By JOSEPH KELLARD
And just as the Super Bowl has grown into a global event that a billion-plus people in more than 200 nations tune into each year, the breakfast has grown considerably as well. The Kiwanians began the tradition in the early 1990s at the Terrace firehouse in northwest Oceanside to help fund their biggest annual project: providing a week-long summer vacation for the poor children of the community at Kamp Kiwanis upstate. In those years the breakfast raised enough money to fund two or three children each summer. Last year the event was so successful that the club was able to send 30 children upstate --- fully outfitted and carrying sleeping bags, toiletries and more.
"It's unbelievable how big it¹s gotten," said Cy Lishnoff, a past district president of Kiwanis who remembers the first breakfast. "It's at the point now where a number of people tell me, ŒYou don't have to tell me about it ‹ I come every year.¹²
Thinking of ways to expand the fund-raiser, the Kiwanians decided to move the breakfast to St. Anthony's in 1998. It is more centrally located, and people can come for a hearty meal after attending church. In recent years the priests have promoted the breakfast after their sermons.
The Kiwanians have also added extra features over the years in the hope of attracting more people, adding eggs to the menu and offering a football toss game and a raffle table. Raffle participants can even go home before the numbers are called and have their prizes delivered to their homes by Betsy Transom, who chairs the fund-raiser with past President Anthony Iovino and Anne Donohoe.
"The Super Bowl breakfast is a way of getting the community together, getting people more involved in helping out others who are less fortunate," said Kiwanis President Tom Dapolito.
While Dapolito and past President Bob Transom served as chefs, students from the junior Kiwanis Clubs, the Builders Club at Oceanside Middle School and the Key Club at Oceanside High School assisted, serving food and cleaning up afterward.
"Last year we did so well that we were able to send 15 kids from the Oceanside community and 15 from upstate orphanages," said Iovino. "So it's actually kind of maxed out in terms of how many kids we can send to the camp. Some kids used to show up for the trip with their clothes in brown bags. So we're now able to fully outfit them with everything from T-shirts, bags, underwear, toothpaste, socks and much more."
Among those in attendance were school board members Sandi Schoell (who helped out) and Al Lyson, Sen. Dean Skelos, Assemblyman Bob Barra, Town Councilman Anthony Santino, Island Park Kiwanis Club President Gene Vandermosten, Lt. Gov. Jim Reed and Island Park Library Vice President Joseph Pontecorvo. "There's quite a crowd here," said Santino, surveying the long line for food and tables that were constantly full.
"The price is right," Lishnoff said, listing the various reasons for the breakfast's success. "The Kiwanis does a great deal for the kids, and we try to provide a fun atmosphere."
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
