Community News

Valley Stream comes together to save kids

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The ladies of the Monica Village Crochet Club did it again. They raised enough money to donate pediatric trauma kits to a pair of Valley Stream schools, continuing a long-standing partnership between the seniors, the Kiwanis Club and the school community.

On Jan. 16, the kits were presented to officials from the William L. Buck and Robert W. Carbonaro schools, both in District 24. Nine kits have now been given to local schools through the Crochet Club’s fundraising efforts.

The pediatric trauma kits contain child-size equipment for school personnel to begin emergency treatment before first responders arrive if such a need arises. The kits at each school are kept in the nurse’s office.

“It’s a gift that we never want to use,” said Cathy Hicks, the nurse at Buck. She and her counterpart from Carbonaro, Estelle Dempsey, were grateful to both the Crochet Club and the Valley Stream Kiwanis Club for the donations.

For each $1,000 that the Crochet Club makes from the sales of its handmade items, such as scarves, sweaters and hats, it secures a pediatric trauma kit. The $1,000 is donated to the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, and the local Kiwanis chapter receives a trauma kit to donate to the community.

Lucille Moran, the executive director of the Monica Village senior housing complex, is a member of the Valley Stream Kiwanis Club. Years ago, she told her fellow Kiwanians that the ladies from the Crochet Club were raising money but didn’t know what to do with it. They wanted to invest it in the community, and idea to put it toward trauma kits for schools was born.

“I think the whole idea is wonderful,” Moran said. “They love giving back to the children. Most of them are great-grandmas, so it’s like helping their own.”

Six years ago, the Crochet and Kiwanis clubs presented the first pediatric trauma kit to Blessed Sacrament School. Since then, the groups have gotten together to present one or two more kits a year to other Valley Stream schools, and have worked through all of Districts 13 and 24.

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