Neighbors raise $3,400 total for charity

People come here; they stay…there’s not anything you don’t have. It’s a different world, a different adventure every day.”

Alexander Carr, resident

Despite pandemic setbacks to their annual Christmas block party, Valley Streamers on Slyvan Place continued their two grand traditions: putting up intricate and festive Christmas lights and donating to charities in memory of neighbors Christopher Schroeder and Michael Smith. In 2013, Schroeder, 18, died from leukemia and Smith, 44, who had Down Syndrome, died that same year. Although there was no block party held in December where donations would typically be collected, neighbors still raised $3,400 in donations split evenly between the Answering the Needs of Citizens with Handicaps through Organized Recreation (ANCHOR) Program Fund and Sunrise on Wheels Day Camp.

These two organizations played a significant role in the lives of the young men. An official check signing presentation was done at a resident’s home in the neighborhood last Saturday. Michael formerly attended the ANCHOR Program, a comprehensive year-round program serving over one thousand children and adults with special needs who reside in the Town of Hempstead. ANCHOR Camp Director Mary Ann Hanson, who was there along with other camp officials to receive the money on behalf of the program, said: “Camp ANCHOR is a program for over a thousand participants who have special needs. We have children to adults…The donation today will go towards trips since the Town of Hempstead can’t pay for trips and parties…The neighborhood is a big supporter of the programs.”    

While Christopher Schroeder was in hospital, the Sunrise on Wheels Program provided him with fun-filled excitement and engaging activities while undergoing treatment. Every year, the program engages 6,000 children in twenty-one hospitals. “It’s an honor that we can help the Sunrise Program who helps the kids,” said Schroeder’s mom Carole Schroeder. “When Chris was in the hospital, they came in and played games with him. That’s needed for the kids…it’s essential.”

Nicole Faber, a Sunrise Association Senior Program Coordinator, remembers her moments with Schroeder affectionately, laughing over how the two would play the strategy board game Othello, which Schroeder taught her to play. Faber now uses the board game for future sick hospital children to enjoy in his memory.

Neighbor John McGovern, who attended the check signing,  spoke of the block’s strong sense of community in making the donation collection possible year after year. “It’s your own little world here. It’s a safe block, you know your neighbor… like something you’d find in a Norman Rockwell. It’s always amazed me.” Alexander Carr, 57, has been in the same home that him and his parents bought 53 years ago, summing up the block in these words: “People come here; they stay…there’s not anything you don’t have. It’s a different world, a different adventure every day.”