet day spent helping the less fortunate in honor of a man who offered help to anyone who needed it.

“Doing things for the kids and the community always came first with him," Maffea said. “He would want us to continue with this food drive today; doing anything less would be disrespectful to his memory.”

While dads from the group gathered together to put the donated non-perishable food in distinct groups and pack it into boxes, Elmont students made it their mission to make each and every shipment to more than 18 local families a bright and festive delivery. Students put designs on the boxes with construction paper cut-outs, stickers and colorful drawings.

By the end of the day, more than 40 boxes with food for holiday dinners, including trimmings, nutritious fillings and desserts, were packed into buses and trucks and delivered by members of Elmont school district's transportation department. The students and dads gathered together numbered more than 60 people, all of whom worked hard to make sure every scrap of donated food found its way into a home where an Elmont family could put it to good use.