Bridging the culture gap

Two diverse Five Towns communities were united with a common goal to fundraise for new equipment for the Lawrence-based Five Towns Community Center’s youth services’ game room.

Students from the Community Center’s Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) program, which seeks to guide teenagers in improving their decision-making skills, and students from the leadership program at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR), joined forces for a “Teamwork Makes a Dream Work” basketball fundraiser on May 2.

The fundraiser, held at the Lawrence High School gymnasium, included two basketball games from the varsity and junior varsity teams from HAFTR and Lawrence High School. More than 50 people attended and $1,332 was raised through ticket sales, donations and raffle tickets for the community center’s youth services department game room that currently has a pool table, two ping-pong tables, air hockey and foosball tables, all of which are in need of replacement or repair, according to Felipe Plaza, co-facilitator for the MRT program.

Nearly 20 students brainstormed the idea for a basketball fundraiser after Susan Szaluta, a college guidance counselor and advisor of the leadership program at HAFTR, contacted Veronica Ortiz, a Youth Advocacy counselor and facilitator of the MRT program. “I was amazed at how natural it was for them to communicate with each other and to see the expressions on their faces when they realized the [HAFTR] students were just regular kids like them,” Ortiz said.

Each student was responsible for selling tickets to the event, advertising and soliciting donations from area businesses for raffle prizes. Michael Sosnick, Jacob Stein and Cary Oved, all juniors at HAFTR, hoped their efforts led to more people in the seats at the basketball game. “I went around to students in my class to sell tickets,” Stein said. “And posted flyers around town.”