By: Nick Buglione
Four times a year, including the Christmas and Hanukkah season, the East Meadow Kiwanis collects and distributes food baskets to families who otherwise wouldn-t enjoy a holiday meal.
This year, on Dec. 18, the Kiwanis will deliver 85 basketswhich include a complete holiday dinner with all the trimmingsto needy families that have been brought to the club-s attention by local priests, rabbis and social workers.
You can look in someone-s eyes and see the appreciation there, said Alan Hodish, Kiwanis member and chairman of the food basket drive. We typically get anywhere from hugs to thank you notes.
The charity event is financed through fund-raisers and supplemented by food, money and supply donations. This year the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce secured a $5,000 grant, which it in turn donated to Kiwanis for its basket drive.
Sharing many members, the two organizations often coordinate efforts during the holiday season. Support from the surrounding community can always be counted on too, Hodish said. Thank God we don-t have to solicit money, he said.
The Kiwanis and chamber of commerce also work closely in putting together the Christmas dinner at Borrelli-s Restaurant, perhaps East Meadow-s most special holiday event.
For the last several years the Borrelli family and its restaurant staff donate hours of their time on Christmas day, cooking and serving a holiday feast for dozens of families down on their luck.
The idea originated with Frank Borrelli, Sr., who opened the restaurant in 1955. After decades of success in East Meadow, the restaurateur wanted to do something to thank the community for its support, and created the event with the help of the late Sal Napolitano, a longtime Kiwanis member.
This year, co-chairman Alan Beinhacker estimates the event will feed some 100 people. It-s shaping up, unfortunately, too good, Beinhacker said, referring to the anticipated crowd.
Aside from the dinner, Kiwanis collects and distributes scores of presents for the children. Last year, there were enough age- and sex-specific gifts gathered so that each child could receive about four or five apiece. We-re going to have the best year of giving out gifts, Beinhacker said.
Meanwhile, this time of year John Tufarelli, a member of the Kiwanis and chamber of commerce, coordinates a local toy drive for the Toys for Tots campaign.
The most charitable holiday work in East Meadow, however, usually takes place at Nassau University Medical Center.
It-s never easy being hospitalized during the holidays, and NUMC can always count on the help of East Meadow and other organizations to cheer up its patients.
The East Meadow Fire Department kept up its annual holiday tradition of handing out gifts to the sick children in the pediatric ward last Thursday, according to NUMC spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg.
They were so generous not just to the children but to the different units, she said, noting that the department also donated televisions, VCRs and other useful equipment.
Since NUMC is a public hospital charged with caring for the county-s indigent, these gifts go along way during the holidays. For some of these children, these are the only gifts they might get, Lotenberg said. It-s nice to see these faces light up.
Anyone who is interested in getting involved with the East Meadow Kiwanis food basket drive should call Alan Hodish at (516) 222-1640. Those interested in contributing to the Toys for Tots campaign should call John Tufarelli at (516) 735-9500. To donate toys for the Christmas dinner at Borrelli-s Restaurant, call Alan Beinhacker at (800) 232-2118.
Comments about this story? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
