Kiwanis, Borrelli’s to give food, toys to families in need

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the East Meadow Kiwanis club has modified its annual events to help members of the community in need, while following safety guidelines.

One of the club’s most popular traditions is a family Christmas party, held each year at Borrelli’s Italian Restaurant in East Meadow. Though the eatery could not host such a large event this year, it collaborated with Kiwanis on a way to continue giving families a holiday meal and children a Christmas experience.

The club is also hosting its Secret Snowflake Toy Drive, and will present the toys to families, along with meals from Borrelli’s, in the restaurant’s parking lot on Sunday. Kiwanian David Rothman will dress as Santa Claus, and greet families during the drive-through event.

“We want to keep our events going, since they have such a big impact on the community,” Kiwanis President Lisa Hallett said. “We always figure out a way to get them done.”

“We’re particularly excited about this fundraiser,” added Vice President Jennifer Reinhardt.

The East Meadow School District hosts a toy drive for families in need each year, but is also modifying the event to limit physical contact. Rather than donating toys, the district is collecting gift cards for local businesses, and Kiwanis is donating 10 gift cards to each of the district’s nine buildings.

“Children love the holidays and love getting gifts, so we wanted to give them something to physically open,” Reinhardt said. “We want to bring as much joy to East Meadow families as we can.”

Toy drive donations can be dropped off until Saturday at Century 21 American Homes, Borrelli’s or Assemblyman John Mikulin’s office, which are all on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow.

“We could use an extra push right now,” Reinhardt said.

Kiwanis is collecting toys for children ages 5 through 16, and is looking for toys like board games, puzzles or coloring books. “It doesn’t necessarily need to be a big-ticket item,” Hallett said.

Club members will hand out toys from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday. All residents are welcome to pick up a meal and a toy, as long as they let Hallett know by Friday to ensure that the club has enough for everyone.

The club is also accepting monetary donations, and plans to go shopping for additional toys this weekend.

“We’d like to thank everybody who participated in the toy drive,” Reinhardt said. “Without our Kiwanians and the people in the community who helped out, this wouldn’t be able to happen.” 

The club has also been making weekly contributions to the food and supplies pantry at McVey Elementary School, dubbed the McVey Mighty Kind Market. Each week, a different Kiwanian shops for supplies and donates them to the market.

The club’s next event is one of its biggest fundraisers of the year — its pancake breakfast, which is scheduled for March. “We’re hoping everything is better by then,” Hallett said, “but we’re ready to think outside of the box again if we have to.”

In the meantime, she added, “We’re always here for anyone in the community in need if they want to reach out to us.”

Anyone interested in getting involved can call Hallett at (516) 204-2284, e-mail her at hallett05@gmail.com, call Reinhardt at (516) 351-9891 or email her at jennifer@krugteam.com.

The club continues hosting meetings twice a month. The final one of the year is on Dec. 29, at Borrelli’s, from 7:15 to 9 p.m.