New year, new supplies, no matter what

Students participating in the Gateway Youth Outreach program got a surprise last week from a state Senator thanks to a donation from his office and constituents.

More than 200 students from all over Elmont who participate in the Gateway Youth In total, thousands of dollars in school supplies were given away, all thakns to an outpouring of support of local people through state Sen. Craig Johnson’s office (D-Port Washington).

“Sen. Johnson’s office sent out letters to his constituents ... and asked them to provide school supplies, notebooks, pens, calculators — everything an elementary youngster could need for school,” said Gateway Youth Outreach Executive Director Patrick Boyle, “then separated it out into bags and distributed a bag to each individual child.”

Boyle said the beneficiaries were thrilled by the outpouring.

“Kids would look in the bag and their faces lit up like they’d never seen a new notebook before,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

According to Johnson’s office, back to school supplies were distributed to 259 students at Gotham Avenue and Clara H. Carlson Schools. In addition to supplies like glue, scissors, notebooks, pens, pencils, binders and calculators, 35 backpacks, 21 pull string backpacks and 6 laptop computers were distributed to the Elmont School District and Gateway.

Twenty dictionaries were given to english as a second language students, as well.

“Every student should be able to begin the school year with the tools and equipment that they need for academic success,” Johnson said in a statement. “I want to thank everyone who helped us out in this very important effort.”

Gateway Youth Outreach has also been the recipient of a $10,000 member item grant from the state Senator’s office.

“It’s for the things we might need around here, and maybe to try and get a few kids off the waiting list,” Boyle said. He added that while the money was wonderful, for a lot of children, the supplies were likely to make a huge difference in their lives.

“A lot of our families, they have to make a choice between making sure kids have brand new school supplies putting food on the table,” he said. “This has got to help out their education.”