By Kate Salute
Throughout September, Richner Communications and the Herald Community Newspapers, in conjunction with the America's Second Harvest division of Island Harvest, is organizing the Herald Hurricane Help fund. All the money raised will support America's Second Harvest rescue efforts, securing transportation and distributing food, groceries and household products to agencies involved in the response effort.
The Lynbrook Gulf Relief fund will facilitate the flow of supplies from Lynbrook directly to the Baton Rouge Food Bank, and is planning a benefit concert on Oct. 1 at Greis Park. The mayor of Lynbrook, Eugene Scarpato, has designated Lynbrook Village Hall, the public library and the recreation center as dropoff locations for nonperishable items.
A Lynbrook resident is reaching out to help a family of former New Orleans residents, the Munirs, who have landed in Queens with their 19-month-old.
Students from East Rockaway High School washed cars, SUVs and even fire trucks to raise $4,000, which was donated to the Herald Hurricane Help fund.
The Malverne Community Presbyterian Church continues to collect and distribute health kits to those living in shelters in Texas. The kits contain items often taken for granted, like toothpaste, bars of soap and deodorant.
In Valley Stream, VFW Hall No. 1790 raised $1,000 and sent $500 to a VFW unit in Mississippi and $500 to one in Louisiana. Across the state, local chapters of the Knights of Columbus have set as a goal $2.5 million in combined donations to the Gulf region.
In Rockville Centre, part of the proceeds from the seventh annual Lions Club Duck Race will go to hurricane victims. The race is scheduled for Oct. 1. Also, Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Center has authorized a special diocese-wide collection for victims of the storm.
The Long Beach City Council will host a dinner Sept. 30, from 8 p.m. to midnight, to benefit the town of Long Beach, Miss., which Long Beach, N.Y., has informally adopted. This "Taste of Long Beach" party at the Sands in Atlantic Beach will offer patrons food from such restaurants as Corbin & Reynolds and entertainment by Killer Joe and the Lido Soul Revue. The minimum donation is $20. Tickets are available in advance by calling Long Beach City Hall at (516) 431-1000 ext. 306.
In Oceanside, 35 organizations are coming together to hold an Oceanside Community Day/Homecoming celebration fund-raiser on Oct. 22, benefiting victims of the hurricane. Oceanside's Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce will join hands to sponsor a fund-raising golf outing at Lido Golf Club on Oct. 11 to benefit the victims of Katrina, with a portion of the funds benefiting the Oceanside scholarship fund.
Franklin Square Boy Scout Troop 485 collected and shipped 36 boxes of clothing, games and toys, movies, toiletries, sheets, towels and shoes for the survivors of the hurricane. In addition, they raised $1,400 for a medical needs shelter at Louisiana State University. The UPS Store at 672 Dogwood Ave. in Franklin Square collected school supplies for children displaced by the storm.
The East Meadow Fire Department, in coordination with Rescue Co. 5, the chief's office and the board of fire commissioners, announced that the department's Disaster Relief Fund is now accepting donations of money, food and water. The department is asking that people send checks or money orders made out to the East Meadow Fire Department Disaster Relief Fund. The money will be donated to the Salvation Army. East Meadow Kiwanis and Wantagh Kiwanis will also use the East Meadow Fire Department as its headquarters for a night at the fund-raiser race the organizations are holding on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 each.
